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Internship Story: Lauren Rosburg

Lauren RosburgName: Lauren Rosburg
Major: Animal Science and Agriculture and Life Sciences Education - Communication
Year: Senior
Hometown/State: Ames, IA
Company/Organization: Smithfield Foods
Title: Food Service Marketing Intern
Location: Smithfield, VA

Describe your internship responsibilities:

  • Assist in Brand Conversion from Independent Brands to Smithfield Culinary Brand
  • Created Food Service analysis overviewing category review, segment review, and market trends to help adjust our marketing plan for Q4 of 2020 based on current market trends
  • Worked with the American Culinary Federation to create a sponsorship partnership with Smithfield Culinary and helped develop a marketing plan for the first ACF virtual conference

What did you enjoy most about this internship?

  • I truly enjoyed the variety of aspects that I was exposed to during this internship. I did work in advertising, brand marketing, brand conversions, conference planning, and external agency work
  • I also really liked the opportunity to input my ideas and thoughts into our marketing plan for the rest of the year and new ways we can implement new ideas during COVID

How has this experience impacted your future career plans?

  • I didn’t know anything about this area of marketing or this aspect of agriculture industry prior to this experience, and it provided an opportunity to see all of the different and unique ways that I could take my career
  • It also allowed me to network with industry leaders that provide advice, feedback and helped create opportunities for future employment post-graduation

What resources did you utilize to obtain this internship?

  • To obtain my internship opportunity this year, I utilized my connections from last year and made sure that my final presentation was strong and explained my projects well so that I would be a candidate for a returning internship

What advice would you offer to other students seeking similar internships?

  • It is a small industry - always network
  • You never know who you are talking to so always represent yourself in an appropriate manner
  • Don’t be scared of location, think of it as an opportunity to grow