Alumni Feature: Grace Croley Ellenberg (’17)
“Classes like Western Civilization with Dr. Joseph Loconte, Marketing with Prof. Dawn Fotopulos, and Arts & Ideas with Dr. Henry Bleattler all gave me a deeper understanding of the world and greater insight into being a business owner.”
This fall, we connected with a number of young alumni from The King’s College to hear how they’re spending their time. How do they reflect on their years at King’s, and what has it looked like in practice for them to pursue the mission of shaping institutions? Read more alumni stories here.
Name and Graduation Year
Grace (Croley) Ellenberg, B.A. Media, Culture, and the Arts, 2017
Current Occupation
Project Manager at Useful Group and Owner of Ellenberg & Co (Website, Instagram).
What does a typical day look like for you?
At Useful Group, we work with several clients in faith-based industries, as well as more corporate clients such as Google. A typical day involves collaborating with creatives to deliver top quality content to meet our clients’ needs, whether that’s in creative, marketing, or web development. The bulk of my job is keeping the team on track, and I work with some of the top creatives to help them make sure they meet their deadlines, are thinking from the client’s point of view, and setting clear expectations.
I also have my own photography business, Ellenberg & Co. As a photographer, my weekends and evenings are spent photographing weddings and couples. Most of my clients are military, so I love hearing stories about all the places they’ve lived or traveled to! Grad school takes up the remainder of my free time—lots of reading and writing!
How did your experiences as a King’s student (either in class or outside of it) give you a deeper perspective that you now use in your day to day?
King’s gave me a diverse view of the world throughout my classroom experience and access to New York City. The core curriculum gave me a well-rounded foundation of knowledge to learn how to think critically about decisions in my daily life. Classes like Western Civilization with Dr. Joseph Loconte, Marketing with Prof. Dawn Fotopulos, and Arts & Ideas with Dr. Henry Bleattler all gave me a deeper understanding of the world and greater insight into being a business owner. Outside of my experience as a student, working as an employee at King’s cultivated my love of developing people which set me on the course to grad school!
In what ways do you see your current work contributing to God’s restoration of the world (or whatever larger purpose you see yourself as part of)?
Useful Group works with organizations that we believe are contributing to the world. It’s exciting to be a part of something that is encouraging others and making a difference even if our name is not directly attached to it. In my photography business, it brings me joy to see how a photograph can be so meaningful to someone’s daily walk. Most of my clients are military, and as a military spouse myself, this work allows me to connect with others through the talents the Lord has blessed me with.