Alumni Spotlight: Gabrielle Woodard

Ragan Communications and PR Daily’s Top Women in Marketing Awards Recognize Kent State University 2017 PRSSA Alumna Gabrielle Woodard  
By Jewels Cydrus 

The Big Award 
Every year, Ragan Communications and PR Daily publish a list of women in marketing who are innovators in the industry. Kent State University 2017 alumna Gabrielle Woodard was one of only six women recognized as a “Marketer to Watch (Age 30 and Under)” honoree.  

Woodard is the senior marketing manager of the Intelligence and Homeland Security branch at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a global aerospace and defense company.  This award highlights Woodard’s accomplishments and dedication early in her career.  

“Everything had to be done before you turned 30, and funny enough, I turned 30 in June,” she said.  

She was under 30 when she applied and hadn’t heard of the award before. Throughout her 20s, Woodard often felt she had to prove her value as she worked her way up. 

“I feel like I’m finally where I’ve wanted to be in the last 10 years,” she said. “And to get into a role and be like, 'Oh, I know what I’m doing,’ that’s a really cool feeling.” 

College and her Career Pathway  
During her time at Kent State, she was a member of PRSSA and Alpha Phi. She served as PRSSA president her junior year, earning both the National President’s Citation Award and Kent State’s Student Leader of the Year Award, and went on to receive the National Gold Key Award her senior year. Although she is grateful to be honored by these awards, Woodard does not let them define her.  

“It sounds really cliché, but if you hinge all of your confidence on that outside confirmation, it’s going to be really hard,” she said. “Because you don’t want to live between awards.” 

She was a public relations major with a minor in political science. All through college, she had her mind set on working in a political or governmental setting. At the end of her sophomore year, she had two internships within the national security and defense realm that highlighted her passion for the industry. 

The summer before her senior year, Woodard decided to pursue her dream career and finish her degree online. So, she moved to Virginia and began working at Northrop Grumman, another major defense contractor.  

“It was a company that really encouraged its employees to try different things and move around,” she said. “So, I started in employee comms and then I went into government relations, working with the lobbyists, and I finished there after about four years as the lead communications person for AI.”  

While working at Grumman, the company paid for her to pursue a master’s degree in homeland security and counterterrorism.  

“I don’t recommend people get a master’s in PR or a master’s in communications if they’ve done the work,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything new that you’re going to learn that you haven’t learned on the job.” 
 
Instead, Woodard recommends people study the industry they work in to become an expert in the field.  

“If you can be an expert in what they’re talking about and be able to teach people to talk about it, then that’s going to make you more of a valuable player than somebody who knows P.R., comms, or marketing inside and out,” she said. 

Beginning her career in college, she had to learn on her own and speak up for herself in the workplace. She knew what she was doing, but she had to constantly prove it to her coworkers and bosses. 

“People would say, ‘Wow, you’re young!’ because I was working in an industry that people had been in for a long time,” she said.  

As time passed and she continued to thrive, people stopped asking about her age and she continued to look for bigger and better opportunities.  

In 2021, she began working for GDIT, her current employer. This opportunity was available because of the master’s degree that she obtained.  

Woodard paved her own path to success by taking opportunities, working hard and proving herself at a young age.  

 Mentorship, Confidence and Big Dreams

• Find a mentor 

“Stephanie Smith (Kent State Professor) has been a mentor to me since I was a sophomore in college, and we talk almost every day.”  

• Strive for internal confidence rather than external validation 

“It’s nice to have the outside confirmation, but I have applied for things and for whatever reason, didn’t get them,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Alright, it wasn’t meant to be, but I’m fine.’” 

• Don’t compare your career path to others’ 

When describing her thoughts on comparison, Woodard referred to her friend, Brenna Parker, who worked for Kamala Harris. 
“It’s not, ‘Oh, she did something really cool and I haven’t,’” she said. “It’s that quiet confidence where I can take a step back and say, ‘I know what I do is cool.’” 

• Dream big and make connections in your (desired) job field  

“Even if you want to do PR for granola bars, if that’s something you want to do, then go for it,” she said. “Go find the people that are doing it and get to know them and see what you can do.” 

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