Working solely for money will never be enough for me. My parents taught me that you will never work a day in your life when you are passionate and enjoy what you do. Therefore, I want my daily work to be rewarding and help build a stronger and kinder society. That is why cause marketing is something I wanted to explore as a career choice. My internship with the Susan G. Komen Foundation at the Orange County Affiliate office has been a perfect place to gain insight into what this path would look like on a day to day basis.

My name is Jessie White, and I am a senior at Chapman University double majoring in Strategic and Corporate Communication (SCC) and Integrated Educational Studies (IES). These majors came out of my passion for giving back. The IES major has a community emphasis track in which I was able to learn about the non-profit realm. SCC has taught me how to be a creative and strategic problem solver. I have a desire to use these skills in a cause marketing position.

Cause marketing graphic created for Susan G. Komen.

In the fall of 2019, I took Message Design I, SCC 200, a class taught using a health communication lens. The theories and concepts we learned fascinated me. Therefore, when looking for an internship I wanted to explore a position related to the health communication field. I wanted to utilize what I learned in school in a real work setting.

When I heard that Susan G. Komen was looking for an Intern, I jumped at the chance. I sent in my resume and a cover letter. A few days later, an in-person interview was scheduled. When they contacted me back saying I got the position, I couldn’t believe it. They even commended me on my professionalism and the quality of my cover letter and resume. I attribute this compliment completely to my education at Chapman University. I feel my courses like Business and Professional Communication COM 310 and others, have prepared me to begin developing my professional identity.

I started the internship at the beginning of my Spring 2020 semester. From the first day, I felt challenged and like I was learning something new every day. My first task was generating 3rd party solicitations for our annual ‘Pink Tie Ball’. To start I generated an excel spreadsheet of prospective local businesses with detailed contact information. Once developed, I contacted these organizations and directly asked for donations. It felt so rewarding to be in charge of a donation/contribution project from the initial research, to contact, conversation, and confirmation.

Paws Fur Pink duo goes all out!

I also got to work at two events. One was Paws Fur Pink, a 5k that people ran with their dogs. It was amazing to see all the dogs, from the tiniest to biggest, decked out in pink. At this event I worked on setting up our informational booth. This station shared what our organization does, as well as provided resources to individuals. The next event I supported was the Metastatic Breast Cancer Conference where I helped set up and manage the panelists and attendees.

If you didn’t catch it earlier, yes this is a Spring 2020 internship, which means mid-internship the COVID-19 Safer at Home order was announced. I feel so lucky and grateful that Komen chose to keep me on the team working remotely. I  work the same hours as I did previously, just at home.

Recently the marketing department tasked me with creating breast health graphics to be shared on our Instagram page. I researched and developed the messages, then designed the social media graphics following their brand guidelines. I loved applying the concepts I learned in SCC, such as target audience analysis, behavior change theories, pre-testing, etc. to develop effective messages that I was proud to share.

Cause marketing graphic created for Susan G. Komen

Overall, I feel so fortunate to have had this experience. I can walk away from it knowing I was challenged, I learned, I grew, I performed, and most importantly my work contributed to the fight against breast cancer.  I graduate this May with the assurance that I have the building blocks to pursue a career in cause marketing. Most importantly, I will be following a path that is rewarding on a daily basis.