Monique Watkins

I currently serve as Vice President for External Affairs at my university, a position I was elected to one year ago after working as a student coordinator. That coordinator role opened incredible doors for me, allowing me to work closely with campus administration and students, which ultimately led to my election to this leadership position. My typical day involves meetings throughout the day, but I make it a priority to stay in my office to be a resource for students who need to stop by and talk. My key responsibilities center around communication and marketing - I ensure that everything our department does gets shared with other departments and reaches our students. I create flyers for different events, manage the marketing and promotion of campus activities, and keep us up-to-date across all social media platforms. What I'm most proud of is seeing our campus community become much more tight-knit, with students supporting each other more and supporting different initiatives they believe in. Being able to amplify student voices and make sure they're heard across the university has been incredibly rewarding. I also work closely with Agape Equine Therapy in Arlington, Texas, a nonprofit run by Alicia Bradford that helps mentally disabled children work with horses. She's been an amazing mentor to me, and I've been able to bring some of that entrepreneurial spirit onto our campus to encourage other students to branch out. While I majored in theater performance and love live theater, museums, singing, and all forms of creativity, my current role still allows me to tap into my creative side by finding new ways to reach our campus audience and put on engaging experiences for the student body.