At the beginning of my Sophomore year, I joined a club called The Marketing Group with no marketing knowledge or experience. I had never taken a class or worked on a major marketing project before. I showed up because I was interested in the field, but I didn’t really know what I was doing.

As the year progressed, we began to work with our client. We investigated and analyzed their business. We crafted strategies to help them with their marketing needs. I found myself contributing to these conversations even though at times I felt like I was fumbling around in the dark.

As we approached the end of the year and began compiling all of our work into a presentation for our client, I received a message that the club would be holding elections for president. I decided to go for the position, and less than a year after joining the club, I was running it.

I had big plans and zero experience, so I did what I’ve always done in this club: I progressed with an optimistic naiveite.

I didn’t know how to recruit new members or enlist a client. I had never designed new leadership positions or restructured an organization’s operations before. And this was definitely my first time leading an organization through a name change and brand identity overhaul.

But now we’re here. We have dozens of new members and an outstanding leadership team whose work has exceeded my greatest expectations. We have a client and are actively working on multiple projects for them. Most excitingly, the club has a new focus and identity under the new Anchor Marketing brand.

I couldn’t have done any of this, from the first marketing project to the largest organizational changes, without help. It was veteran club members and my advisors who guided me when I didn’t know how to proceed. I was surrounded by people who knew what they were doing even when I didn’t, and they gave me not only the knowledge but also the confidence to keep going.

I am no longer inexperienced with anything I’ve mentioned thus far because I only had to try something once to gain that experience. A year ago I was learning the fundamentals of marketing from the president, and now I’m the one presenting on the topic.

This is what makes Anchor Marketing so special. Most of us join the club knowing little about the world of marketing. We learn how to market through working with other club members and by testing things out in real life.

Anchor Marketing’s goal is to provide every Vanderbilt student – regardless of their background – the opportunity to gain marketing knowledge through real life experience and peer mentorship. At times we should be confused or unsure of how to proceed because that means we’re about to learn something we didn’t know before.

So as I write the first blog post for a website I didn’t know how to build, I choose to wear my cluelessness as a badge of honor. And to each and every one of you who has no clue what you’re doing, I’d like to personally welcome you to Anchor Marketing.