From a young age, Cassandra Libal ’19 knew she wanted to create change in her community. Growing up in inner-city Milwaukee, she was raised by a single mother who wasn’t able to provide financial support for higher education.

To pursue her dream, she applied for a paid apprenticeship right out of high school: Milwaukee’s Police Aide program. Earning an income while she developed useful skills for a career in law enforcement, she performed clerical and support work for two years. When she turned 21, she joined the Police Academy to complete training.

Since becoming an officer in 1997, Libal has worked in nearly every aspect of law enforcement, from general patrol to narcotics. Rising through the ranks to captain and serving as the commander of community outreach and education, she helped bridge the gap between the Milwaukee community and police officers. “I loved overseeing our community outreach efforts, which circles back to the reason I wanted a career in law enforcement: to pay it forward and make a difference,” she explains.

Marcus King ’19 has always been a leader—it just came naturally, even as a student.

Before he graduated from Southern Illinois University in 2011 with a journalism/integrated marketing communications degree, he was elected by 18,000+ of his peers to serve as the undergraduate student body president. In this role, he was responsible for representing student views in monthly meetings with the university chancellor.

Recognizing King’s strong performance in leadership and campus involvement, a professor encouraged him to pursue a Dunn Fellowship after graduation: a year-long governmental honors fellowship program that identifies young professionals who have the skills needed for executive-level positions within the Illinois Governor’s Office. Selected from a pool of more than 5,000 students, King had the opportunity to work in the press office to assist the press secretary with releases and media interaction.

With that experience under his belt, he was soon tapped for a new government role: chief of constituent affairs for the State of Illinois, where he was entrusted with significant authority over staff, served as a media spokesperson and handled media inquiries for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and organized and executed Summit of Hope (the No. 1 U.S. re-entry program for ex-offenders).

He had already gained impressive experience in just a few years, climbing the ladder quickly. (Maybe a little bit too quickly, he admits.) With so much of his career left in front of him, King wanted to do more to improve his skills—and realized that a graduate degree might be the answer.

“What sold me on the MS in Communication program was when I went to the open house and got to sit through a class taught by Michelle Shumate,” he says. “There was something about her. I was very impressed.”

Given the demands of his job, King couldn’t imagine being in class on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night. But he also didn’t want to give up his Saturdays for classes. Once he realized he could complete the graduate program in one year, he decided the Saturday sacrifice was worth it.

Only a month after he began the MS in Communication program, King’s career took another step forward. In December 2018, he was offered another senior-level position. He now serves as the State of Illinois’ senior advisor for civic engagement.

“If you’re in any type of leadership or communications position, then this program is for you,” he says. “There’s nothing you can think of that the program doesn’t touch on.”

He says his professors presented information in a way that made him curious about communication; he could relate the curriculum to everything he dealt with at work (and in his personal life, too), which only made him want to learn more.

The lessons were so valuable, in fact, that he saved his class notes—and he’s glad he did. “I was able to reference them later—I still do—and they’re like gold,” he says. “I didn’t always make the connection at the time with some of the things being taught, but I wrote them down. When I started to step away, I was able to start connecting these ideologies and philosophies to advance my career and professional relationships.”

As he works on a personal video project—set for release this fall—he spoke with a Kentucky state representative about ethics and virtue. His ability to talk about those topics in-depth with the legislator is owed to Randy Iden, King says.

“Some of his concepts were so new to me that I became fascinated with them. That’s what this program does. The professors put you on different roads you never would have traveled. Once you start traveling those roads, you get to destinations you never would have thought about on your own.”

As Jessie Pagliari (MSC ’20) was studying communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she often called her mom, Rose Pagliari (MSC ’19), as she walked home from class.

From interpersonal interaction to the mother/daughter dyad, Jessie wanted to share what she was learning—and communication was a topic they were both interested in and loved to discuss.

While Jessie was earning her undergraduate degree, Rose was a few decades into her sales career. A high-level position at an IT services company kept her busy managing a portfolio of high-impact clients, supporting their training and learning initiatives by hiring talent for their IT projects. Whenever she saw Northwestern credentials listed on a résumé, she always took time to interview the applicant. “I knew there was probably something special about that person.”

One weekend in 2018 when Jessie returned home for a quick visit (she had graduated and was working at a media company in a business development role), she found her mother writing a paper as part of prework for admission to Northwestern’s MS in Communication program.

“I had been afraid to apply and didn’t tell many people,” says Rose. “I had worked all these years and accomplished all these things. I could think of a million reasons why I shouldn’t apply, but a voice in my head just kept saying, ‘Keep going. You have to be part of this.’ I wanted to become stronger, smarter, and better. I wanted to be able to share what I learned with other people.”

