When Emilie Hofele first started at the 1893 Brand Studio, she was sure she wanted to go into strategy. However, after exploring her options within the Brand Studio, Hofele found a new passion for her career: account management. Hofele graduated this past May with a major in Media and Journalism with a concentration in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Entrepreneurship through the Shuford program. Now, Hofele has taken her talents to the Big Apple where she works as an Associate Account Executive at Dentsu Creative.

Hofele currently serves on the Intel account, connecting the Dentsu team to the client and working closely with the creative team, project managers, and strategists to bring Intel’s visions to life. Although she is new to the tech industry, Hofele has been learning a lot about how AI and technology influence the advertising world.

But long before Hofele made it to New York, she sat at the Daily Tar Heel office in Chapel Hill wondering where her life would take her. Hofele began as a campaigns team member for the Brand Studio during her sophomore year. She held internships centered around strategy and branding over her summers, but when her final semester of college rolled around, Hofele wanted to try something different. In December 2023, Hofele became an account manager at the Brand Studio.

“It’s good that within the Brand Studio, you can take on different roles and see what other teams are doing,” Hofele stated. “So, when you’re looking at postgrad jobs you can see what you’d want to be doing.”

Hofele quickly found her niche, quickly picking up Top of the Hill as a client. Hofele guided the teams along and made sure each group stayed on track throughout the project.  

“The TOPO pitch was my favorite part of the Brand Studio. It really brought us all together. It was fun to have the campaign-off, get beers with the owner at TOPO, and really have our work feel tangible,” Hofele explained. 

Having real-world clients helped Hofele crystalize her passions and have concrete examples of how she could benefit a client and company during her interview process.

Luckily for Hofele, she found a perfect fit at Dentsu, one where she felt the interview conversation flowed easily.

She felt confident that even with her first job in a New York creative agency, Denstu was never going to “just throw me into the advertising world.”

As she continues to settle into post-grad life, Hofele hopes to explore more facets of the company.

“Be very vocal about what you’re interested in because it’s easy to move around at Dentsu,” Hofele was reassured.

Her desire to pivot roles and explore new interests in something Hofele will surely continue throughout her career, and who knows, it might just lead her to her next career passion.