Month: March 2019

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Kimberly Batista, WH ’20

When I first arrived, it seemed neither I nor my coworkers really knew what to expect for this experience but we were aware it would be a learning period for all of us. Without knowing the language, they weren’t sure how much I could offer but I made efforts to showcase my willingness to learn and to contribute. It first started with small editing and proofreading assignments but as I learned more about what the company was involved with, I too asked to be more involved.

As a public relations company, Porter Novelli is involved with many aspects of their clients interactions with the media. One of my coworkers was working on planning an event for Western Digital and I helped brainstorm ideas and set up a detailed proposal. The other was involving a media crisis regarding an action by one international client that caused a negative reaction in the Chinese market so I helped monitor the response and draft a report. Another of my coworkers was in charge of helping to coordinate a conference and accommodate the US delegates that had been invited, amongst them was a former ambassador and the chief operating officer of an entertainment company. As I helped sort out the delegates flight information and created a briefing book for them to have information about the conference, I became interested and asked if I could attend and help make sure things run smoothly. The conference was about small and medium enterprises in China with the goal of growing globally and it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the Chinese business culture and different industries. As a global conference I also got to hear from delegates of other countries and learn more about China’s trade relations. The conference took place at the Beijing Yanqi Lake International Conference Resort and also gave me the opportunity to step outside the center of Beijing and see some of the countryside.

During this time, I also have gotten to grow closer with my coworkers. Although I am the only intern among more seasoned professionals, my coworkers have made efforts to ensure that I feel welcomed and included. I’ve developed mentorship relationships with them and have gotten to hear about their career paths and development, as they’ve offered me advice on discovering and showcasing my strengths and confidence. This has helped me not just in the workplace but also in taking steps to get more involved and adapting to the culture here, giving me the confidence to eat jellyfish, share my personal bubble with people in the packed subway, and hike up the Great Wall. Through all these explorations and new experiences, I can definitely say I’ve gotten up close and personal with Beijing and it has shown me new aspects of myself.

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Valerie J. Toledo, COL ’19

This summer, while interning at d’expósito & Partners I realized not only a love for the advertising industry, but for the Hispanic advertising industry.

d’expósito & Partners is a Hispanic advertising agency both inside and out. Walking into work every morning felt like entering the home of a relative. It was as if someone had bottled up my native Miami and placed it there for me to enjoy. Pero likesand Dales flew around the office in every conversation, Hellos and Goodbyes were always accompanied by besitos, and one of my supervisors wore the same guayaberas to office parties that my Abuelito wears to his job interviews. We referred to each other as d’familia in emails, and World Cup matches were streamed during internal meetings (albeit silently). It was a place to intern, but it was also a temporary home for a young Cuban woman who felt overwhelmingly alone in New York City.

Dex was a comfortable place to work, but it was by no means lethargic. Like at any advertising agency, hard work is a constant, and they manage high stakes deals and clients with high standards. There’s just no need to hide behind a practiced accent or stoic American expression. Because their clients depend on them to provide Hispanic insight and check that messages aren’t tone deaf, they don’t have to change who they are to gain clients’ respect.

In addition to the intrinsic cultural insight that comes from being Hispanic, there is the Hispanic or Latino work ethic. Most of us are immigrants, or our parents are, and so we were raised to understand the meaning of sacrifice and of perseverance in every situation. Everyone at Dex puts their best foot forward because it is second nature to them, and in doing so are proving to our challengers that sí, Latinos hacen buen trabajo. In my opinion, the work ethic exhibited by that agency inspires those in the industry, and I know it attracts other minorities who have the same understanding of what it means to struggle for something. 

On a more technical level, this internship at Dex taught me that within the Hispanic advertising industry, strategy is the trade I want to learn, a craft that marries research with creative thinking. Because I speak the language and know the customs, gaining insights that will lead to creating effective Hispanic marketing strategy won’t be as difficult as task as it might be for someone who doesn’t have those same experiences that I do. While I know that it’s important to step back from my own personal experiences in order to be objective, I also know that these experiences can equate to a form of cultural common sense.

Estoy orgullosa. I’m prouder of who I am than I have ever been, and I attribute that to this summer. My trademark Cuban loudness is not vulgar, it is what enables me to speak up in a meeting. My socioeconomic status is not a disadvantage, but a privilege when I consider how it has forced me to manage resources carefully and be sensitive to others. My bicultural identity does not make me foreign to the way things are, but rather, opens up doors of opportunity and visions of the way things could be. I hope to return to the world of Hispanic advertising after I graduate, because in that world, being myself is an asset.