Emilee Thomas

Marketing and Business Management double major and active volunteer

Simply put, Emilee Thomas is involved on campus and in the community – with volunteerism, with clubs, and with organizations.

The senior double major in marketing and business management hit the ground running her first year with her many endeavors by joining a sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, and she loved their mission of building strong girls. YWCA Mankato’s Girls on the Run program is the sorority’s philanthropy partner, so Thomas has been working with girls in grades 3-5 for most of her college career. The mission of the program is to inspire girls to be healthy and confident and integrates running and creative activities into the curriculum.

“It includes character and life lessons, and we go into activities with them that incorporate running, like tag or relay races,” said Thomas, of Waterford, Wis. “I really enjoy it. I’ve worked with the same group of girls the past six seasons.”

Last year Thomas was even named the International Coach of the Year for Girls on the Run.

Thomas has also held leadership roles in her sorority throughout college, including serving as philanthropy chair, public relations vice president, administration vice president, and personal and chapter enrichment chairwoman.

“I’ve learned a lot about communication and talking to people and being professional and networking,” she said.

Within the College of Business, Thomas has been involved in the Student Executive Team (SET) and also on the Marketing Team as a marketing and events coordinator. Through her marketing role she has helped run COB’s social media channels, oversee marketing campaigns, and coordinate the College’s main events.

“Emilee has been a leader on the COB marketing team for three years,” said Thomas’ supervisor, Jen Cucurullo, director of marketing and communication for the COB. “She took pride and ownership of the creative work she was doing and took each

Matt Long '10

Matt Long, a 2010 business management graduate, remembers well what it was like being a broke college student.

That’s why he has so much fun every year when he gets to give back in a pretty incredible way to members of the College of Business Student Executive Team (SET). Every fall, about a dozen team members project one step further. She will be greatly missed after she graduates.”

Recently, Thomas joined a brand new club on campus, Letters of Love, a nonprofit organization that sends cards and letters to children in hospitals. And on top of everything else she manages to find time to work at the farmto-table restaurant Nolabelle Kitchen + Bar in Mankato, which is good experience for what she might want to do as a career one day.

“Before I even added marketing as my second major, what I wanted to do was open a small business – maybe a coffee shop or a boutique,” she said. “I’ve worked at several small busi nesses – a tanning salon and several small restaurants – and I like how you get close to your coworkers.”

Thomas said she plans to return to the Milwaukee area after graduation and hopes to work at a marketing firm to promote downtown small businesses. Once she gains a few years of ex perience, she said she’ll consider starting a business of her own.

Suited for the role COB Business Management alum and generous benefactor

come into his family’s store, J. Longs in Mankato, and he gives them business dress clothes so they “look the part” of business professionals.

Matt – who also talks to classes in the College of Business (COB) and has served as judge for the “Big Ideas Challenge” –really likes working with students and staying connected to the COB. It’s just one more bonus of choosing to stay in his hometown and become part owner of the family business, J. Longs.