Ariana Narang
By Zoë Eitel
Ariana Narang is a testament to a student’s ability to succeed at DePaul, even if they change their major or career direction. As a freshman, Ariana majored in Management Information Systems, and she admits shifting from business was a good move because she didn’t fully understand what MIS would entail.
She started by exploring public relations by way of the Public Relations and Advertising major. Ariana spent about a year on PR, not quite sure if it was the right fit for her, before someone suggested switching her focus to advertising. She took their advice and studied the more creative side of advertising for a while–art direction and copywriting. It took studying abroad in Paris and New York for her to really find her niche in the business and accounts side of advertising, finally finding her passion during her senior year.
Now, Ariana is an Assistant Account Executive at Ogilvy in Chicago working with a B2B client to run advertising campaigns as the middleman between the client and the agency.
Assistant Account Executive at Ogilvy
BA Public Relations and Advertising 2019
Ariana credits her involvement in multiple on-campus organizations with giving her the opportunities to explore her different interests, the support to see them through and the tools for success.
“Your path is always going to be changing, but you won’t know until you try,” Ariana says. “Being involved in all of these organizations has really shaped me to be who I am, but also to figure out what I’m doing. And being a leader on campus is so fundamentally helpful in your own personal growth because then you realize who you are and what you want to be and the next steps you want to take in your career path.”
“I think every internship I have gotten was through a connection or a guiding hand. The DePaul community is so inspiring when you take advantage of it.”
As a former EDGE student, South Asian Student Organization VP Marketer, facilities assistant, Alpha Kappa Psi VP of Membership, and a member of multiple other on campus organizations, Ariana says being part of student organizations was crucial to her educational journey and opened her up to opportunities she never would have had otherwise.
Participating in these organizations helped kickstart Ariana’s career, specifically when an AKPsi brother suggested an internship opportunity after Ariana shared her worries about not having had one yet.
“I never had an internship my freshman year, and I had noticed a lot of business students had gotten those internships and I didn’t, so it was kind of nerve wracking,” she says, adding that she spoke to a brother who worked at an ad agency and used that connection to get her foot in the door. “It was just a quick email–literally all it takes is a quick email, a quick connection–and I said, ‘One of my brothers in AKPsi said I should reach out for this opportunity.’ And that was how I got my first internship.”
Though the internship was unpaid, only two days a week and in the suburbs, it gave Ariana the experience she needed to get other internships while she was in school, all of which were also attained through connections.
