Le Moyne College Stories

Most people flip through magazines idly while waiting at the doctor’s or dentist’s office, leafing through the glossy pages and skimming the articles with one eye on the clock. But Amari Pollard ‘17 had a slightly different experience growing up.

“My parents are dentists, so they had a lot of magazines that would go to their office. I would just steal a stack of them before the patients could read them,” she laughs.

Pollard’s appetite for magazines was steadily fed with a diet of Essence magazine, People magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine. But simply reading them wasn’t enough. She wanted to help create them. Guided by her love of the written word and her natural curiosity, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Le Moyne in communications with a concentration in journalism and a minor in creative writing.

From her position as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper to her role as a player on the women’s lacrosse team, Pollard spent her four years at Le Moyne pursuing a wide variety of passions.

“Le Moyne made it easy to get involved with things I was interested in,” she says. “I was able to create a circle for myself where I could hone in on the interests I had.”

Through an internship she secured at Parents Magazine during the summer before her senior year, Pollard gained valuable experience working in lifestyle magazines. Post-graduation, she continued to immerse herself in the world of magazines by working as the social media editor for the magazine The Week. After about a year, she accepted a new position as head of audience development. In this role, she worked to promote the website’s writers and articles.

“It was cool getting to work there and be a fan of the writers we had,” says Pollard. “I got to see them come up with such thoughtful and intellectual pieces. They made it easy to promote their work.”

Her experience working at The Week inspired her to take the next step in her career: grad school. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in mass media and communication with a concentration in strategic communications from the University of North Carolina. In the future, she hopes to work for a communication or PR firm and collaborate with multiple clients on different projects and campaigns.

While Pollard felt like it was time to go back to school “to relearn things, and to learn new things,” she continues to carry her memories from the Heights with her into her future.

“Because you have such a strong community at Le Moyne, it makes you want to recreate that in the real world,” she says. “It drives you to make connections—actual, genuine connections with the people around you—and that served me well in my personal life and my professional life.”