Detroit-native Justin Walters and Armenian-born Vardan Sargsyan sat down with fellow 2020 Clinic intern and CDE Field Manager Marisa Salice to discuss their experience in the Clinic during an episode of Digital Live. 

Justin Walters is an EMU student set to graduate from the Marketing program in the winter of 2020. Justin spent his summer working with ProjectSynergy, a company that provides a cloud-based platform for automotive companies in the pre-production phase. In collaboration with his partner, Kylie Gilligan, he created content for the company’s LinkedIn, produced sales decks, and helped develop digital marketing strategy. 

When discussing his accomplishments, Justin mentioned the unique experiences the internship offers. “I’m really glad I got some hands-on experience being able to see what works and what doesn’t and getting direct feedback from the founders of the company.”

The biggest takeaway and piece-of-advice he would offer to future interns is “don’t feel limited to just the word marketing.” Justin mentioned how the skills he learned through working with ProjectSynergy were applicable to his Community Outreach internship with Congressman Andy Levin. Digital marketing is everywhere, especially in the political realm.

Vardan, a senior in the Communication Technology program at Eastern Michigan, worked for Bschool Travel, a company that works with students to offer affordable and unique travel experiences. Which was a perfect match because he is interested in the intertwining relationship between communication and travel. During his time there, he was able to produce graphic content, a promotional video, and even tweak the website. After the Clinic, he was offered contract work to stay on to help with rebranding efforts.

Before joining the clinic in the summer of 2020, Vardan laid out some robust long-term goals, like moving back to Armenia to work in tech and marketing. In the short term, he learned a lot about business communication from watching where the brand is going. Vardan described one takeaway from his work with Bschool travel as “learning to treat me as an expert in my field and treating the company as my client.”

From this experience, Vardan learned he can see himself in a producer role. “I’m looking forward to working in a creative agency doing a lot more production work.”

As a student in both the Political Science and Journalism programs at EMU, Marisa was on a pre-law track for the majority of her undergraduate career. When she discovered a passion for public relations and communications after her junior year, she was scrambling to find an internship in the middle of a statewide shutdown. Eventually, Marisa found her way to the Digital Summer Clinic application through her network of EMU peers. During Marisa’s time in the Digital Summer Clinic, she worked as a Digital Marketing Intern for Genomenon, a genomic health IT company that provides solutions for pharma and bio-pharma companies. She assisted in improving their Customer Relationship Management system by updating key lists, developing automations, drafting a re-engagement email campaign, updating press contact lists and drafting a press release. 

Marisa’s piece of advice for future interns is to not worry about your experience level. “It is all about your passion, aspirations, and your willingness to learn. When I applied to the Clinic, I didn’t have a lot of experience, but I had a passion to figure out if the public relations industry was for me.”

Learn more about their experience here.