优秀学生Sahila沙

是什么吸引你从事市场营销?

萨希拉:市场营销是很普遍的. All of us in some shape or form are swayed by marketers. When it comes to any basic concepts, marketing is the main thing that gets your attention. And that's what I like: being competitive. I like thinking, “OK, I have 10 competitors. How can I be better and how can I get your attention?” Competition just really excites me and motivates me to be better.

Tell us about your summer internship with Wells Fargo.

Sahila: My position was very different than my current major. I'm a marketing student, but I was a wealth management intern. 这是一次虚拟实习. 我在西雅图的公司工作.  

In one of my favorite projects, I incorporated my marketing background in my position. I presented on how [Wells Fargo] can target different segmentations — 例如, how they can target a specific ethnicity or specific income for their services, since the advisers were looking for higher income clients. 

I gave them social media coverage and how they could do that. I also give them tips on how to stand out with their messaging and how to be very authentic when it comes to promoting their services. So, 例如, 领英或报纸媒体, how they can be more than just numbers and money and be authentic. I think that was my favorite one, since they really needed a lot of marketing assistance. 

How did Pacific prepare you for this opportunity?

Sahila: My marketing classes prepared me a lot. When I was doing my segmentation project, 值得庆幸的是, 事先, I had taken a class called International Marketing. 在那堂课上, we learned how to attract different markets around the world, or cultural backgrounds you can touch on. That helped a lot because Seattle is a very diverse city. But internally, within the firm, there wasn't much diversity. So that's one thing that I really targeted: if you're going to attract a diverse clientele, you want to make sure that you reach them appropriately and authentically. That's why the class really helped me. 

I was also contacting my professor during the summer, asking her for help. 她真的帮了我很多. 她给了我资源, books and podcasts to look into to really put the finishing touch on my presentation. 我的教授们帮了我很大的忙. 

What did you learn through this experience that you're going to take with you in your career?

Sahila: Internally, I learned to not let fears or concerns get to me. I had a lot of anxiety getting into this position, especially the week leading up to it. It was my first corporate internship. I wasn't sure what I was getting into: how the advisers were going to treat me or how I was going to have a place in such a big company. So, one thing I learned from this experience is having more confidence in my abilities and understanding that I matter, and not letting imposter syndrome get to me. 

Something else I learned is companies are always looking for newer Ideas. 作为一名营销专业的学生, I can bring such a diverse perspective to the companies and give them a newer insight of how they can do better, 这太疯狂了, 因为我还在上大学! But that's one thing I learned a lot in the [Wells Fargo] Seattle firm. They valued the perspectives I provided as a marketing student coming from a mid-size city in the Central Valley.

What is your favorite thing about Pacific?

Sahila: I think for sure, the faculty. And the privilege that comes with being a private school student. All my classes are very small, and that really enhances my connection with my professors. 在我的市场营销课上, 甚至几乎, 我在和他们交流, 与他们交谈, asking them so many questions and getting to know them. 这也大大提高了我的绩点, because instead of being in a lecture hall with 500 students, it's much more one-on-one interactions that I'm getting from my professor.

What advice do you have for incoming students?

Sahila: I like talking about my identities, because if there's one thing I realized, it’s that as first-gen students who've never gone to college, we feel like we can't do these big things. One thing I really want to say to anybody who is looking into college is, 为了让你分解它, you have to be the first one to step up and get a taste of these experiences. Because now that I've had such great positions, I feel comfortable going for big positions with big companies and knowing I can do it. So that’s just a little motivation for anybody who feels discouraged.