‘Creating Your Personal Brand’ Freshmen Network at Marquee Community Event

Freshmen from Converse University’s “Introduction to Creating Your Personal Brand” class took the opportunity to network with some of Spartanburg’s most prominent leaders in hospitality, health care, government and small business at a marquee event in early October 2025.

“I found it such a great opportunity to meet and connect with people who have big ‘personal brands’ and being able to talk to them in a professional manner about their careers,” James Hardy ’29, an 18-year-old Converse attendee, says of the Work-Based Learning (WBL) Signing Day.

OneSpartanburg, the area’s chamber of commerce and economic and tourism development organization, brought together more than 100 employer representatives and community partners who signed a pledge to create more than 600 work-based learning opportunities.

The WBL program offers internships and apprenticeships primarily to high school students. Converse, however, was the only local college or university to send students, largely so they could hone their communications skills among some of Spartanburg’s leading stakeholders.

Using elevator pitches they developed and practiced in their First Year Seminar course, the 22 Converse classmates chatted with and listened to top employer representatives, educators and others at the two-hour event. They were tasked with gathering business cards during lively discussions that took place before and after high-level presentations.

“This initiative is something truly special. It’s a movement, it shows what can happen when a community comes together—public and private sectors, schools and employers,” Jack Mabry, Spartanburg County Council District 2 Representative, told the high-energy crowd.

According to OneSpartanburg, “Work-based learning opportunities like internships, apprenticeships, co-ops, micro-internships, externships, and others, benefit employers with 80% of employers citing internship programs as the candidate-sourcing technique with the best ROI (return on investment).”

…80% of employers [cite] internship programs as the candidate-sourcing technique with the best ROI.

The students saw an immediate return on their coursework investment.

“It was very different from anything I have done before,” Hardy says. “It allowed us as students to ask for advice and connect with people to create potential internship opportunities in the fields that interest us.”

John Jeter, Adjunct Professor of Music Business at Converse’s Petrie School of Music, developed the Creating Your Personal Brand course nearly 10 years ago.

“The class helps students understand what they need most in the ‘real world’: themselves,” Jeter says. “The ability to show who you are and what you offer will provide potential internship and job interviewers with far more than just your LinkedIn profile or resume. CYB gives students opportunities to build a network that will take them to their dreams.”

“The biggest takeaway from the event was getting the experience of being confident in ‘my own personal brand’ by getting out of my comfort zone.”

James Hardy ’29

WBL’s results virtually mirror that classroom mission: “Students benefit as well, earning soft skills training and increasing their likelihood of securing a full-time job by 85%,” according to OneSpartanburg.

Of the field trip to a first-class event space near downtown Spartanburg, Hardy says, “The biggest takeaway from the event was getting the experience of being confident in ‘my own personal brand’ by getting out of my comfort zone.”

Hardy calls Introduction to Creating Your Personal Brand “awesome. After only being in the class for half a semester, I have become so much more confident in myself by uncovering why I do what I do and what makes me, me.”

Creating Your Personal Brand, ATM 255, will be offered during January 2026 and welcomes students of all disciplines, majors, and classes.