Ryan Alford

In December of 1999, I graduated from ACU with a degree in English.  Happily married and comfortably ignorant, my only plans at the time involved finding a job in my home state of Colorado.  I also had aspirations to attend the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute.  Soon after graduating, my wife Emily and I moved to Denver.  I then inadvertently pushed the fast-forward button on my life:

2000: Worked as a freelance writer and editor (trying to build my publishing portfolio) and successfully graduated from the Denver Publishing Institute: www.du.edu/pi

2001: Landed a job as the Assistant Editor for a company called Media Business Corp

2003: My son, Hayden Thomas, was born (Sept. 16)

2003: Created Snowshoe Magazine – a publication devoted to the sport of snowshoeing: www.snowshoemag.com

2005: Bought a house

2005: Lost my job with Media Business Corp and found a new job with OpenTV as the Technical Writer

2005: My daughter, Lola Love, was born (Oct. 22)

2006: Decided to leave OpenTV for a job with Quiznos as the Corporate Communications Manager

2009: Lost my job with Quiznos and decided to move to Texas for a job with ColorTyme as the Public Relations and Communications Specialist

2010: Moved back to Colorado for a job with InsightSoftware.com as the Internet Marketing Manager

2010: Trying to get some sleep

I’m glad to be back in Colorado – as you can see in the photo.  This brief timeline of my personal and professional life should illustrate one thing: Anything can happen.   I believe that my ACU education helped me build a nice foundation for my future, the unexpected and all.

Today, I’m employed by a software company as its social media and digital marketing expert.  Way unexpected!  But it shouldn’t be.  Writers and editors are becoming successful marketers – it’s a natural fit.  And Snowshoe Magazine is booming!  That was expected.  Earning my English degree at ACU was the best decision I ever made.  The rest was gravy.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanalford.