“Ain’t She Sweet Café: Web Redesign” by Joi Arceneaux, Monica Bobbitt, Cheryl Rodriguez, and Janay White (May 2019)

 

In my visual communication class, we were asked to choose a website that we felt could be improved and work on the redesign as a group. My group decided to redesign the website for Ain’t She Sweet Café, a restaurant with two locations in Chicago. We felt that the current website is perfectly functional for what it is. However, our redesign made the website more visually appealing and more in line with the restaurant’s meal offerings and dining atmosphere. We also redesigned the flow of the website to make it more intuitive and user-friendly. While working on this project, we were able to tie together ideas from class discussions, such as color schemes and typography. I felt this group project was a great learning experience because the internet and websites are now second nature to most of us, and we want websites that we create to be visually appealing, yet user friendly. I can definitely apply ideas that we used to redesign the Ain’t She Sweet Café website in work that I do professionally as a web developer and content strategist. 

KEYWORDS: design, information, strategy, usability

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“A Case Study on Authentic Communication” by Cheryl Rodriguez (December 2018)

 

This was my final paper for the Foundations of Strategic Communication Management class. The assignment was to choose an organization that I’m a stakeholder of, perform an assessment of their strategic communications, and determine the authentic nature of the organization based on its communications. I chose to write my paper on my employer. The interesting thing that I found is that, at least for my employer, the authenticity is based on its lack of communication. My employer is notorious for its lack of communication, but it’s in this way that they are strategic. Strategic communication is not always about what information an organization chooses to share, but sometimes it’s what information they choose not to share.

KEYWORDS: strategic communication

 

“A Misstep in UFC’s Rise to $4 Billion” by Cheryl Rodriguez (February 2019)

 

This was a paper I wrote in reaction to a Harvard Business School case we read about the difficulties the previous owners of the UFC went through when trying to bring their brand of fighting into the mainstream. They encountered difficulties with trying to get the sport regulated, as well as finding pay-per-view broadcasters to carry the fights and opposition from government officials. However, early on, the UFC’s marketing team made a huge misstep when they marketed the sport with the possibility of death. This was a prime example of what not to do, according to Professor Morris’s strategies for a regulated business environment. We want to make it easier to agencies to rule in our favor in order to get what we want, but in this case, marketing with the possibility of death made it difficult for the UFC to get what they want.

KEYWORDS: regulation, strategy, marketing

 

“A Survival Guide for the Retail Apocalypse” by Cheryl Rodriguez (March 2019)

 

This was a paper I wrote for the Law, Technology, and Strategy class where we were to utilize the Professor Morris’s strategies for a regulated business environment and apply them to any topic we want. For this paper, I applied these strategies to brick-and-mortar stores. Currently, many physical store locations are vacant due to increased competition from online shopping. However, physical stores still fill a need in the retail landscape, and the paper includes strategies that can be applied and explanations on why these strategies would be useful. This paper was another example of how the strategies can be applied to many situations, even those outside of the class, in order to get what we want.

KEYWORDS: strategy, social media, technology

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“Board of Directors Final Assignment” by Cheryl Rodriguez (June 2019)

 

For my networking class, we were asked to assess our current network in relation to our goals, and based on our assessment, think of ways we could expand our network to get closer to what we want. After performing my assessment, I realized that my current network consisted mostly of family, friends, and work colleagues. I was lacking in professional connections outside of my company. Finding connections like this is especially important to me at the moment since I’m interested in finding a new job that better utilizes my skill set. This assignment helped me figure out the types of professional connections I need to seek out and how I find and make these connections. With this assessment and what I’ve learned in the networking class, I feel more confident in approaching others in making these types of connections.

KEYWORDS: connections, networking

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“Deception and Ethics in Strategic Communication” by Cheryl Rodriguez (October 2018)

 

This was a reaction paper to a reading from my Foundations of Strategic Communication Management class. After reading Campbell and Dulek’s article, I initially felt that deception in strategic communication can be considered unethical when communicating to stakeholders. After further class discussion and feedback from Professor Iden, I realized that deception is sometimes necessary for the greater good of society.

KEYWORDS: strategic communication

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"Dispensary 33: Content Marketing Presentation" by Cheryl Rodriguez, Jacqueline Simon-Flowers, and Janay White (July 2019)

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This was a content marketing plan we presented in our Content and Influencer Marketing class. We were tasked with coming up with a marketing plan for Dispensary 33, a medical cannabis dispensary in Chicago, Illinois. While their website provides useful information regarding their contact and business information, we felt that we could come up with a plan to bring more traffic to their website by creating a blog with content related to cannabis as it can be used for medical reasons, as well as news regarding cannabis laws and regulations. This was a great opportunity for my group members and me to apply what we learned in our class to a real-life scenario.

KEYWORDS: content strategy, influencer, marketing

 

“My Leadership Agenda” by Cheryl Rodriguez (December 2018)

 

The final assignment for my Leading Collaboration class was to put together a leadership agenda. The assignment consisted of two parts: a leadership 360, and a leadership agenda. While putting together my submission, it allowed me to reflect on the ways that I’m already a good leader, but also the ways that I can improve my leadership skills. Through this reflection, I was able to pinpoint specific examples where my leadership skills were lacking, and because of this, I’ve missed opportunities in my career.

KEYWORDS: leadership

 

“Strategy Group Presentation on the Obama Presidential Center” by Stephanie Kramer, Jose Ortiz-Reyna, and Cheryl Rodriguez (February 2019)

 

In my Law, Technology, and Strategy class, we were asked to put together a presentation about a current issue and identify strategies (from Professor Morris’s list) that were being utilized. My group and I decided to examine the roadblocks that were holding up the Obama Presidential Center project from moving forward in Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois. We identified strategies that were being used on both sides of the argument. To me, this was another example of how Professor Morris’s strategies can be utilized in the real world and on both sides of an argument. 

KEYWORDS: strategy, regulation

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“The AT&T U-verse Remote Control” by Cheryl Rodriguez (May 2019)

 

This was a paper I wrote for my Visual Communication class. We were asked to write a visual communication critique of an item that we use on a regular basis, using terms and ideas that we read about in The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman. I chose to write about a remote control that I use to control my TV and cable box. While writing this paper, I found all kinds of considerations that the designer of the remote control thought of in order to make it user friendly. Many of these considerations I would for granted, like the ergonomic feel of the remote in my hand or the visual feedback the remote gives me when I press a button. This paper opened my eyes to how impactful the design of everyday things really is, and I can use the ideas presented in the reading and from my paper to improve designs and content in my work.

KEYWORDS: design, strategy, usability

 

“Work Threat Issues” submitted by Cheryl Rodriguez (January 2019)

 

This was an exercise in the Law, Technology, and Strategy class where Professor Morris asked us to identify two threats to our organization or place of work. I work at McMaster-Carr, and one of the threats I identified was dealing with the tariffs on raw materials that President Trump passed in 2018. This is an external threat to my place of work because we purchase and resell raw materials as part of our product line. However, these tariffs have hurt some of our suppliers of raw materials because of the increased costs. Some of our suppliers have had to increase order or item minimums or have even gone out of business, and in turn, we have to look for new suppliers for these products and raise prices. This was a prime example on how regulations can affect and threaten our places of work and can have an effect on our lives. It’s important that we be able to identify these threats so that we can come up with strategies on how to deal with them.

KEYWORDS: regulation, threats