Senior and Communication Major and DCIM (Digital Communication, Information, and Media) Minor Nava Plaut will soon be leaving New Jersey to study abroad in London during the fall 2024 semester. However, she will take with her on her travels the lessons and skills she has learned in her SC&I coursework, and she plans to continue to build on her Rutgers education in England to prepare for the public relations career she dreams of.

Plaut chose to minor in DCIM as part of her strategy to land a public relations career specializing within the entertainment industry post-Rutgers. Having graduated from high school in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Plaut said she was influenced by the changes she observed in the business world due to the pandemic. To prepare for this new world, at Rutgers she wanted to choose a major and minor that would complement each other to help her gain the skills she needed.

The DCIM Minor, Plaut said, is helping her achieve her goals because it teaches students the hands-on technical skills needed to create high-quality digital media and social media and multimedia products and campaigns, and how to shape their own digital identities (“brands”), build social networks and contacts, and prepare for careers specializing in web-based applications and digital, mobile, and social media.

In addition to focusing on her studies at Rutgers, Plaut has also been heavily involved in “Gift of Life” as a College Campus Ambassador, where she works to educate the public about its Bone Marrow Registry and help increase the number of bone marrow donors.

She has also previously worked as an intern for the agency Emerald Digital, where she gained experience in digital marketing and client engagement. 

After Plaut graduates in May 2025, she plans to pursue a career in Entertainment Public Relations. 

In our Q&A, Plaut describes her passion for the DCIM minor and why and how it’s helping her prepare for her future.

SC&I: DCIM can be considered a skill-development minor. What specific digital skills have you learned as a DCIM minor? 
NP: I have learned skills relating to graphic design, website design, and infographic designs, using platforms such as Adobe Creative Suites, Photoshop, Illustrator InDesign, and using platforms like Canva for infographics, presentations, and leadership plans. The minor teaches how to build, create, and manage your own websites using WordPress. With that, there are technical skills that would be more of the actual development of our website, the initial creation of it, the analytics, reviewing our data, and the personal branding part and what it means to build professional and personal branding. 

SC&I: How do you hope to apply this knowledge to your professional career?
NP: I want to work in public relations. I’m majoring in Communication and specializing in Public Relations. I want to work within the entertainment industry, so branding is really important. I think maintaining my own personal and professional platform online and building my own presence is important. Especially as somebody who wants to work in the entertainment industry, it's essential to have your own image and digital identity out there, and for it to be seen.

SC&I: Have you learned anything about shaping your digital identity or brand in the DCIM courses, and if so, what have you learned?
NP: Focus in on all the little details down to the vocabulary you use, the font and color scheme you pick, how you title and organize your articles and the content you write about. When it comes to shaping your digital identity, the best advice I was given is to remain consistent. Once you figure out your branding, your tone, your voice, and your online personality, it's about being consistent with it.

SC&I: Through the DCIM minor, how did you learn to excel in web-based applications?
NP: Based on the hands-on nature of the courses, you are given the creative freedom to navigate the web-based applications on your own. It's more that the experience is hands-on for you to familiarize yourself with the technology. The professors are there to help you if you are having issues with it. Part of it being hands-on is running into issues or having to navigate the site a little bit more in detail to try to figure it out the first time, and you are given the resources and the outlet if you need help to get it. The minor gives you the freedom to figure it out on your own and figure out more about a website and different online platforms because you're experimenting with them in a classroom where you can do that while getting help if you need it and if you're struggling.

SC&I: How does the DCIM minor complement your Communication major?
NP: It's a skill-based minor and it teaches you hands-on experience with different technology and platforms that can be used for any type of work, in any field, corporate, independent, in-house–anything. The DCIM Minor can be matched to any major, leaving you with a wide variety of networks of peers, professors, and alumni in a wide array of fields.

SC&I: Since you said you want to pursue a career in entertainment, what type of entertainment field would you like to work in? 
NP: I was a general intern in high school for a record label where I stepped into working in the music industry. Growing up doing theater I always had a love for film and I knew one day I wanted to work in that field. Working within film and TV is part of the entertainment industry has always where I felt the most passionate about. I personally am really interested in crisis communication, which is big within PR, but it's so broad; but with that there's so many options.

SC&I: How has the DCIM Minor taught you to identify communication opportunities and challenges in digital and working environments, especially with remote work?
NP: The DCIM [curriculum] teaches you how to network online, which is fundamental, especially post-COVID– it is so important to build up your presence and have a good, strong network online. Building up your LinkedIn, having your personal and professional website, building your own leadership development plan– all of those help you build opportunities in your remote network and your digital portfolio.

"I would say that when you are part of SC&I, you are not just a student in the class, but you, your professors, and your other classmates genuinely become your network."

SC&I: Is there a specific professor who has informed, inspired, or changed your perspective on something that has given you great advice for your professional career? 
NP: For my final Capstone class in the DCIM minor, I had the honor of taking it with Professor Mary Chayko, and in her class, we focused on our own personal research project. This involved conducting research, putting it into our own creative, informative, and digital presentation. You had a lot of freedom to pick your topic, and you spent the semester developing it, creating it, posting about it on your professional platforms, such as LinkedIn and your website, and posting consistent updates. I chose the topic of parasocial relationships, a topic that Professor Chayko previously studied, and gave me advice on being passionate about your research, especially in a topic that most people don't know about. Parasocial relationships are not spoken about, which are not commonly known--they are one-sided relationships. Think of relationships with celebrities and the general public, these are very relevant to my interest in the entertainment industry. There is one set of relationships where one person is invested and the other doesn't know about the first person's existence. For example, if I'm looking at all these social media posts of my favorite celebrity, let's say Harry Styles–Harry Styles has no idea who I am. He has no idea that there's a person that even exists that's me that's looking him up online. The higher social relationships, they're not inherently bad, they're neutral. Professor Chayko taught me what it means to research a topic that you're passionate about, that might have misconceptions, not commonly known, or is not easily found in research journals and you have to dig a little deeper.

SC&I: What is one thing you’d say to a student who is on the fence about being a student at SC&I?
NP: I would say that when you are part of SC&I, you are not just a student in the class, but you, your professors, and your other classmates genuinely become your network. There's so much hands-on exposure throughout these classes. While you're able to pick your own topics and you're given the freedom to delve into your own interests, you're getting hands-on experience that you will be using in your career. 

SC&I: Where do you see yourself post-graduation?
NP: I see myself finding a job within public relations, and because public relations is so broad, you can use it in any field. I have an interest in the entertainment industry, so I would be looking at jobs where I would be working in public relations for entertainment industry-based companies. My ideal dream job would be to work at A24 or Letterbox, they are my favorite movie production companies.

Photo: Nava Plaut