By: Kiera Mitru

Growing up in Guiderland, New York, Brianna Brown ‘20, G’21 found herself expressing her ideas and exploring the world around her through art. From art classes in high school to creative hobbies on the side, Brianna would bring her ideas to life through crafts and conversation. 

When entering college, Brianna had initially sought out schools with engaging art programs, but her parents had advised her in a more practical direction. Looking at Siena, Brianna found that the school of business, specifically the marketing program, offered her a unique opportunity to bridge her two interests, art and business.

Brianna has taken full advantage of her Siena education, graduating with a major in marketing, with a concentration in digital marketing and communications, while also picking up a creative arts multimedia minor. Now a graduate student in Siena’s MBA program, she is following a concentration on a strategic management track in order to further “march forward” as a Siena Saint. Since starting her education at Siena, Bri has realized that business can be about more than balance sheets and watching the stock market. Infact, she has successfully integrated her artistic background into the world of business. 

Brianna’s perspective expertly communicates the importance of art to those that are business oriented, as well as the influence of business to those that are more artistically-oriented. “There’s a lot more to marketing than people think”, Brown shares, noting that her view of a traditionally rigid field of study takes on more meaning and artistic liberty. “Marketing is the most vital part of a business because no one is going to understand what a balance sheet is or what an annual report is, but they will recognize your logo and what you stand for, which is the aspect of marketing that calls to me the most”. 

A lot of how a person or a business is perceived is in how they market themselves. Brianna is fascinated in curating the image one projects among their audience. In her Digital Marketing course, MRKT 327, Brianna reached a turning point. In this class, Brianna recognized just how much we collectively underestimate the role that digital media plays in our spheres of communication and representation. Siena’s liberal arts mission allowed Brianna to get a more holistic education, stressing the importance of the real-world applications of the lessons she is learning every day.

If there is anything the past year has taught us, it is that not all learning happens within the bounds of the classroom. Now with online learning, the social and cultural relevance of the global pandemic, and a renewed focus on racial justice, it is impossible to “learn in a vacuum”. During the summer of 2020, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others sparked the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. The activism and conversation that took place over the summer motivated Brianna and millions of others into action. 

As a young Black woman, Brianna felt the need to tell her story, because she is not sure how much time is left. In writing this article, Brianna exposed some of the harsh truths of her childhood and her continued lived experience. While Brianna’s piece was supported by friends, family, and community members, she found that some had changed their perspectives. In putting her face and name to some of the pains of microaggression and racial tension, Brianna was forced to reckon with specific moments she has experienced – many of which she thought she had forgotten. 

In her article, Brianna shares, “Throughout my life, I have been grateful to not have to endure the hardships that many other people of color have had to. I’ve never personally lost someone to police brutality, I’ve never been harmed by law enforcement, I’ve never witnessed a trauma happen in front of me. This doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced micro-aggressions or hatred.”

Brown shares that her experience just scratches the surface of those other Black individuals live from day-to-day. Driven to participate and lead discussions surrounding the African American experience, Brianna contributed to a platform that continued the conversation sparked by the events of summer 2020. She has since “decided to take a step back in order to focus on other opportunities and projects in my life at the moment.” 

Since stepping back, Brianna has recognized that she misses having that creative outlet and sharing her work with others. Recently, she has been organizing and working on a new project that more specifically embraces her creative talent and motivated activism. With her extensive business background, Brianna can utilize her strengths in order to further mend her creative vision into a message she can share with others.

As Brianna looks ahead to a new project and a new semester, she is excited to greet the new opportunities that will continue to shape and impact her learning journey at Siena. Her ability to mix and match her college courses has allowed her to create an educational mosaic in which she sees herself and her interests represented. Just as Brianna believed that the final semester was a culmination of all that she had accomplished, she found new ideas and avenues along which she can continue to collaborate, create, and pave the way for the future.

