Month: January 2023

About Heidi Meyer

Heidi Meyer (she/her/hers) is a Senior psychology major and is heavily involved in the Davidson College community. Apart from her impressive pre-professional expertise, Meyer is a part of Student Government, is a member of the Activities Tax Council, participates in debate and discussion on Davidson’s campus as a Deliberative Citizen’s Initiative fellow, nannies on the side, and is now starting a new position as a Gig-Hub consultant working with the director of the Hurt Hub@Davidson, Elizabeth Brigham.  

Though Meyer is just starting her official time working with the Hurt Hub, she’s been a familiar name around our space for much longer. Like most seniors, Meyer is focused on her future, but she says post-grad job anxiety actually started when she was a sophomore. Meyer realized her sophomore year that there was a gap in the research she was looking for when thinking about her path after Davidson, but the summer before her senior year she had a second realization: “I can do something about this.” It was this idea that launched her into the world of podcasting. 

Meyer first launched her podcast, “Careers Explained” the summer before her senior year without any funding. Bringing on guests in all kinds of career paths, Meyer aims to help people her age, who might also be stressed about post-grad plans. Later on in her process, Meyer received funding from the Try-It fund and the Avinger Impact Fund to continue growing her endeavors.  

This past Thursday, I sat down with Meyer and she’s just as impressive in person as she is on paper. Meyer carries herself with contagious joy and that was evident throughout my whole conversation with her. She smiled the entire interview and after we wrapped up questions about her, she sat with me for another twenty minutes to get to know me. Hearing her goals and story make me want to call as many Davidson people as I can, just to make connections.

“What I’ve learned is that there are a million jobs out there and maybe this is idealistic, but I believe that everyone can find something they love and that no one should settle. I think there are so many roles – keep looking and keep trying if you’re unsure because I want everyone to do something that makes them happy.” 

The Process 

The process begins, in Meyer’s words, “with a lot of LinkedIn DMing and sleuthing.” Based on student interests, sometimes generated from frequent meetings with the Matthews Career Center, Meyer reaches out via personal connection or LinkedIn to request interviews with prospective podcast guests. With a ten percent response rate, Meyer has to have thick skin when it comes to requests. Reaching out to both Davidson connections and professionals who fit student requests, Meyer preps for an interview and then the two hop on Zoom to record the interview. Usually, Meyer edits the interview on her own on Anchor, posts it on social media, and the podcast is ready! 

What’s Next

Using the Avinger Impact Fund Grant, Meyer is expanding. Using the Avinger Grant, Meyer has built a Careers Explained website and is looking into hiring graphic designers and social media planners to grow her brand. Meyer is also engaging with the Davidson community by planning on incorporating Jesse Doyle, a Davidson volleyball player, as the new face and voice of Careers Explained. Meyer also plans on incorporating video into her productions and researching the best methods for reaching the most amount of people. You can listen to Meyer’s podcast here and find a career path that fits you best, with help and advice from a fellow Davidson student.

Evie Mulhern (she/her), class of 2025, is the picture of what a liberal arts education can provide for students at Davidson. As a computer science and studio art double major, Evie has been working on merging the digital and technical side of things with her creative endeavors which has lead her, unexpectedly, to entrepreneurship.

Her first year, Evie took Intro to Works on Paper with the visual arts department. Meeting in the Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center, Intro to Works on paper focuses on the intricacies of drawing, painting, and screenprinting.

I’ve done commissioned work, but I’ve never had people purchase original work that I’d done on my own or for a class.

Evie Mulhern

Although many may think of art as painting and drawing, Davidson’s art courses offer much more in the realms of alternative art. Evie’s interests lie in digital art and screen printing. (She’s also tried her hand at things like sculpture and silverwork.)

Having created screenprints in Intro to Works on Paper and her digital art class (Intro to Digital Design), Evie agreed to have her pieces displayed in the final student art showcase at the end of the semester. Two of her pieces, “Sense of Self Street” and “Are You Ready?” were singled out by interns at VAC who approached her about displaying the pieces in the Hurt Hub. Evie was excited, having studied at the Hurt Hub for her finals and the uniqueness of the space, to have her art set up for exhibit.

All pieces displayed at the Hurt Hub are available for purchase and the increased exposure led to two buyers contacting the VAC to inquire about purchasing Evie’s piece. The buying program focuses on centering the student in the process, which means students receive 100% of the sale profits and are responsible for orchestrating the sale.

Evie’s Pieces

Evie is realistic about her future ventures – although being a full-time creative is appealing – she wants to incorporate coding skills from her computer science major in her career while maintaining some kind of creative work. Although Evie’s sold these two pieces, she’s excited about the prospect of selling original work (for the first time as non-commissioned work!) and isn’t sad about losing these pieces. “Especially for “Are You Ready?”, since it is part of a 5 part series, I did not fully let it go, just let one bird out of the nest!”