Mark
Mark began his journalism career at 18, four years earlier than planned. Two weeks into his first semester, he realized that full-time school and a full-time job were more than he could manage. He withdrew from school with the intention of saving enough money to return the following year. Instead, he landed an entry-level position at the local flagship newspaper, and never looked back. “The ‘couple of semesters’ I took off have lasted about 40 years,” he says.
Embarrassment over his lack of a college degree has given way to gratitude. Mark says that although he didn’t realize it at the time, learning his trade from practitioners was a blessing. “Newspapers were very profitable in the 1980s and 1990s, with large staffs that passed institutional knowledge down from one generation of reporters and editors to the next,” he said. “All of my training was and continues to be on-the-job. My ‘professors’ were colleagues who mentored me, and bosses who challenged me.”
Mark’s career trajectory took him from newsroom clerk to TV columnist and eventually into management – as a features editor, managing editor, and after 32 years at the paper, its Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of Content, overseeing the paper’s transition to digital. After the sale of the paper, Mark transitioned to a journalism-adjacent position leading the communications team at the state department of economic development. He sees his new career as a natural – and necessary – extension of his prior one. “I’m responsible for telling the story of our state’s economic performance and potential to a variety of audiences – from CEOs and business relocation advisors to residents and elected officials,” he says. “The goal is the same as it was in the newsroom: to be accurate, engaging, timely and present wherever people seek information.”
Mark explains that the digital disruption of the local newspaper business requires new ways of communicating. He wants to build a new model for communications and marketing operations with integrated content, creative, digital and marketing teams. For this he wants highly collaborative workers who are natural internal and external relationship builders. He sees STARs as key to this strategy. “It’s impossible to be an effective communicator in the digital era without having exceptional soft skills – stuff you can’t learn from a textbook,” he says. “I’ll make sure the door stays open for STAR storytellers who, like me, chose self-education over college graduation.”
Read more STAR stories
Find out how Army veteran Micah built his own business from the ground up and how problem-solving became the foundation of everything he's built.
Micah
See how Sean's STAR status led to his thriving career as a 3D chalk artist and ice and snow sculptor on his own terms.
Sean
See how Lakisha built a successful administrative career through sheer work ethic and the hard-won confidence to know her own worth.
Lakisha
Find out how a childhood love of food inspired Mark's culinary management career, built entirely through empathy, practice, and hard work.
Mark
See how Dalton is building two careers at once through hands-on learning and how he's channeling his emergency response skills into a growing media platform.
Dalton
Read about how Erika's STAR status and hands-on experience earned her a quality Technician role and how she continues to defy expectations every day.
Erika
See how Sam applied decades of relentless curiosity and hands-on learning into a career that defies any single job title.
Sam
Read about how Thaddaeus's STAR status landed him a position as a university IT Specialist, where his self-taught tech skills and passion for helping others are his greatest credentials.
Thaddaeus
See how Army veteran Kent built an entire tech career through mentorship, persistence, and problem solving.
Kent
Find out how Katy made one of the most unexpected career leaps around, and now helps others do the same.
Katy
See how Lynnette turned a hobby into a business while embracing entrepreneurship in retirement.
Lynnette
Find out how Barbara's STAR status guided her career within the nonprofit sector and how lived experience can be the most powerful credential of all.
Barbara
Find out how Carmen is building toward owning her own home health agency, one skill at a time, without a four-year degree.
Carmen
See how military veteran Quinn is challenging employers to value experience over credentials.
Quinn
Read how Daquan's self-taught skills as a home health aide and carpenter built a career that no one can ever take away from him.
Daquan
Find out how Tadarius turned a moment of crisis into a calling, guided by lived experience and hard-earned certifications.
Tadarius
Read about Mary's philosophy on people-first leadership and how integrity and empathy can define a career, even without a degree.
Mary
See how Elizabeth found her calling as an employment counselor, helping formerly incarcerated job seekers reclaim their futures.
Elizabeth
Find out how self-advocacy and a self-taught mindset launched Debrena's QA engineering career.
Debrena
See how learning to fail became Ricky's secret to building a career in acting and coaching.
Ricky
See how Robert's work ethic carried him from a skate shop to corporate merchandising and shaped him into an empathetic leader.
Robert
See how Carol built an art business entirely on her own terms by utilizing her strong work ethic and on-the-job experience.
Carol
Read about how Reyna's STAR status is leading her path toward computer science and a dream of building a platform for low-income youth, powered entirely by grit and on-the-job learning.
Reyna
After observing how firms overlooked colleagues without degrees, see how Sharon transitioned into her role as Billing Coordinator by investing in herself at every turn.
Sharon
Read about how Erin's STAR status landed her a position as an Internal Audit Manager... without a bachelor's degree.
Erin
Write your story
Every time STARs speak out, more people realize they're part of this 70-million-strong community.