Ann Lee Portfolio

Contents
Resume 4

Letters of Recommendations 6

Creative Communications Samples 9

Writing Sample 15

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Resume

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 Ann Lee
alee27@illinois.edu

Education
University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign
May 2009
Bachelor of Science in Advertising
Cumulative GPA 3.58/4.00
Minor in Sociology and Concentration in Psychology, Dean’s List for 3 semesters

Experience
Account Management Intern - The Kaplan Thaler Group – New York, NY
June 2008-August 2008
Conducted extensive competitive analysis for Outback Steakhouse with focus on competitive
media
Researched trends and created case studies relevant to Outback Steakhouse advertising campaign
Brainstormed, researched, and formally presented promotional concepts for Aussie Hair Products
to creative executives
Audited weekly status calls to discuss progress and updates of Outback Steakhouse campaign
Attended weekly seminars sponsored by AAAA concerning various topics related to ad industry
Ad-Visor – Illini Media Company – Champaign, IL
April 2007 to April 2008
Provided account management for multimedia ad campaigns for major local realty and campus
advertising accounts
Organized and assembled daily and special editions of the Daily Illini and Buzz Magazine with
circulation of 25,000 copies
Obtained new business via email, phone calls, and meetings
Facilitated editing process for special ads with clientele
Recorded and maintained customer history and balances in computer database
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Activities and Honors
Finalist – American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Minority Student
2009
40 finalists chosen from national pool of applicants
Participant – National Student Advertising Competition
October 2008 to present
Participant - Advertising Boot Camp with Leo Burnett
October 2008
Participated in weekend long boot camp focusing on developing creative strategies for the
Petsmart campaign
Worked in group to create print ads from conception to production
Presented creative work to Leo Burnett’s VP Creative and VP Account Planner
Attended seminar to further develop presentation skills
Vice President of Branding and Marketing/Member – American Advertising Federation
December 2006 to present
Create and utilize promotional materials to generate brand awareness in effort to create ideal im-
age of AAF among all stakeholders, including the University of Illinois
Collaborated with Executive Vice President of Marketing and Branding to lead committee of

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Letters of Recommendations

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 December 4, 2007
To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is in regards to Ann Lee, an employee at Uniquely Sweet for over 4 years. Ann was
hired while attending high school as a part time employee during one of our busy seasons. She quickly es-
tablished herself as a fast learner with a positive attitude. Ann quickly learned how to take orders and com-
municate with customers in a retail setting. These skills came very naturally to Ann and it became clear she
was a real people person.

Ann then displayed her talents in our productions department. Once again, she caught on very
quickly to the techniques that were shown to her, and she perfected her talents by continuing to question
how things could improve as well as investigating on her own. This demonstrated Ann’s ability to success-
fully work individually and in teams. Prior to leaving for college, she personally trained a handful of her
successors. Her positive attitude, patience, and natural ability to communicate with others helped her to
pass along her knowledge and skills to many eager learners.

While away at school Ann continues to have a positive influence on our business, and she contin-
ues work during the summers and holiday breaks. We are always thrilled to have Ann back because she is
undoubtedly one of our hardest working and most capable and reliable employees. Despite her time away,
she jumps right back in like she never left and all the other employees treat her as a respected authority fig-
ure.

In closing, I would highly recommend Ann Lee for any position that she is applying for. I know
that everything Ann pursues, she pursues with one hundred percent effort and goes above and beyond what
is expected of her. Like we have always said, if there was a way to clone Ann, we definitely would!

Sincerely,

Erin Miller
Store Manager
Uniquely Sweet

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 October 14, 2008

Ms. Tricia Ward

AAF’s Most Promising Minority Student Program
1101 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Ms. Ward,

I’m writing to you on behalf of Ann Lee regarding her nomination for AAF’s Most Promising
Minority Student. I had the opportunity to work with Ann on the Outback account during her
internship here at The Kaplan Thaler Group last summer.

Ann has a positive attitude and was eager to jump in on any project to help the Outback
Steakhouse team. In addition to doing a Casual Dining Category Competitive Analysis and
ongoing competitive reviews, Ann took on several everyday assignments and we could al-
ways count on her to complete them quickly and accurately.

The Outback project flow varied quite a bit during her time here, and whether it was very
slow or incredibly busy Ann maintained a positive attitude and continually asked for addi-
tional assignments and searched for ways to contribute to the team. She displayed maturity
and professionalism by asking if she could approach other teams and departments for addi-
tional work. As a result Ann had exposure to other aspects of Kaplan Thaler’s business and
was able to gain valuable experience in account planning and other categories.

