Maybe you noticed the Iron Design social media accounts have been a little more active recently. This is thanks to Katie. She’s a rising senior majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications at Ithaca College, and this summer she’s been interning as our marketing strategist. In the past 11 weeks she’s been creating and posting social media content, working to improve Iron’s SEO, and doing outreach for and tracking the responses of our first in-house research effort.
What interested you about Iron Design?
I was interested by the active role interns take on with Iron Design. The internship posting described responsibilities and expectations that allowed more room for creativity and inspiration than opportunities from other organizations. I was also interested in Iron’s far-reaching presence in the city of Ithaca and Cornell. Their client list was filled with names I recognized and respected (including some of my favorite spots for grabbing a bite to eat: Ithaca Coffee Company, Purity, and Pasta Vitto).
What are your plans for your last year at IC?
Oh man I have a lot planned. Aside from the obvious academic course load, I’ll be writing grants and running the social media for a nonprofit based in NJ, working as president of Ithaca’s Open Mic Night, and getting more active in Ithaca’s chapter of AMA. I’m really taking the year to build up my resume and portfolio before I start applying for actual jobs. So I’ll be busy, but I’ll be sure to fit in some fun too. I plan on seeing a bunch more shows at The Haunt and, of course, hitting the gorges a few more times.
Talk about one thing you’ll take away from your internship with Iron?
Learning the ways to find what a client will respond to has been my greatest takeaway. A great experience I had was sitting in on a 2-hour meeting where Iron picked just about every piece of information they could from the brain of a new client. I see this foundation being built off of in every interaction Iron has with returning clients. Even a minute detail like a specific shade of blue gets built into the structure of knowledge Iron keeps for each client. It’s inspiring to see the positive effects this yield in Iron’s work and their client relationships, and I plan to incorporate this same mentality in my own work.
What was the best part of your internship with Iron Design?
The best part of my internship was the independence and responsibility. I would get some parameters to follow for a task and I could set right out to do it. Then it was up to me to check in with the team to get a little more guidance. The idea that I was assisting with the marketing of a branding agency could get a little daunting at times; no one wants to see a branding agency whose own branding is obviously made by some college kid. But in the end I was able to deliver quality work that met Iron Design’s criteria, and my work has only benefited from that high standard.
A non work-related part of this internship that I loved was the music constantly playing over the office speaker. And it turns out the Iron team and I have a similar taste in music– Talking Heads, Low Cut Connie, and Bruce Springsteen just to name a few.