Rose says her inspiration to return to school had come from her daughter – although Jessie didn’t realize it at the time. “As a parent, to learn from you child is an amazing moment,” Rose says. We spend our whole lives teaching them…and then they turn around and teach us.”

Soon, the phone calls after class started again. But this time it was Rose calling Jessie to share what she was learning: from behavior discussions of high self-monitors vs. low self-monitors to the impacts of working globally and cross-border communication differences.

For Rose, the program was answering questions that had lingered for years. She finally understood why change initiatives sometimes failed, why some people were promoted when they lacked necessary skills, and the impact of assigning overly aggressive goals—and she was excited to share with Jessie what she was discovering.

The more she heard about her mother’s classroom experiences, the more Jessie realized that an MS in Communication might be a valuable tool for her, too. Only a few years into her career, she wanted leadership, persuasion, and communication skills that would set her apart.

“My mom was learning unique things that were directly applicable to the situations I faced as an enterprise salesperson,” says Jessie, who had moved to a role with LinkedIn Learning as a mid-market relationship manager. “She inspired me to want to learn the things she was learning—and to pursue a graduate degree in communication. It was a full-circle moment: inspiration begets inspiration.” 

One year after her mother, Jessie took the leap and enrolled, beginning the MS in Communication program in Fall 2019. “I was so excited for her during the application process,” says Rose. “I knew she had so much to offer. As I took these courses and reflected on my career, I kept thinking, ‘If I only knew then what I know now.’ I’m so happy she has that opportunity.”

Jessie says it’s been helpful to talk to her mom about what she’s learning and compare it to what Rose learned a year earlier. 

“I was pleasantly surprised by the corporate application aspects,” says Jessie. “Once we hear a theory and it resonates, our professors encourage us to try it when it makes sense. If it doesn’t feel like it fits, then challenge it.”

In one class, for example, students are guided through the steps of building their own leadership stories. Jessie enjoyed the process so much that she decided to try it out, sharing the concept with her manager. From there, Jessie led her team through a three-hour storytelling workshop. “It was awesome to learn it and then teach it back to see how much other people loved and enjoyed it, too,” she says.

In the past year, while Jessie has been working and studying, Rose has been reflecting on what she learned and the confidence the program gave her. Last July, to re-focus, she decided to resign from her high-level sales position. “I have all these resources and knowledge now,” she says. “I can do whatever I put my mind to. Now I just want to think about what that is.”

After she graduated in 2019, Rose combined the lessons she learned in one of her MS in Communication courses with her own research and presented at an ATD Chicagoland Chapter Conference about the power of networks. She loved the experience so much that she plans to continue sharing her knowledge this way in the future. “Your network truly determines the opportunities that cross your desk,” she says. “There are small things you can do to increase the power of your network. I want to share that with people.”

Transportation, aerospace, and even U.S. Congress: Gabrielle Torina ’19 had gained impressive work experience across a wide variety of fields—but she was ready to focus her work and build her career.

Even before she earned her undergraduate degree at Judson University in 2017, Torina was attending open houses for Northwestern’s MS in Communication program. She worked hard to develop the focus and drive to go to college and wanted to keep the momentum going.

“I knew I had potential,” she says, “but the lack of higher education was limiting me. I was a little confused about my experiences. How was anyone going to look at my résumé and understand me and where I was trying to go if I didn’t know myself?”

As she started to think about career goals and make sense of her work experiences, she noticed some common threads: marketing, communications, and working with people. She started charting her journey, asking those around her for feedback on what she does well and focusing on experiences and skills she enjoys.

“I ultimately chose to earn a master’s at Northwestern because I needed something that was going to make me stand out,” explains Torina. “This field can become saturated, so I wanted to show that I was different. I wanted something that was going to stretch me and give me that big sense of pride afterwards.”

Living nearly two hours away in Rockford, IL, didn’t stop her from moving forward with that dream. She got up at 4 am so she could be one of the first to arrive, making the most of the experience while she could. This also allowed her to spend one-on-one time with Pat Messina, associate director of career management for the MS in Communication program (Messina arrived early on class days, too).

“She helped me reformat my résumé and look at my experiences in a different way, crafting a strong value proposition using what I already had. I took advantage of that time to ask questions and get advice.” Combined with the curriculum, these services helped her find value in the diverse career experiences she had—and how to apply them moving forward. Torina still keeps in touch with the career services team, recently reaching out for tips on refreshing her personal brand to better align it with who she is today.