Ann is intelligent, has a “can-do” attitude, and has displayed a desire to succeed. She will no
doubt excel in account management or whatever direction her career takes.

Sincerely,

Keely Herron
Management Supervisor, Outback Steakhouse
Kaplan Thaler Group

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 Another letter of recommendation
is on it’s way… =)

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Creative Communication Samples

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Writing Sample

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 On April 10, 2000, Elizabeth Shin, a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, set herself

on fire in her dorm room, sustaining third degree burns on over 65% of her body. Four days later, Elizabeth was

declared dead. Prior to the gruesome suicide attempt that led up to her death, Elizabeth had a history of mental

disturbance and lived through additional suicide attempts (The Tech, 2002).

On February 12, 1999, Elizabeth overdosed on 15 Tylenol with Codeine capsules. The college freshman

was immediately taken to the local mental hospital where she stayed for a week. Elizabeth claimed that she took

the pills in an attempt to fall asleep the night before a test. Her parents were notified about her hospital stay and

were reassured, believing that MIT only offered the best in everything. Her father was quoted saying, “I was al-

ways full of confidence that anything MIT offered was the best in the world." (Sharpe, 2002) Elizabeth was re-

ferred to a medical professional, Dr. Girard, for treatment during her spring semester. During this time, Shin’s

depression related symptoms persisted, pushing her to continue to contemplate suicide (The Tech, 2002).

Upon her return to MIT for her sophomore year, Shin told the group of medical professionals she had

been previously seeing that she was experiencing depression related symptoms but her doctors concluded that she

was suffering from “situational issues”. The doctors believed that it would be sufficient for Shin to visit the clinic

on a voluntary basis (The Tech, 2002). Record shows that she had discussed suicide with friends, therapists and

even periodically cut herself with a knife (Sharpe, 2002). During this time, Shin went as far as to write an email to

a faculty member, detailing her suicidal thoughts. This email was forwarded to other MIT faculty, including the

Associate Dean. Dr. Girard was also informed, but all parties failed to take action (The Tech, 2002).

Shin’s symptoms only got worse. In spring 2000, Shin was rushed to the infirmary after peers in dorm

found her hysterically sobbing. Upon examination, Dr. David Reisen diagnosed Shin as having depression and a

potential borderline personality disorder (The Tech, 2002). At this time, her parents were once again notified be-

cause Shin was planning to leave for spring break. However, due to confidentiality rules, details of her hospitaliza-

tion could not be divulged. Her parents did not know much more than that their daughter had been hospitalized

(Sharpe, 2002).

As problems persisted, on April 6, 2000, another medical professional suggested that Shin be admitted as

soon as possible to an intensive program of Dialectic Behavior Therapy. The option was discussed with Shin, but

the decision to actually attend the 5 day program was left up to Shin. Two days later on April 8, Shin told another

student that she wanted to kill herself by stabbing a knife into her chest. The student reported the incident and Shin

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was taken to the MIT Mental Health Services where she spoke with Dr. Anthony Van Niel, an on-call psychiatrist.

Dr. Van Niel felt it was unnecessary to see Shin in person, and believed it would be safe for her to return to her

dorm (The Tech, 2002).

On April 10, 2000, a resident of Shin’s dorm heard the fire alarm in Shin’s room. By the time the MIT

police arrived, Shin’s body was found engulfed in flames. Four days later, Shin was declared dead (The Tech,

2002).

The way the media covered the tragic story of Elizabeth Shin would lead one to place the blame of Shin’s

unfortunate death on MIT. Many articles covering Shin’s death allude that MIT’s Mental Health Care Unit was to

blame due to a lack of resources and several cases of mistreatment. Also, there has been many articles written

about the increasing trend in college suicide, and MIT is often brought up for discussion in such articles. Based on

history and high expectations, some may even consider MIT to be the model institution for fostering college sui-

cide. Lastly, there has been much discussion about loco parentis. This means that a “person or institute assumes

parental rights and duties for a minor” (legal-dictionary.org, 2008).

The most obvious and important factor that must be considered when reviewing the manner in which

Elizabeth Shin passed away is how she was treated prior to her death. The online news medium “The Tech” is

MIT’s oldest and largest newspaper that published a detailed timeline of important events leading up to Shin’s

death. Based on details provided by the media, it seems obvious that there is a bias against MIT’s involvement in

Shin’s suicide. There is a focus on the lack of initiative, or even interest, the university had in treating Shin. Of-

ten, “The Tech” implies that the medical professionals at MIT underestimated the severity of Shin’s condition, as

illustrated in the following excerpt.

