Each summer, students from the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics gain important real-world professional skills through internships. In each installment of this series, you’ll hear firsthand about how one Lerner student secured their internship, what their experience as an intern was like and what comes next!
Lexi Gilbert, Class of 2020, double major in marketing and entrepreneurship & technology innovation, spent her summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a marketing intern at Comcast NBCUniversal.
Q: How did you find out about this internship?
Gilbert: During my junior year, I researched internship opportunities at many companies and identified that Comcast would be an excellent place to gain experience and grow professionally. I networked with UD alumni that work at Comcast to learn more about the internship program. Happily, I secured a first interview, and after advancing through the application process received an offer. I immediately accepted the position knowing the foundation of tools and skills developed in this dynamic business setting would be carried with me throughout my career.
My hope for the summer was to be in a supportive internship program, work in an innovative environment surrounded by talented people and gain hands-on experience. My internship was this and more. I went into work every day excited to learn and work. Comcast exceeded all expectations.
Q: What is the most exciting task that you have undertaken in your role?
Gilbert: One of my most exciting projects was the opportunity to lead a 4th of July email campaign that was sent to 8.5 million customers. Having oversight of our advertising agency creative development I learned how to provide effective feedback guiding the agency to successful execution. I also learned strategic planning by leveraging our knowledge of the consumer segment to increase engagement. The email campaign was a success and had an above-average open rate. I absolutely loved leading this campaign; it was one of the highlights of my internship experience.
Q: What did you learn through this internship that you don’t think you would have learned
Gilbert: Working for an industry leader like Comcast provided me with a unique opportunity to grow because I was surrounded by thousands of employees where I could learn from people with different experiences, backgrounds and career perspectives. Throughout the summer I spent my free time strengthening my networking skills by going on more than 45 coffee chats with a range of employees on the marketing and communication teams. In fact, I actually ran out of time in my desire to connect with everyone I could and even continued my coffee chats after my internship ended.
What was so meaningful was that each person had a different story to tell and a valuable insight to share, which I really benefited from. Additionally, everyone was so happy to take 30 minutes to sit down and talk with me which really speaks to the welcoming culture at Comcast. I plan on maintaining these connections.
Q: What is an example of a time you were able to apply something you learned at the Lerner College to your role?
Gilbert: In my classes at Lerner I’ve had many group projects where I worked collaboratively with my peers. On one of my internship projects I worked with two other interns around Comcast’s efforts to gain insight into customer data privacy and the California Consumer Privacy Act. We led two focus groups with Gen-Z and Millennials, worked collaboratively to identify key findings and presented together to our teams with results. Having that prior experience working groups in school helped prepare me for work-related group projects.
Also, through the Lerner Executive Mentoring Program I was assigned an excellent and thoughtful mentor, Mary Ellen Payne, who provided me with valuable guidance throughout my internship experience.
Q: What has been the most fun part of your internship?
Gilbert: I really enjoyed being a part of an internship program with a large cohort of interns from many different colleges. This allowed me to make connections with peers I would otherwise have never crossed paths with. I made friends with some great people that I plan to stay in touch with in the future!
Q: How do you think this internship will help you with your professional goals?
Gilbert: Double majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship arms me with a diverse course of study that opens the door to a variety of career paths. A question I asked myself was, “how do I identify which path or career focus is right for me?” Interning on the Customer Communications team at Comcast I discovered that I really enjoy the customer-facing side of marketing. Now that I know this about myself I can hone in on the skills and experiences I need to gain to set myself up for success in a customer-facing marketing career. I’m not going to eliminate all the other options because I intend to gain a diverse range of experiences but at least I have an idea of where I want to start!
Q: What are your plans or next steps once this internship is over?
Gilbert: I plan to stay in touch with all the extraordinary people I formed relationships with during this internship, especially my manager and team! As I enter my senior year, I will be beginning my job search to look for marketing or communications positions in New York City, New York or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while remaining extremely interested in a future at Comcast.