Meet the Secretary: Alexis Ritter

Secretary: Alexis Ritter

Hey! My name is Alexis Ritter (I go by Lexi!), and I am the Secretary of Missouri State’s American Marketing Association (AMA). A little bit about me: I am a sophomore (technically a junior by credit), majoring in Marketing Research, and I come from a small town called Ste. Genevieve, which is about an hour south of St. Louis! I like reading, watching movies with my roommates, playing board games, and going home to spend time with my family, friends, and my dog! Besides being involved with AMA, I also volunteer for Rescue One, a mostly foster-based rescue in Springfield! Although I am majoring in marketing, I completely have no idea what I want to do with that once I graduate, but having a business-based degree provides more breathing room for different opportunities in the future! With that said, I am looking into some internships to see how I can cultivate my skills to put towards AMA and my personal brand!

I believe I first heard about AMA at the freshman organization fair (I don’t remember the name) at the beginning of my first semester, where I stopped by the table with my roommate to check it out. I wanted to join some sort of organization to be involved on campus, and AMA favored my major, so I decided to join AMA. Looking back now, I’ve had so many great opportunities through AMA, and I’m so glad I joined! When I was just a member, I really enjoyed the socials because I was able to meet others and form relationships. However, once the new executive board was formed last fall, they jumped right into improving our organization and what it had to offer professional development-wise, so those new events became some of my favorites!

I had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans with the exec board last spring for ICC, and it has probably been the best part of AMA so far. That is where I met other AMA chapters and heard about what they were working on and how they were accomplishing it. Going to ICC made me want to help improve MSU’s AMA chapter, which is why I ran for exec this year! Being Secretary has been fun so far! I am more detail-oriented than creative, so creating spreadsheets, hashing out details, and working on smaller projects has been really nice! For example, I am currently working on our chapter’s monthly newsletters! But of course, my favorite thing is getting to know everyone on exec and building stronger relationships with them and the chapter members!

Being a part of AMA has taught me a lot in the short time I’ve been involved. I’ve learned professional skills, such as when to wear business and business-casual attire, and professional development skills to improve my brand. I’ve also learned that there’s always something to improve, which is why our exec board this year is working hard to grow our chapter and become one of the top 25 chapters at ICC!

I would highly recommend joining AMA because we offer numerous great opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. We also host fun events and socials to meet others and make new friends! One piece of advice I would give to any new or future members would be to put yourself out there and grow relationships with people you meet through AMA. You never know where an opportunity could lead you in the future. But of course, make sure to also have fun!