On December 5, 1999, Ms. Shin sent an email to a faculty

member, Riaz Shiraz Dhanani. She expressed that she was
contemplating suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
This email was forwarded to several MIT employees, including
Dean Henderson, who in turn informed Dr. Girard. No action
was taken in response to the email message (The Tech, 2002).

Even more alarmingly, Shin reached an all time low when she told a peer that she wanted to stab a knife

into her own chest. Shin was then rushed to MIT’s Mental Health Services for the last time before her brutal sui-

cide. During this crucial visit, the media portrays the incident to be a situation where Shin did not receive the at-

tention and mediation she undeniably needed.

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 On April 8, 2000, Ms. Shin told Jim Paris, a student who resides
at Random Hall, that she wanted to kill herself that night by sticking
a knife into her chest. Students contacted MIT Campus Police, who
escorted Ms. Shin to MIT Mental Health Services. MIT staff physician
Dr. Howard Heller saw her, and Elizabeth spoke by telephone to an
on-call psychiatrist, Dr. Anthony Van Niel.

Dr. Van Niel was aware that Ms. Shin had expressed suicidal intentions
earlier in the evening, and that she had a medical history which included depression and a prior
suicide attempt with ongoing treatment.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Dr. Van Niel decided that he had no
need to meet or evaluate Ms. Shin in person, and concluded that it was
safe for her to return to her dorm room (The Tech, 2002).

Because the media described the events leading up to Shin’s death to place the blame on MIT’s mental

health department, it raises the question if Shin’s death could have been prevented. This makes Shin’s death ap-

pear to have been preventable rather than an accident, implying that there is something fundamentally wrong with

MIT as an institution.

Elizabeth Shin’s suicide also initiated much discussion about the issue of suicide on college campuses.

The media depicts MIT as the model school for fostering suicide. In many articles, the question is raised whether

it is the ultra competitive environment of MIT that pushes students to suicide. One article found on BNet states

that in the 1990s, students at MIT were at a higher likelihood to commit suicide than students at other esteemed

science and engineering universities. Considering the relatively low enrollment rate of approximately 4,400 under-

graduates, the 11 suicides since 1990 results in a much higher suicide rate than most universities (Branch, 2001).

One study found:

On a scale of deaths per 100,000 since 1990, MIT had

a rate of 10.2, compared to Harvard's rate of 7.4, and
Johns Hopkins, the third place school, with 6.9, according
to the study. (Branch, 2001)

Another study found that an overwhelming 74% of the students surveyed experienced some sort of emo-

tional problem that interferes with their day to day life (Sharpe, 2002).

Most articles about the suicide acknowledge that Shin’s friends and family noticed a change in Shin’s

appearance and behavior, but they dismissed any unusual behavior and just attributed it to the rigorous schedule

and high expectations that comes with being a student at MIT. One article describes how Shin’s parents assumed

that their daughter’s unhealthy appearance was due to the expectations at MIT.

Her eyes did look tired and puffy, but her parents knew that
she had a lot going on, what with her studies, her clarinet

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 performances, her fencing meets. That was M.I.T., they thought,
and that was Elizabeth, always pushing herself (Sontag, 2002).

All such media that focus on the pressure cooker environment that is notorious of MIT imply that the sui-

cides of the institution’s students are a result of the competitive environment that MIT prides itself on. It leaves

little room to consider whether or not the unfortunate students who took their own lives were predisposed to such

acts prior to their arrival to the institution.

Regardless of who was to blame for Elizabeth Shin’s death, the very fact that a gruesome and highly pub-

licized suicide took place on the campus of the university creates a poor image for MIT. In situations like this, it is

necessary to carefully craft a plan of action to regain the good name of the company, institution, or person in ques-

tion.

In response to the suicide of Elizabeth Shin, The Massachusetts Institution of Technology denied respon-

sibility. With all the media coverage suggesting that Shin’s suicide was induced by the high stress the university

places on its students in conjunction with its inadequate mental health department, the university chose to dismiss

the tragic incident as an accident. Years after the incident, both the parents and the university decided that the un-

fortunate events that ended Elizabeth Shin’s life was due to an accident that resulted from the student mistakenly

taking too many non-prescription pills that put her to sleep and made her unresponsive when candles lit fire to her

dorm room. The two parties came to this conclusion after the university offered an undisclosed amount of settle-

ment payment. Initially, the Shin family had sued the university for $27 million (Bombardieri, 2006).

