Throughout their academic career at CSU, English alum Andrea Day (B.A., ’21) wore several hats. As they worked toward their degree in English with a concentration in creative writing, Day participated in the College of Liberal Arts Ambassador Program, joined the CSU Figure Skating team, and earned a minor in media studies.
Now, as an employee of Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Day similarly refers to their job as a balancing act. While they started out as a part-time bookseller, Day has since grown to take on a new position as the events and social media coordinator. In this role, they use their degree to support the store by managing author events, coordinating communication across social media platforms, expanding their design skills, and more.
Read about Day’s emerging literary career and the ways their English degree has played an integral part in their professional success, below.
Walk us through a typical day at work—what responsibilities and tasks do you handle?
As the events and social media/marketing coordinator at Old Firehouse Books, my workday can be incredibly varied.
My events role requires me to communicate with different authors and publicists from various publishing houses to organize and plan events for the store. This begins with me writing and sending out different proposals to different publishing houses about why we should be the store to host their touring author’s event. If the author or publishing house shows interest in us, it becomes a game of emails and dates until the event happens.
Much of my time is spent composing and sending proposals, while other days it’s a mix of digging into research for upcoming interviews and facilitating events at the store.
In my social media role, I draft and pre-schedule the next weeks’ worth of social media content as well as the copy and design for upcoming email blasts. Depending on the week, I will also work with local newspapers to promote our “staff picks” or other upcoming news. This portion of my role requires more of my attention regarding what’s going on in the store, what new books are out, what people are reading, etc. I always enjoy highlighting the awesome stuff happening in our store or highlighting cool things happening in the book world.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
There are a couple of things that I adore about my job. I am thrilled that I get to bring people’s favorite authors to Fort Collins. I have met and seen so many people who are so enthusiastic about their favorite books and every single time it warms my heart. I’ve always loved going to author events, so the fact that I get to host them now is exciting! I have had so many positive conversations with other readers and authors at these events.
I am also an incredible fan of my coworkers, so I must shout them out. Every single person at Old Firehouse Books is a wonderful and passionate person, so it’s a great environment to work in.
What challenges come up?
I think the most challenging part of my job is balance. Since a lot of my job is online communications, it can be easy to lose or forget about a conversation/detail and then I must scramble to find something or figure out what should’ve been a small detail. A general challenge is just personal life/work balance, which I think a lot of people struggle with in this industry—especially younger professionals!
How have you grown since taking on your new role—what are you most proud of?
My confidence has grown a lot. When I first started in my current role, I felt very out of place. I felt as if I didn’t quite belong in a place that was actively engaging with such high-level publishing houses, or authors, or online communities. But as I grew more comfortable with my responsibilities and started to work more with other publishing professionals, I realized that everything is a learning process and that I am fully capable and worthy of being where I am.
Of course, I am proud of becoming more confident in myself but what I am truly proud of is growing Old Firehouse Books in terms of community engagement! I really wanted to expand the role OFB has in Fort Collins reader and writer communities, so I have hosted several events that bring people together such as the monthly Creative Writing Group, the Artists & Authors Exhibition, Drag Story Time, and more!
How does your English degree play a role in your current career?
My English degree has helped so much!! As a past CLA Ambassador, I always have to mention that anyone who tells you that you can’t get a job with a liberal arts degree is just not telling the truth!
Understanding books and having a deep love for the written word is a necessity for those who want to work in books. My degree not only showed me how to truly appreciate books as a reader, but also revealed the intricacies of how books are written, how ideas come to fruition, and how different ideas have changed and grown popular throughout time.
Interconnected with my media studies minor, I learned how people approach and understand stories and how that can affect their understanding of the world and themselves. On a grand scale, my job is engaging with stories and sharing them with the world—all of which is a major focus of the English major.
What story about your career would you like to share with current CSU students?
As I mentioned previously, I really value encouraging community through my role. One of my favorite events I’ve ever hosted was the release of Camille Dungy’s Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. Camille was my professor for my 300-level poetry course for my creative writing concentration. I loved learning from Camille—her approach to writing was incredibly grounded and made me question and critique my own work in a way I had never done before.
Soil is an incredible book, and I can see Camille’s teaching embedded in her own work. I was thrilled to host the event for Camille and her amazing new book, and the event itself was beyond my expectations. We hosted it at the Old Town Library and the town of Fort Collins showed up! It was so thrilling to support a professor I deeply respect and see how that respect continued throughout Fort Collins.
The book industry is highly dependent on your connections with other people, and seeing several of my other professors, other local Fort Collins or Colorado authors, and our customers show up in droves was lovely.
Share your story
Calling all CLA alumni! After graduating from CSU, you took your liberal arts education and made a meaningful life. We want to share your story with current and future students to inspire the next generation of College of Liberal Arts Rams.
Tell us how your degree has affected your life and career: https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/alumni-stories/