By: Kiera Mitru

There’s a saying that goes something like, “the days are long, but the time is short”. This saying takes shape in many chapters of our lives, but the sentiment has never proved to be more true than it does during one’s time in college. While there are days and assignments that feel eternal, the end of the semester always rolls around before we know it. We all know that moment when our hearts are heavy with a bittersweet feeling, carrying our bags to the car, returning home for yet another break. Even if waiting for time to pass in your hometown feels like it will last forever, the days pass in the same “wow that was fast” way that reminds us of what we may or may not have accomplished during our time away from school.

For each of us, every semester poses new challenges and opportunities to learn from, this past semester being no exception. Both on campus and off campus, the Siena Community engaged in conversation discussing the importance of voting, following safety measures put in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and the obstacles posed by virtual classrooms. Learning communities across the world have had to make substantial changes to even the smallest details of their campuses in order to safely accommodate their students and faculty. Here at Siena, one of these changes is most directly reflected in the length of our Winter Break. 

Instead of taking the traditional 4-week pause between semesters, Siena announced that our Winter Break would last from Thanksgiving through mid-February in order to prevent the projected second wave of the COVID spread. As the scheduling change was announced, I began to dread what would add up to almost 3 months away from school, but quickly changed my tune after settling in at home. 

For the months that we would be home, I was hired at a local supermarket and worked full-time in order to keep myself busy (and also to save some money). Having worked in the same store during the summer, returning to the strong workplace team I had grown close to was a sort of homecoming. Amidst a global pandemic, my coworkers have never failed to bring optimism and intention to their work, which translates into our essential service to the community. Some days have been harder than others, but each day has proved to me that essential workers are named appropriately, due to the fact that their service is not only necessary but vital to our society as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outside of work I engaged my culinary talent with new cookbooks and flavor combinations. While I didn’t get around to cooking and baking as much as I would have liked to, I kept my Instagram page @CookingUpSomethingFun updated with new treats I had been experimenting with. Some of which included French puff pastry, eggplant parmesan, homemade granola bars, traditional focaccia bread shaken up with some beet root powder, Ina Garten’s classic shortbread, pecan brittle, countless pots of beans, homemade dumplings, and so much more. My work over the stove offers a creative and intentional space to bring my ideas to life. Since most of my family members are working from home, I could always count on them to give a quick taste test of whatever I constructed in the kitchen, none of them sparing their brutally honest reviews.

In my few spots of free time I also turned to music as a creative outlet. I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and finally set out on that journey over the course of our long Winter Break. In my case and in millions of others, music has played a crucial role in our movement through the pandemic. In a time where we have to remain physically separated, music brings us together as we celebrate traditions, reminisce on brighter times, connect to lyrics, and enjoy the artistry we find in our favorite songs. Thanks to the pandemic, my Spotify account is now riddled with specific and engaging playlists to share with friends or enjoy in the background of those more quiet moments.

I also had the opportunity to present my English capstone thesis, “Viewing Audre Lorde’s Uses of the Erotic by the Light of a Biblical Blaze” during the virtual Capital District Feminist Studies Conference hosted by Russell Sage College. Alongside some of my fellow Siena Saints, I had the opportunity to record a presentation of my culminating paper and engage in a Q&A session with conference attendees. Throughout the day of the conference, the audience actively participated in presentations hosted by local feminist scholars for insight and empowerment. As a college student and a passionate advocate for Social Justice, this conference was a celebration of the work that has been done in this field, as well as that which has yet to be completed in the fight for Social and Racial Justice.

As my mind is framed in terms of semesters, at the end of every 3-month-long chunk of time, I enjoy reflecting on the lessons, connections, and inspirations that fill the days as they pass. It’s fair to say that the past year has challenged us to consider time in a new and intuitive way, calling us to appreciate positive moments above all else. As I watch the final grains of sand sifting through the Winter Break hourglass, I find myself cherishing these same moments of kindness, of intention, of shared joy, of meaning, and so on in the context of my time away from school. Somewhere between those days where I could feel the minutes as they passed and those days where the sunset prematurely washed over the sky, I came to realize that moments of rest and solitude are necessary. There is no telling of all the opportunity for refreshment and inspiration bubbling under the surface of a moment of free time. Looking forward to greeting the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester this month, may we continue to cherish moments of positivity even on our busiest days, and incorporate intentional rest into our deepest routines.