There was much criticism after Shin’s death that the mental health services the university provided was

not sufficient. After such accusations, MIT responded by adding evening hours to their facilities, increasing the

number of clinical staff members, as well as hire residential life associates who are trained to help student handle

the pressures of day to day life at the university (Sharpe, 2002). MIT will continue to spread awareness of the uni-

versity’s mental health issues and resource available to its students.

Another topic of concern regarding Shin’s suicide was the university’s lack of communication with Shin’s

parents. While Shin’s parents were aware that their daughter was admitted into a hospital and so forth, the univer-

sity intentionally denied any details of Shin’s condition due to confidentiality concerns. As a result, the Shin’s felt

they were under informed about important details they felt they deserved to know. In response to this claim, MIT

is establishing a more efficient “communication protocol” for corresponding with a student’s family in times of

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emergency (Sontag, 2002).

After such a tragic incident on the campus of the Massachusetts Institution of Technology, I believe the

university addressed the crisis successfully. Simply put, the university denied accusations of blame, implemented

a more efficient mental health program on its campus, and agreed on an undisclosed settlement plan with Shin’s

family. All of which helped to create a strong course of action to rectify a potentially detrimental situation for

MIT.

It was essential that the university denied responsibility of Shin’s death because had they accepted respon-

sibility, it would have opened the door to restore discussion of all the previous suicides on the MIT campus. Le-

gally, accepting the blame for Shin’s death could have resonated to suicides that occurred on other campuses to

change the dynamic of legal responsibility learning institutions have over its students.

With legal considerations aside, after the crisis the media placed a lot of attention on what many consider

an inefficient mental health department at MIT. By implementing a more proficient mental health department, it

directly addresses one of the main concerns of the public as well as acting as a preventative measure for future

incidents. It also shows the university’s concern over the welfare of its students.

Lastly, the Shins and the university agreed upon a settlement payment. The settlement was agreed upon

only after deciding that the death of Shin was an accident rather than a suicide. This conclusion, whether it is true

or false, implies that the Shin’s death was at no fault of anyone. Given that four years had passed between the time

of Shin’s death and the agreement of a settlement, it is undeterminable to predict what length of time would have

passed before a lawsuit would have been settled. Thus, a settlement allows the crisis to pass promptly.

The weakest facet of how the MIT crisis was handled involved the lack of compassion and MIT may have

had for Shin’s friends and family. Although it was strategically important for MIT to deny any blame, it is still

necessary for the institution to extend a great amount of condolences to the deceased’s family. While it is arguable

whether or not MIT extended enough condolences to Shin’s family, it should have been conducted in a way that

there is no doubt that MIT was sorry for the loss of Elizabeth Shin. This would convey MIT as a less rigid institu-

tion, and it would better allow the general public to empathize with MIT as well as Shin’s family.

Public relations cresses occur on a day to day basis; however, some go unnoticed because companies im-

plement carefully crafted plans to regain control of the situation. The crisis at MIT is just one example that illus-

trates the importance of how the media’s interpretation of a situation affects how the public perceives the incident.

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Accordingly, this affects the image of that respective person, company or institution, and the manner in which the

public relations department deals with the situation determines its outcome.

Works Cited

Bombardieri, Marcella. "Parents strike settlement with MIT in death of daughter." Boston Globe. 04 Apr. 2006. 05

Oct. 2008 <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/04/

parents_strike_settlement_with_mit_in_death_of_daughter/>.

Branch, Al. "Study: suicide rate at MIT is higher than at other schools - News: noteworthy people, programs, fund-

ing, and technological advances in the world of higher education - Brief Article." BNet. Apr. 2001. 05

Oct. 2008 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0hje/is_2_2/ai_79961273>.

"Elizabeth Shin Chronology." The Tech. 30 Jan. 2002. 05 Oct. 2008 <http://tech.mit.edu/v121/n70/70shin-

timeline.70n.html>.

Legal Dictionary. 2008. 06 Oct. 2008 <http://www.legal-dictionary.org/legal-dictionary-i/in-loco-parentis.asp>.

Sharpe, Rochelle. "Suicide at MIT raises parents' ire." USA Today. 24 Jan. 2004. 05 Oct. 2008 <http://

www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/01/25/usat-mit.htm>.

Sontag, Deborah. "Who Was Responsible For Elizabeth Shin?" The New York Times. 28 Apr. 2002. 05 Oct. 2008

<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9f00eed7113ff93ba15757c0a9649c8b63>.

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