Shelley Bushman was working towards her “dream job.” After returning home from her mission, where she attended German Christmas markets, she landed an internship as an experience design and management (ExDM) student with Salt Lake City’s Christkindlmarkt and contributed to the German celebrations in the area. But when Covid hit the event market, she had to pivot.
Facing a forced career shift, Bushman says she relied on the skills she learned in the BYU Marriott School of Business to adapt to the challenging circumstances. “So much of what you learn in ExDM comes down to creative problem-solving; I can take those same strategies for figuring out pain points in my own personal life,” she says.
She found a role working in e-commerce and alongside small businesses, but she says something was missing. “We did a lot of really great work, but I wondered: ‘Why am I not crushing it?’” Bushman reflects. “I was frustrated with myself because I was bringing the value I was hired for—but that’s the nature of working in experience design and management: You want to leave things better than you found them.”
Bushman says she kept her role as long as she could but still felt the need to do more. So, after reviewing her options, she concluded she still wanted to work with small businesses and help them succeed while working for a more meaningful cause. Her new goal: Find a position that could meet both criteria.
In spring 2025, she sent out her résumé to what she says “felt like everywhere.” One posting, a city events manager in Holladay, Utah, advertised a temporary employee to oversee the city’s summer concerts and the Blue Moon Festival.
Bushman got the position—and suddenly recognized how valuable her previous work experience had been. “I think we’re all prone to thinking we’re wasting our time if we’re not exactly where we need to be,” she explains. “But if you’re constantly looking for things that are interesting to fill your time, it rounds out your skillset and helps you in the long run.”
And she says planning events for Holladay felt like a perfect fit. “I had this great background of working with small business owners and being able to say, ‘I know what you need, and I know what questions to ask to get you what you need,’” she shares. “And now I’m figuring out more how to come from the community side of that—what does the city need?”
What the city needed was someone to plan their summer concerts and festivals, and Bushman performed well enough to earn an extension on her original contract. Since then, she’s continued adapting how the Holladay community celebrates together, including recently completing two separate art shows.
Bushman says that uniting her community is the purpose she was looking for all those years earlier. “I’m helping to create a place where there’s common ground, where everyone can come enjoy something and make memories together, off their screens, and with greater community,” she explains. “I think it’s so important, and I feel so lucky that I found my calling.”
However, recent life circumstances once again require Bushman to prepare for a major career shift. As she and her husband move to Nebraska so he can pursue residency, she looks at this current obstacle as a welcome challenge.
“Before a year ago, I didn’t have a super long list of things I was really proud of,” she shares. “And now, I've had one year in a role where the fit has been really good, and I feel like I've learned and accomplished more than I could have in the last few years, and I'm not mad about having to leave, because I'm just really proud of the work that I've done.”
Bushman looks to expand on everything she’s learned—wherever life takes her next. “If I've learned anything in the last few years, it's that pivoting is not failure, and I feel like that's something we talk about a lot in experience design: It’s just data,” she explains. “This isn’t bad, it’s not good, it’s just data; it’s data to help you figure out where you’re going next.”
Now she stands in front of a wall in her room that she’s covered with butcher paper, marking it up and brainstorming the various new paths she’d like to pursue. “I know I'm going to do great stuff,” she concludes, “I just don't know what any of them are yet.”