Another program highlight for Torina was her mastermind group, formed by a classmate and made up of seven individuals who represented different career phases and industries. “It was so valuable—not just from a relationship standpoint, but also keeping each other on track. We were intentional about getting large assignments and capstone projects done early so we weren’t stressed at the end. We helped one another when it was time to come up with topics for papers and assignments.”

Torina says the program paid off almost immediately in the form of a new job—her dream job. Even during the interview process, she used what she learned from the MS in Communication program to answer in-depth questions in front of a panel and create a presentation in response to a specific situation.

Five weeks into her new job, the United States was suddenly faced with COVID-19. “I was immediately able to start crisis communications,” she says. “It just hit me: ‘Wow, I’m using my degree right away!’ ”

She currently works as the engagement and communications manager for Transform Rockford, a social innovation incubator. Formed seven years ago to improve living and working conditions in Rockford, this grassroots movement improves social and economic well-being for people in the Rockford area by following a transformation plan that promotes healing and fixing the community’s problems from within. Torina and her team have an ambitious goal: to transform Rockford into a top 25 community by 2025.

“I’m not the same person I was before the program,” she says. “I’m still using the resources that are available to us—for myself, for my career, and to guide others. I learned more than what I thought I was going to. They instilled a desire to always be in pursuit of information and truth. I left knowing my value and what I’m able to offer the world.”

Growing up, Jason DeSanto, senior lecturer at Northwestern University, enjoyed getting up in front of a classroom full of his peers. Part of the Illinois high school forensics circuit, he looked forward to the thrill of participating in organized public speaking events.

“I enjoyed the process of thinking about what allowed people to connect with each other,” he explains.

Attending Northwestern University and studying rhetoric as an undergraduate was a natural choice for him—and one that helped pinpoint specific areas of interest: law, political debates, and public policy speechwriting.

After graduating, he led communications for a U.S. Senate campaign. He was doing work he had dreamed about—but he also dreamed of something else. “I always thought becoming a practicing attorney would be exciting,” he says, so he returned to school to earn a JD and practiced law for more than a decade.

“I realized I used communication in my daily practice of law,” he says, “but also used it beyond that. I was still working on political campaigns, doing speechwriting, and debate coaching. While I was doing this, I was running on related yet parallel paths of law and advocacy.” For DeSanto, this brought to light the innate intersection of law, public policy, and communication.

Turning Practice into Teachable Lessons

Given this unique perspective, he jumped at the chance to teach students about freedom of expression and the First Amendment when he was asked to serve as an adjunct professor at Northwestern.

His passion for the subject—and the passion he instilled in students as a result—eventually led him to a full-time education role, where he teaches MS in Communication students while also serving as faculty for Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.

“In some ways, this was a return to things I’ve loved and had a passion for since I was young—and a return to things I had studied at Northwestern,” he says. “I was still doing consulting in the politics, business, and not-for-profit worlds, but now I was reinforcing it by working with students in the MS in Communication program.”

Crafting Powerful Communicators

His popular Public Persuasion course—offered to Custom Leadership Program students—is an intensive workshop that showcases how to develop policy ideas, powerfully articulate them, and secure commitment and action. In other words, he helps future leaders become better public communicators in settings that range from leading meetings and giving speeches to producing internal memos.

His goal is to build conviction and connection among communicators. “When we ask people what they remember about the most impactful presentation or speech they’ve ever heard, they ordinarily identify someone who has passion—and who obviously cared about what they were talking about. They seem committed to us as audience members.”

Part of building that conviction and connection involves personal reflection. DeSanto’s class supports this through free writing and the use of prompts that encourage students to think about what it means to put convictions out into the world.

“In class, we think about the first thing we identify as broken—whether it’s within our workplace or somewhere else—and then how we might fix it,” he explains. “Spending time thinking about this helps you identify the real problem you want to solve, the possible solution, and your personal attachment to the problem.”

The next step involves thinking about what motivates and persuades others—and ways to break through to them. “We talk about the tools we have as writers or speakers to do this so students walk away with a set of highly portable skills to influence and motivate,” he says.

For Hybrid Leadership Program students, he also helps facilitate a Crisis Communication Management course by leading the Q&A portion of the class.

DeSanto’s lasting impact on the MS in Communication students is obvious: He’s one of the highest-rated lecturers at Northwestern, has received the Dean’s Teaching Award, and was voted to deliver the annual last Lecture by three consecutive Pritzker School of Law graduating classes.

“Teaching and learning are reciprocal,” he says. “David Zarefsky, professor emeritus, taught me that. Whatever enjoyment and knowledge students gain from my courses, they repay me beyond anything I could provide to them. Helping other people find the powerful communicator inside themselves has become an animating force in my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”