“Ball State is where I needed to be. It gave me so many wonderful opportunities to explore my interests and it ended up showing me who I wanted to become.” – Angela Apple

Angela Apple is presently the Global Head of Sales Enablement at Uber Eats, a position which allows her to pursue her passion of teaching others, traveling the world, and connecting with people on a global scale. 

Time at BSU

Angela spent a great deal of time at Ball State, receiving both her undergraduate and master’s degree in Communication and Media Studies.  She learned a great deal during her time on campus, both in and outside the classroom. 

During her undergraduate years, Angela was able to become involved in the virtual news channel WPIB (now known as Ball State PBS). “Getting to see all the inner workings  of a place like that was incredible and we did all sorts of cool projects.” This was one of the first times Angela was able to directly explore the professional world of communications and was very formative as she learned about the field she was entering. Another class that Angela credits her love of communications to was Communications 310, taught by Dr. Beth Messner. This course, titled Fundamentals of Persuasion, helped Angela make sense of how the world worked. It was in this course that she learned the impact that words can have on people and how they can influence decisions. “This class made the world make so much more sense. It really gave me a new perspective on things.” Dr. Messner was an influential mentor in Angela’s life and helped her understand the importance of teaching. However, Angela recounts that the entire communications department was incredible and all of the professors had a huge impact on her life. As an undergraduate student, Angela was also involved as a BSU Ambassador and a member of Cardinal Core. As part of both of these opportunities, Angela got to meet and learn from a wide variety of people who had been successful in her field. 

During her master’s degree, Angela wanted to be as involved as possible. She was a graduate assistant and had a rigorous course load to achieve her degree in as little time as possible. The major takeaways that this program gave her were lessons in how to manage time, develop relationships with people, and how to be strategic. All of these lessons are still applicable to her profession today. In the little free time she had, Angela attempted to meet as many people in her field as she could. A process that would help Angela attain her professional goals in record time. 

 “I wanted to gain an understanding of the corporate work and meet people who were doing what I wanted to do. If I could understand why they were successful, I believed I could model myself after them and achieve anything I wanted to.” – Angela Apple

Professional Journey

After graduation, Angela was able to get a job at an agriculture company that she had interned at during her years in school. There, she learned a great deal about organizational  development and helped build training materials for the entire company. Her love for teaching, combined with her understanding of the corporate world helped her see that she had a natural aptitude for training people how to sell products and how to better operate in a professional setting. 

From there, she worked at the Indiana Star, a division of Gannet, while also networking with different companies nationally. She was then offered a position at the San Francisco Chronicle, which was a huge opportunity. Angela built trainings for the sales team and even took over other business functions of the company. What was intended to only be a two year position, turned into a nine year career with the newspaper.  

After witnessing a gas explosion in San Francisco, Angela discovered she was incredibly interested in the world of solar energy. She was fascinated with the future of how people would eventually power their homes and wanted to do work that mattered to the world. Solar City, her new employer, was the largest solar seller in the United States. Angela credits her time here as the ‘foundational work of my career’ as she was part of this rapidly growing company. Once more, she was able to develop and teach training across the entire company, interacting with all sorts of people and topics. Here, she loved the people she worked with and found peace in helping make the world a cleaner place. After Solar City was purchased by Tesla, Angela transitioned into the new company right as the Model 3 cars were coming out. It was an exciting time and she had  a front row seat. 

Finally, an opportunity from UberEats came up and Angela jumped at the opportunity. Presently, she works in the global commercial training sector of the company and is the head of a worldwide team. This position has pushed her professionally and creatively as they are constantly trying new things and figuring out exciting new ways to make their company better. Her team oversees all of the training globally to ensure that the sales associates and other employees know what is going on, how to utilize new products, and how to be successful in their roles. 

Words of Wisdom

Angela stated that current students at BSU should take advantage of any and all opportunities that come their way. 

“Don’t be afraid to say yes. You never know what might help you down the road.” – Angela Apple

Additionally, Angela urges all students to try to meet current professionals in their areas of interest or desired career fields to supplement their education of the business world and what jobs might actually look like. This process has been tried and tested by Angela herself and was incredibly beneficial as she started her career. 

“Ball State is an amazing place with amazing people and amazing opportunities. I am happy that I have been able to stay connected and give back to the university that gave me so much.” – Angela Apple