Jesse Clasen

“Writing comes naturally to me,” says Jesse Clasen (BAAS ’22). “The ability to organize thoughts and write persuasively has been an asset throughout my life.” Yet it wasn’t until her final year of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree at Penn that she considered professional writing as a career option. Now a freelance marketing specialist with experience in email strategy, brand messaging, and copywriting, Jesse still enjoys the creativity of writing while putting her communication skills to work.

As a young parent, Jesse began her undergraduate degree in Raritan Valley but decided to transfer into an online program as her family grew. “It just wasn’t feasible to go to an in-person class, with the driving time and commitment,” she explains. “Online, there’s a lot more flexibility for getting the work done during your own time or pacing yourself.” She was able to transfer in social science courses in psychology and anthropology, which freed her to take creative writing courses such as CRWR 2600: Fiction Workshop and CRWR 1600: Modern and Contemporary US Poetry as well as career-focused courses including PROW 4000: Writing for Social Media and PROW 4010: Composing a Professional Identity. The latter inspired her to polish up her professional website and LinkedIn page. “I was able to focus on my professional image and get a lot of feedback from both my teacher and peers,” she recalls. “And the timing was very good, close to graduation.” Around the same time, Jesse landed an opportunity to ghostwrite a memoir—and her freelance career started to take off.

In addition to writing courses, Jesse also took CLCH 1600: Oceanography—"I enjoy going to the beach and learning about the environment with my kids,” she says—and got so much out of it that she took an additional climate change course as an elective. “Even though science isn’t necessarily my thing, the instructor made it very accessible to non-scientists,” Jesse reflects, adding that the general education approach of her liberal arts degree is useful to her freelance career. “Having a background in science like oceanography or climate change helps if I happen to encounter those materials, even if I'm just proofing and editing. It’s easier to tackle the writing when you have fostered the ability to understand more technical, scientific, or even political knowledge.”

Given her previous studies and her BAAS focus on writing, Jesse created an Individualized Studies degree concentration called Communications and Social Sciences. “This was a way to bring it all together,” she explains. “Writing for the purpose of communicating and marketing is tied into behaviors, psychology, understanding how people think and interact and absorb information.” During the course of her degree, she completed an Advanced Certificate in Creative Writing as well as an Advanced Certificate in Professional Writing, indicating that she had at least six classes in each subject. “Both certificates make it clear what I focus on,” she adds.

Since graduation, Jesse’s freelance career has grown to encompass a wide range of responsibilities; she has worked with a healthcare client on a long-term brand messaging strategy, created content with a marketing research firm, and developed effective email sequences to build the audience for an organization that serves women entrepreneurs. “The moments I have tapped into what I've learned at Penn are when I'm feeling stuck,” she muses. “Sometimes as a marketing professional, it is easy to get swept up in engagement rates, and marketing tech, and lose focus of what really matters: high-quality and value-driven content. That's when I tap into the numerous writing courses and start enjoying writing again, playing with words, tone, meaning, and story. Courses that focused on story and poetry have been foundational as the need grows to communicate in interesting ways in order to keep readers engaged and open rates high.”

And the learning community she enjoyed at Penn has inspired her to seek out peer networks that motivate and challenge her in this new chapter of her story. “I'm excited to build up confidence and network to take my business to the next level—working with clients that are doing meaningful work, and helping spread their message through storytelling,” Jesse concludes.