When Tavita Fewell chose his first major, he says it was mostly to get rid of the glaring “Major: undecided” line on his online student portal. But taking classes at the BYU Marriott School of Business led him to a people-first career in marketing that he says he feels passionate about.
“I think one of my biggest goals is making sure I’m actually passionate about what I’m doing,” Fewell says, reflecting on when he realized he didn’t feel fulfilled in his first major. “Psychology was really cool stuff,” he says. “But I couldn’t see myself doing it as a career.”
Trying to move forward optimistically, he would tell himself, “This is what I’ve picked. I have to do this. Even if I don’t like it right now, I’m surely going to like it eventually.” But Fewell decided he didn’t want to wait for “eventually,” and set out to find a major he was passionate about.
He began taking classes for a commercial music major and ended up in a marketing class that he was, at first, reluctant to attend. “I think a lot of my hesitation was just coming from the fact that it was such an unfamiliar thing to me, but I knew that I had to at least listen if I wanted to pass the class,” Fewell says. “I started changing my mindset to be more open to it.”
Fewell began to enjoy the class. “I gave it an active effort instead of just coasting along,” he says. “That really helped me change my perspective and realize this is what I actually wanted to be doing.” He was accepted into the marketing program and applied to work at the BYU Marriott Marketing Lab during the junior core.
Working at the Marketing Lab gives Fewell the opportunity to combine his previous knowledge and new skills in real-world situations. “Being in the psychology program didn’t make me a master of minds,” Fewell jokes, “but it definitely gave me a bit of a leg up to understand the people in marketing behind the raw numbers.”
Through this people-first mindset, he can put his passion for connecting with and helping people to good use, Fewell says. “I want to be completely genuine in wanting to sell a product to people because I think it could benefit them.”
Fewell says that his opinions on wanting to work authentically are far from unique at BYU Marriott: His professors have emphasized honesty and transparency in class. “It’s been really helpful to get perspectives from people who have already been through the industry and understand it well.”
Now that Fewell has found work that he’s passionate about, he’s looking for a field and company to share that passion with. He says he enjoys the opportunity to work with various companies and learn more about them through the Marketing Lab and then later in his internship for Arup; where he was able to see how marketing affects engineering—fields he previously thought were unrelated.
As he begins his senior year, Fewell says he’s looking forward to helping run events and coordinate guest lectures for the Marketing Lab as the vice president of culture. “One of my biggest goals is to facilitate networking opportunities for all the people in the lab,” he says. “Having business leaders come to the classroom and talk about what they’re passionate about is such a cool way to connect.”
Fewell says that understanding the motivations of people around him, as well as understanding his own feelings, helps him find meaning in his studies: “Now I’m passionate about what I’m doing—and if I’m passionate about it, then I’ll find a way to make it work,” Fewell says. “So many opportunities have come from that choice to make sure that I actually care about what I’m doing.”
