By Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations, President of NEDAS and Sponsorship Sales Director of NANOG
As the mid-summer mark approaches, the iMiller Public Relations (iMPR) team wants to shine a spotlight upon seven exceptionally talented interns that have joined our award-winning, global communications firm for the past three months. With departments focused on the various activities of telecom and technology public relations and marketing, our interns gain invaluable experience which they will no doubt take with them when they return to their colleges and universities this fall. From account management and content development, to digital marketing and event planning, and from media relations to social media, as well as trade association management, finance and operations, they are learning and growing while contributing to the success of iMPR.
Introducing our interns alphabetically, we start with Julia Beer. Julia Beer is supporting the strategic account management teams and getting direct exposure to clients. She has been taking part in strategic advisory calls, marketing program development and all areas of media relations, including pitching, press releases, learning the embargo process, researching award and speaking submissions, byline article submissions, and ensuring clients adhere to deadlines for all of the above. An aspiring finance manager who just finished her freshman year at the Kelley School of Business, Julia is learning the transactional side of the industry she is looking forward to support when she graduates.
Next up is Samantha Booth, who has been working diligently with the digital marketing team. As a matter of fact, Samantha has already been instrumental in launching a new bi-weekly newsletter for the Northeast DAS & Small Cell Association (NEDAS) and managing communications and posts for the online publications Data Center POST and CloudPOST. In addition, she is setting up digital campaigns across a variety of back-end systems, running performance reports to measure the effectiveness of the programs, conducting research, and more. A recent graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University, her contributions have been very much appreciated across the board.
Roni Epstein, currently attending Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, has been working with the iMPR social media team. She is responsible for the development and execution of social media campaigns, creating engaging content for various platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and tracking and monitoring for social media engagement as she works with the team to cultivate followers for iMPR, NEDAS, Data Center POST, CloudPOST, TelecomNewsroom and our company’s clients. The social media team is thrilled to have someone already savvy in social media to work side-by-side with them this summer.
Mia Hinterwalder, who is fluent in both English and German, has been a strong contributor on a variety of client accounts, working closely with iMPR’s Vice President of Strategic Accounts, Joanna Soucy. From drafting meeting agendas, taking notes on action items, conducting research, and much more, she has been a trusted and reliable resource. As Mia nears graduation from Temple University in Philadelphia, this experience will help prepare her for the real world business challenges that are on her horizon.
Our next intern, Caroline Kurdej, has been supporting the NEDAS team. An avid writer and sport enthusiast, she is entering her senior year at DePaul University in Chicago, where she is pursuing a dual major in Business Administration and English, with minors in Professional Writing and Applied Psychology. Caroline has been supporting the team with content development, contributed blogs to Data Center POST and CloudPOST, and is working on a new strategic messaging initiative for one of iMPR’s clients. Her cheerful and ‘go get ‘em’ disposition is contagious, bringing a delightful and refreshing enthusiasm to the company and the teams she supports.
As we near the end of these introductions, it’s hard not to reflect on the process the company took to search for and interview candidates. It was tremendous to receive recommendations from telecom industry executives and leaders as their daughters, nieces, cousins, sisters, and friends of friends prepare to enter the business world. Each candidate that was interviewed brought special skills to the table. Some of the interns had no work experience at all, and others were more familiar with various aspects of PR and Marketing when coming to their roles. The iMPR team is honored to mentor, guide and be an ongoing resource for all of the interns we employ, and this team is no exception.
Our final introductions include two interns who both had previous experience working with or for iMPR, and it is an honor that they continue to come back to support our efforts.
Caroline Rossi is a student at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is a very talented and experienced (yes, already) digital marketing associate. Last summer, she worked for a global telecom company designing digital drip campaigns, and this summer she brings this experience to iMPR where she works on various digital marketing initiatives, including data research, email campaign development, blog posting, website management and newsletter development. A solid resource and a fantastic contributor, Caroline has been one of the easiest transitions to the team that we have had in a long time.
Last but certainly not the least, we introduce Nyasia Strickland. For the third consecutive summer, Nyasia returns to iMPR where she continues to grow in her contributions to the social media team. A recent graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this summer Nyasia is developing and executing social media campaigns, and creating original content and memes for a variety of platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Nyasia also assists in creating social media reports, specifically measuring the success of social campaigns managed by the iMPR team. We can’t appreciate Nyasia enough. As the management team considers summer interns every March, Nyasia Strickland’s name is always at the top of the list.
Reflecting on the seven members of iMPR’s dream team of summer interns, we are honored that they too selected our company to learn, grow with, and contribute to the success of our telecom and technology clients. With the account teams on the front line and at every level of the organization, the amount of work that goes in to delivering successful PR and marketing programs is sometimes underappreciated. There’s data analysis, research, content development and the ability to monitor and measure success. These seven extraordinary individuals are truly making a difference, and it shows.
