I am Alex Searles, a senior Strategic and Corporate Communication major with a minor in Integrated Educational Studies. For my spring 2020 internship, I worked as a marketing coordinator for The Revury, an online (and partially in-person) cosigning company that takes in designer clothes, shoes, bags, hats, sunglasses, etc., from different people and boutiques and sells those items at a discounted price. For a girl that has a strong “passion for fashion,” this was a dream come true.

Like many others entering college, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Because of this, I began my time at Chapman as a Health Science major but quickly learned that was not the right path for me. After two months as a Health Science major, I decided to switch to Strategic and Corporate Communication. I began taking my introductory SCC classes and immediately fell in love with the subject matter. Eventually, through my course work and other experiences on campus, I decided that fashion, design, and social media marketing was where I was headed.

An Instagram Ad I created for The Revury

During my internship with The Revury, I got the opportunity to write blog posts, create Instagram and Facebook content, send company emails, create Instagram Giveaways, create an affiliate program, reach out to influencers for potential collaborations, generate pop-up event invitations, research and improve the company’s search engine optimization, and create curated collections for the website. I used what I had learned in my SCC classes to help me succeed at these tasks.

By using what I learned in Business & Professional Communication (COM 310) and Organizational Communication (COM 410), I was able to communicate to not only my coworkers appropriately but also our customers via social media pages and emails. I used my experience in Theories of Persuasion (COM 210) and Message Design I (SCC 200) to successfully construct Instagram content and blog posts encouraging customers to buy products. I also used the fundamental skills taught in Introduction to Strategic and Corporate Communication (SCC 100) to identify a target audience, tailor our content towards them, and increase the company’s social media following by about 400%.

My internship did not go as planned, and I was unable to continue working on-site due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I was lucky enough to be able to complete my internship remotely. While this was much more difficult, my successful completion of this internship is an excellent display of my flexibility and strong verbal and written communication skills. As Dr. Andrea Weber said in our Senior Seminar (SCC 498), “there is no plan!” In times of such uncertainty, it’s important to remember how capable we are and that we can conquer anything we put our minds to, the only people in our way are ourselves.