With graduation only a few months away for this Hokie, we wanted to highlight Darius Boles’ experience at Virginia Tech. He is a Senior planning to graduate in December with a major in Marketing Management and a minor in International Business. Darius mentioned that as high school came to an end he had “No intention or desire to come to Virginia Tech but it was up to my parents and what they were willing to pay for”. Today, Darius could not be more thankful and happy to have spent his college experience in Blacksburg, at a place he now calls home. He said, “It was really cool that VT gave me the opportunities that he thought he could only get on the West Coast”. 

While at Virginia Tech, Darius has been a part of many marketing related things. Although, it didn’t start off that way. Coming to VT his freshman year, he was an undecided business major with no idea of what to major in but only that he wanted to choose a major that would let him be creative. Eventually, he discovered marketing and it came natural and easy to him so he ran with it! He was unsure of what to do with marketing but he came across Professor Donna Wertalik. Darius was very intrigued with up upbeat personality and high energy and got him hooked on the marketing world. After talking with Wertalik about different organizations on campus, Darius decided that he wanted to apply for PRISM. He was accepted and began his journey for the next four years. His first client experience was with the First and Main account. After the year came and went, and he began his second year in PRISM as Director of People and Culture. He said, “It was tough because I was a sophomore trying to direct older VT students, but I really did love the challenge”. Today, he is one of the two CMO’s of PRISM. He mentioned that he remembered being in his first PRISM meeting his freshman year, looking at the two CMO’s and he said “I want to be them”, and so he became them. 

In all of his success, Darius said that he learned a few huge things. The first is to be confident in whatever you do, it’s okay to set a plan and just go for it! He also said, “Make as many connections as you can- friends, professors, networking with alumni. Partnerships and friendships with a professional are really important because most of the time they work in the industry that you want to pursue. But also, make sure to find yourself with a great group of friends. My friends and I hype each other up so much and it really keeps us striving for our goals! Having support systems and people that genuinely care really makes a difference”.

Written by Alana Clark

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