This time around the spotlight is on our Digital Marketing intern: Jonna Anello! As with all our past internviews, I recently spoke with Jonna and got her thoughts on interning for UP Cycle and what she has learned from the experience. Find out more about her below:
Tell me about yourself.
Jonna: I’m a senior at UD! I am a public relations communication major, and I have two minors in fashion merchandising and advertising. UP Cycle has helped me get a niche in both of those things, one by me helping market products, and at the same time the company is in the fashion field.
For my hobbies, I like to ski and horseback ride. I like being involved on campus. I’m in the Pi Beta Phi sorority. And, I’m an only child.
Why did you want to intern here?
J: Like I mentioned earlier, it was a good pairing of the two fields I’m interested in. I originally went in thinking I’d have an interest in the digital marketing realm. That’s how I started at UP Cycle; as a digital marketing intern doing all things social media. It’s definitely still an interest of mine, but I started to realize, once I started working with apparel with them, I liked the fashion side of things in marketing. That still fits in with UP Cycle perfectly! I like to deal with fashion, cosmetics, things for the environment. I think all of those are really cool.
I also got started with UP Cycle too because I knew of Sierra; she lived on my freshman floor. Later on, I found out through my friend that she had a small business that she needed interns for.
What’s been your favorite part of working with UP Cycle Design so far?
J: I love learning about all the different organizations we work with because there’s so many non-profits that have been brought to my attention that I had never even heard of. I think it’s really cool to be able to give back to them and be a part of that process of giving back!
In what ways do you most hope to/ have you create(d) value as an UP Cycle Design intern?
J: Definitely skill building for UP Cycle. My skills, like how to draw people’s eyes and attention to your products and to your posts. Learning people’s behaviors on social media, like what times people are active and looking at your page, things like that. Getting started with UP Cycle has helped me gauge those human behaviors on social media, and through my marketing classes I’ve learned things like where people’s eyes are drawn. The value I’ve been giving is assessing what’s working, what do we need to change, etc. So I would say building those skills for marketing and being able to measure user behavior on social media.
What's been the most valuable thing you’ve learned from your internship up until this point?
J: This was my first internship, so I would say team collaboration. I feel like everyone works so well together, and I like how everyone is brought together to meet and make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s shown me how companies work. Having a tight knit work family is very important, because then everything will flow and be at the same pace, instead of everyone being all over the place.
What are your personal goals for the company?
J: One of my goals is to always get more followers and more community members. I feel like it [UP Cycle Design] is such a good mission, and the more community members, the better. Whether it’s blog views, Youtube views, Facebook views, Instagram follows, it’s building that community. I feel like Instagram is our best platform as far that, and I think it’s because of the age group that’s interested in the environment and things like that.
That brings me to my other goal, which is to pull other age groups in and get them interested in what we’re doing so that we can give back more. Whether that’s posting something different on Facebook than what we post on Instagram, I want to get more people interested than just our age group (20-24) on Instagram.
What advice would you give to someone looking to intern at a startup?
J: Definitely do it! These are people that have such good insights. They are new to the game too, so you’re not going to feel inferior to them or anything. Everyone is so welcoming and they have a small company that’s not supported by these multi-millionaires. They do it because it’s something they enjoy or want to do for the community. I think it’s cool to be a part of what the start of that was and to see where the company will go. Once the company grows and becomes big, it’s great to look back and be a part of the original crew.
How would you describe our company culture?
J: Very amicable, very uplifting and supportive. Very open-minded to everyone's ideas and thoughts. And I love that they’re very engaging; they want everyone’s opinions! It’s not one person who has all the say, joint decisions are made.
If you could make a change to your internship, what would it be?
J: I would have loved to have gotten involved earlier. Like I said, I knew Sierra from freshman year and I didn’t put myself out there enough to have gotten involved sooner. I don’t think there’s anything about the internship itself I would change, but I would definitely have loved to have gotten involved sooner.
What do you think has been the most impactful part of your experience so far?
J: Seeing how much you can do at a young age. Like when I hear the numbers we’ve accomplished talked about, or when Sierra talks about her personal nonprofit for cats, seeing how much you can do at such a young age is very impacting on me. It’s like, “Wow, at my age, I can do so much with my talents! It doesn’t have to be years and years of experience. I can make a difference no matter how old I am!” So hearing back on all their experiences and how much they have done, that’s very impactful on me.
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