Meet Hope Evans:
In her day job, Hope Evans is a copywriter who helps well-off couples take luxurious vacations at Caribbean resorts. After work, Hope helps a different clientele: struggling single moms. On Mother’s Day 2016, she launched a nonprofit called Hope for Single Moms, which offers funding, resources, opportunities for spiritual growth, and education.
Hope is a single mom who had long considered helping others like herself. In January 2015, she enrolled in the online strategic communications master’s program offered through The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. That decision brought both inspiration and empowerment.
Inspiration came when she realized that balancing education, work and child care is especially tough for single mothers.
“The demands of a toddler far outweigh the demands of master’s degree—or pretty much anything else in life,” she said. “It made me realize the lack of resources and support services available for single mothers.”
Empowerment came from her strategic communication courses.
“The program helped me focus and fine-tune the ideas I already had for the nonprofit,” she said. “It reached far beyond traditional communication methods, and taught me how to be a designer, a digital communicator, a researcher, a psychologist—a CEO of my own communication business.”
Hope chose WSU’s program based on first-hand experience. The Lynnwood, Wash., resident earned her bachelor of communication from WSU Pullman in 2007: “I know that WSU has one of the top communication programs in the nation, so when I decided to pursue my master’s, WSU was the first, and only, place I looked.”
She finished the online master’s program in a year, and with a 4.0 GPA. Her degree, she said, has created new career options. “Equipped with this master’s, I now feel more marketable as a writer and communicator,” she said. “I’m ready to start a new adventure that allows me to unify writing and serving others—that’s why I’m here.”
Learn more about the online MA Strategic Communication program