Student Spotlight | Lucas Shaff | Digital Marketing

After working in marketing for a resort in Reno, Nevada, for five years Lucas wanted two things: to go back to Spain and to create a drastic change in his life. When he found the Digital Marketing master’s programme at Harbour.Space he found both. Now, he is launching his own digital agency, StratMark, and telling the world why Harbour.Space’s educational experience is the future of higher education. 

Before graduating from the University of Nevada in 2017 with a BA in Journalism and Creative Writing, Lucas wanted to study abroad for a year. So, he decided to Minor in Spanish at the Universidad del País Vasco in San Sebastian, a magical place where he fell in love with both surfing and Spain. However, when the year came to an end, he had return to Reno to graduate. But he wanted to go back to Spain, but had no luck finding any teaching positions, which he thought was his easiest way back, so he had to get a job closer to home. That’s how he ended up working in marketing for the Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe. 

At first, he didn’t know much about marketing or the hospitality industry, but after two years he proved his worth and became the Marketing Manager for the whole property. There, when he wasn’t working, he would spend his time skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, camping, or helping his family build their cabin in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Even though you might think he had it all, he desired a change and it needed to happen in Spain. “I was looking for a BIG change... I was four years into a job where I didn’t see many more opportunities, so I knew that the next thing I did had to be a drastic one. 

What was Lucas searching for? First, to study a master’s in Digital Marketing or Graphic Design. Second, it had to be in Spain. Finally, an educational experience that promised to be completely different from any other he had gone through. After searching for those features, he was about to give up when he came upon Harbour.Space.  

“It offered an educational experience that was completely new to me. From the 3-week modules to the intimate hands-on classes, it was a new type of higher education through its emphasis on hands-on experiential learning that is led by real industry leaders. Instead of spending 15 weeks taking a class 2 times a week for 90 minutes each class, you take it every day for 3.5 hours and, boom!, you fully immerse yourself into one, maybe two, classes at a time and you allow for maximum involvement and growth in that subject. That is how Harbour.Space is rewriting what a university can be. And you are doing all of this alongside a group of students where no two are from the same country. Per capita, it should be one of, if not the most, diverse educational institution in the world”, Lucas tells us.

Today, one year and a half later and with a master’s degree in Digital Marketing under his belt, Lucas can acknowledge that the biggest change he went through during his time in Spain and at Harbour.Space is not only the confidence he gained in himself, but the trust he found in others. “Marketing is all about confidence and teamwork and that is something that I didn’t fully understand when I started at Harbour.Space”, he confesses to us.

The top three things he learned at Harbour.Space were:

1. Marketing is a team sport. You are only as strong as your team. Surround yourself with people who are experts at what they do and whom you trust to get the job done. Having a team helps soften failures but makes successes exponentially better.
2. Asking for help is not a weakness. Expertise is not knowing everything but knowing who to ask for anything.
3. Fake it till you make it. Have the confidence to take on a challenge and know that no matter what happens you will be successful.

Also, Lucas learned much more than only marketing. In Eric Nobileau’s Financial Modelling class, which is basically a three-week crash course in excel, financial modelling, and critical thinking, Lucas went from someone that didn’t know how to use excel to someone that could create professional-grade financial models. Lucas recalls that “when you first see an example of what Eric is expecting, you have a moment of panic because you don’t think it is possible in the time that you have, but then it begins to come together piece by piece. This class should be in every graduate student’s programme, because it supplies them with tangible skills that everyone, no matter their career, can use to better themselves or the company they work for”.

Thanks to Spain’s immigration laws, foreign students can work up to 30 hours a week while studying their bachelor’s or master’s degree. That suited Lucas very well because he worked as a Marketing Manager at Harbour.Space for the last year. He needed a job that would allow him to practice what he was learning in class, and just before last year’s Christmas, there was an opening in the Marketing team, and he seized the opportunity. His job was to assist the CMO with the daily operations of the university’s marketing department, as well as supporting in the creation and maintenance of all the performance marketing efforts and the outbound communication, including social media, blogs, and event collaterals. 

What did he learn from this experience? Lucas tells us, “I found that marketing is all about taking your past experiences and knowledge and adapting it to the situation you are in. Not everything you learn in a classroom will work for the job or career you are in and the difference between a good marketer and a great marketer is being able to think on your feet and find the right combination of skills and best practices that work for you”.  

The digital marketing master’s programme gave Lucas the skills he needed to launch his own marketing agency, StratMark, which specialises in performance marketing for small and medium-sized businesses. Building the agency was his life’s desire and now, Lucas was able, as he conveys, “to culminate a year's worth of hard work and dedication into a career that I am in control of. That is a dream come true”. 

His advice for future students: “Come with an open mind and heart. Harbour.Space is not like anything else out there in the world of education. You only get out of it what you put into it, but if you are willing to pour all of yourself into the short time you have here, then you will walk away with the skills, knowledge, mentors, and friends that will make you successful in anything you want to accomplish in the life”.

If you want to learn more about Harbour.Space’s Digital Marketing programme, click here.  

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If you enjoyed this article, are interested in studying with us in Barcelona or Bangkok, want to learn more about living abroad or want to read other articles about Harbour.Space check out these blogs: 
 

• Study abroad in Barcelona and Bangkok: Ultimate Guide for an International Learning Experience (Scholarships available)
• A Health and Wellness Guide to Barcelona
• Bangkok, Thailand: Places to see, eat, drink, and shop
• Madrid or Barcelona, which city is the best to study abroad?
• New Laws make it easier for Students to stay in Spain after Graduation
• Supercharge your business with email marketing. 

If you are interested in other programmes take a look at Harbour.Space’s website to see which ones might help your professional development.  If you have any inquiries or thoughts, you can write to us at hello@harbour.space.