From a Certificate to a Career: Social Media Marketing

Maddy Worthington was able to make a career change to a job that she loves thanks to her education

BY: Natalia Ward

Maddy found the confidence to work toward a social media marketing certificate.

“To be honest, high school was never really my thing,” said Maddy Worthington. Despite her positive attitude and goal of attending a university, Maddy found getting good grades in high school difficult. She would often study and work hard, but she didn’t receive much support from her teachers.

“Toward the middle of high school, they told me to forget about going to university and to just try and graduate,” she said.

Despite lack of support, Maddy did graduate and even started at a community college. But when she failed the first semester, she started to believe what her teachers had told her and set her goal aside.

She chose a job as a daycare worker. Although she loved the kids, she didn’t love the hours or the pay and dreamed of something more. Eventually, through encouragement from her mom and a friend, Maddy found BYU-Pathway Worldwide.

Finding the right certificate

Much to her own surprise, Maddy did well in the foundational courses (called PathwayConnect). She found herself gaining confidence, learning to study better, and increasing her faith.

She said, “I had to work hard. There was a time when I was working two jobs and taking a full load of classes, and I don’t know how I did it. When I started to pass my classes, I began to realize I was better than I thought I was.”

Give yourself a chance. One of the biggest parts of this life is change.

Maddy decided to keep going and earn her first certificate. But which certificate was right? With some help from the degree list, she picked a social media marketing certificate that would lead into an applied business management from BYU-Idaho, supported by BYU-Pathway.

Building self-confidence and a degree

While her foundational courses gave her the confidence to continue her education, earning her first certificate — social media marketing — gave Maddy the credentials to switch careers. In her courses she learned about social media analytics and strategy. By the suggestion of a professor, Maddy stopped working in a daycare and applied for several social media internships. 

“I applied for a professional marketing company here in Utah, and they hired me. It was supposed to only be a three month internship, but they didn’t want to let me go at the end so it ended up being a nine month internship. And then they actually hired me as a full-time employee.”

Realizing bigger dreams

Maddy now thrives outside her comfort zone.

Now having confidence and skill, Maddy is realizing bigger dreams. She wants to own a social media management business that specifically helps clients with their interactions with influencers.

She said, “From my certificate courses, I learned about different marketing strategies and how to use social media analytics. That knowledge helped me find and recruit the best influencers for the company I was working for at the time.”

Now knowing that she can thrive outside of her comfort zone, Maddy is pursuing certificates in business and leadership skills and business administration so that she has the understanding behind anything a client may ask her to do.

Advice from Maddy: “Give yourself a chance”

To those wondering if BYU-Pathway is for them, Maddy says, “Give yourself a chance. One of the biggest parts of this life is change. It’s ok to take one class at a time. It’s okay to say, ‘yes, I can do it.’”