Career Spotlight: Heidi Capnerhurst ’12

Home State: Phoenix, AZ

Current Residence: Lower East Side, NY

Current Employer: Digitas

Future or current employer/position:

I am an Investment Strategy Associate for MARS Inc. at Digitas-an integrated advertising agency and creative technology group that has a global presence. Our aim is to link brand strategy, information, technology, and social media to drive a marketing story for our clients.

Brief description of your responsibilities:

In my role as a member of a three person Investment Strategy team, I am responsible for forming partnerships with relevant websites and publications, and negotiating deal points within these partnerships. My team also performs market research to educate our Media Planning team on new technologies within advertising to ensure we remain innovative.

Relevant past employer/position:

My last year in college, I was an intern at UBS Financial Services on the Wealth Management team. Shortly after graduation I started at Digitas as an Analyst for American Express. After my first year I transferred to the Investment Strategy team to pursue a more business minded role.

How did King’s education help and prepare you to succeed? 

My education at King’s benefited me in three distinct ways. In my role, I cannot simply be process orientated; I must be able to create new and more efficient ways of working. The philosophy classes at King’s trained me to think in this analytical mode. Second, my King’s education honed my writing skills. Writing well is an ability that will always aid your career. Third, my business classes gave me experience in Powerpoint and Excel. Creating presentations that tell a story and sells your audience is key in the advertising industry.

What recommendations do you have for current King’s students? 

My recommendation for a current King’s student is to get internships and begin to mingle with people who are currently in the industry that interests you. Making connections with people will open doors to many opportunities. Lastly, learn excel. You can never know it well enough.

Favorite Books: East of Eden

Favorite Music: I don’t want to brand myself to just one type of music! Here is a quote instead, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.” – Plato

Surprising Fact: I walked/slow jogged around the entire island of Manhattan (32 miles) in 8 hours’ time.