2020 District 5 Rising Star
Meghan D'Souza
Marketing Communications Coordinator
Southeastern Community College (Iowa)
West Burlington, IA
Meghan D’Souza has her finger on the pulse of social media and can easily spot and leverage trends. At Southeastern Community College (SCC), she excels at connecting with students young and old, helped along by her winning sense of humor.
Since starting in 2018, D’Souza has picked up and improved the college’s social media accounts. She single-handedly grew SCC’s Instagram account from barely 100 followers to nearly 1,300 to date, a 1,200% increase. She built the Facebook following up from 5,000 fans to nearly 6,800, a 36% increase. Her hard work earned her a Medallion for SCC’s Facebook page in 2019 and a subsequent Bronze Paragon in 2020.
She occupies the roles of primary news release writer and lead content manager on scciowa.edu. In both instances, she applies her special brand of TLC to tell compelling stories and deliver relevant information to readers of all shapes and sizes, fixing a bajillion typos and grammar mistakes along the way. She championed the implementation of an online project management system to improve efficiency and communication among the team, and the team is better off for it.
D’Souza is a strong advocate for students and always remembers to see things from their perspective. It’s a skill many seasoned pros lose as work pulls them further away from direct student interaction.
Even when faced with the ever-increasing demands on the marketing office’s meager resources, she does her best to deliver quality work daily. She never shies away from large projects and is excited to try new ideas. She is the kind of person you want on your team, full of optimism and positivity.