Alumni Spotlight: Eileen Earley Ziesemer
Eileen Earley Ziesemer, Class of ‘05, has spent the past two years serving as the Vice President of Public Relations for Ulta Beauty. Reflecting on her career journey and some favorite Marquette memories, she shares insight into how the Diederich College helped prepare her for today’s challenges and offered advice for our students.
My name is Eileen Earley Ziesemer, and I’m the vice president of public relations for Ulta Beauty. I graduated from the Diederich College of Communications in 2005 with a degree in public relations & communications studies. I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago which is where I currently reside with my husband and two future Golden Eagles, Zoey (4) and Jimmy (3).
Remember every person has something to offer you — perspective, counsel, friendship, insight, inspiration, the list goes on. Be open to it and be gracious.
When I was a junior, I landed the best possible internship at Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry, a historic destination with amazing historical and innovative exhibits. During that formative time, I started networking with Chicago marketing leaders and getting hands on experience — especially as I was lucky enough to support the grand opening of the U505 Exhibit, a national historic landmark.
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After graduating, I parlayed my experience into a second internship at Ogilvy PR where I would ultimately lay the foundation for my career. I helped launch new LG Electronics products, worked onsite with executives at Sam’s Club one week a month, supported the American Heart Association’s iconic “Go Red for Women” platform debut and led work with the Brazilian Tourism Board during their Olympic bid. It was here that I nurtured a deep love for media relations and applied greater discipline to my writing.
From there, I moved to Zeno Group where I was deeply committed to learning from amazing leaders. I was proud to help strategically launch Netflix Kids, among other exciting work. During this chapter of my career, I am most proud of how I matured as a leader. I then moved to MSL, the only PR agency within Publicis Groupe where I oversaw the U.S. Consumer Practice and had the distinct responsibility of overseeing a portfolio of brands including The Home Depot, Marshalls, JennAir, KitchenAid, Delta Faucet Company, mike’s hard lemonade and White Claw, among many others. Our teams did amazing, award-winning work and I was honored to be named a PRWeek 40 Under 40 which, I believe, reflected how I embraced integrated marketing efforts and more deeply dug into the importance of data and insights while managing a significant P&L. Looking back, I am proud to have helped our clients navigate crises, launch campaigns, elevate executives and debut revamped brands while importantly growing the practice and mentoring staff.
For the last two years, I’ve proudly served as the Vice President of Public Relations for Ulta Beauty, the country’s leading beauty retailer. This has truly been an inflection point in my career where I’ve converged my leadership skills within a dynamic, thriving organization. My agency experience gave me the agility to wear many hats and navigate a complex company but in this role, I’m solely focused on a master brand and can pour all my energy into our mission.
My favorite part of PR is that no two days are the same, and at Ulta Beauty, that comes to life in all the best ways. I love the depth and breadth of our assortment and services which allow for interesting and unique storytelling opportunities from self-care to self-expression and everything in between. I adore the incredible colleagues who bring an enterprise mindset to collaboration so we can win together. I am inspired by the executive team who lead with grace and drive — and provide the voices to tell our retail leadership and beauty authority stories. Personally, I’ve found building the purpose and vision for the PR team to be incredibly rewarding as our function reset its internal expectations and shifted external narratives. Most importantly, I genuinely feel valued and challenged each and every day.
There was a push/pull dynamic in the Diederich College that prepared me for my career in all the right ways. I was pushed to hone my confidence and creativity while exploring new mediums. And at the same time, I was pulled to teachers who were exceedingly accessible and willing to share their real world experience. At the time, I didn’t recognize the assignments were greater than theory; we put our skills to test, applied lessons actively, analyzed media and worked to shape stories that matter. Mistakes were opportunities to learn, and collaboration was key to success. While it was hard work, it was a true training ground for the PR workforce.
My advice for current students: outside of doing the work and doing it well, stay connected to the world around you — especially the parts you don’t yet know. Remember every person has something to offer you — perspective, counsel, friendship, insight, inspiration, the list goes on. Be open to it and be gracious.
It’s so hard to pick just one favorite memory from my time at Marquette! I was a freshman on 9/11, and I’ll never forget the feeling of belonging and community across campus that evening. In 2003, Marquette went to the Final Four, and we had too much fun traveling city to city as the team progressed in the brackets. Another favorite is the semester I studied abroad in Oxford. I learned so much about myself and the world with lifelong friends. The Marquette experience, like life, is what you make of it, and I am proud to have made the very most of my four years as a Golden Eagle!
