Lexi Jubin, a Management and Marketing major with a Certificate of Undergraduate Study in Entrepreneurial and Independent Media, spent her summer learning the ins and outs of e-commerce with national retailers Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween. Here, she shares her experience and how she interned through a pandemic.
What are your responsibilities as an intern with Spencer’s?
As the e-commerce intern with Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween, I did a lot of pulling data and work on different spreadsheets. In the e-commerce marketing department, I learned about paid search, SEO, affiliate marketing, and even worked closely with individuals in merchandising, copywriting and email marketing. I reported directly to the Senior Manager of E-commerce and got to know many people in the department very fondly.
When I first started, two full-time positions were vacant, so I got to have a hand in some of what those positions usually take care of, as well as gain so much brand-new insight and growth for the department during my internship experience as two new awesome individuals joined the team. Regarding my day by day, my mornings usually started off with a paid search report pulling from different analytics platforms. This was something I was super excited to learn about because I never would have thought I enjoyed paid search and going through the data that came with it so much and the only way to know was to try it.
For the SEO side of things, I also did a weekly data pull for our dashboard, which was super cool to learn as well. When I wasn’t pulling numbers for our regular reports, I created a new format for tracking information on our current and new affiliates, and did some individual products and data pulls for specific ideas or problems we had to solve. I attended regular meetings each week, going over different data and getting a feel for the company, as well as going through training for all different facets of e-comm.
Overall, I was completely immersed in the department. My supervisor, Greg, was absolutely amazing at teaching me piece by piece how to do different things. He ran through different platforms with me, taught me how he did the analysis for different daily reports, and was super patient when I didn’t know something. The paid search and SEO managers, which were brought on during my internship, were also so patient, helpful and kind when I had questions. Not only did I have my own responsibilities and tasks day by day, but the people I worked with really took the time to teach me and leave me with some valuable knowledge.
Do you feel like Rowan prepared you for the work you’re doing with the company?
Rowan definitely prepared me in every way they could for this type of work. I think the part of my coursework that helped me the most were the classes that were required for my certificate of undergraduate study in Entrepreneurial and Independent Media. Two classes in particular “Entrepreneurial Media” and “Media Metrics and Analytics” were probably the closest to what I was doing. For my marketing degree, my statistics-based courses also definitely played a role. I did a lot with conversion rates, impressions and other different KPI’s [key performance indicators], so it was important that I knew what they were when I started the internship, and I definitely wouldn’t have without these classes. While Rowan killed it at teaching me the concepts, I learned so much from the hands-on work that I got to do with the company.
Talk about your experience working during COVID.
My internship was sort of hybrid, though the office was technically not fully open during my time there. The first time I got to go to the office was to pick up my company-issued laptop. From there, I generally worked from home most days and went in about once a week. Though I wasn’t there a lot, I really loved the vibe and look of the corporate office, so it was exciting when I did get the chance to go in. I also had the opportunity to help our team out at one of the Spirit stores before it opened, which was insanely exciting, as well as a nice opportunity to meet some of my coworkers in person.
Though I didn’t get to see everyone in person all the time, I still was welcomed to the team with open arms. We had plenty of virtual and in-person meetings, so I still got to meet everyone. Greg also scheduled some time for me to come into the office specifically so I could meet the team, and he was intentional about introducing me to people so I felt like I was included in things. Additionally, when all of the interns first started, we did some meet and greets with everyone in our department.
Outside of normal tech problems you would see anywhere, I felt like Spencer’s did a great job of dealing with the circumstances they were presented with for their internship program, and it was still a super rewarding experience.
What was your favorite part about being on the Spencer’s team?
My favorite part about working for Spencer’s was honestly every single meeting I got to attend, especially the in person ones. We did some small team meetings, a few “Fun Fridays,” individual meetings, and even some department wide. I loved the team I worked with so much, and those meetings were so helpful for me to learn about the company, my job, what I wanted to do with my life, and about so many people I admire. Those meetings allowed me to see the human side of a larger company, and really feel secure in the path I was taking with my career.
The content we were dealing with was stimulating and exciting, but also challenging in all of the right ways. I grew so passionate about the company and the work I was doing over the summer, and gained so much confidence in myself. While I always really loved Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween, the internship experience started out mainly as something to help me gain experience; but the day-to-day work, meetings, and absolutely amazing individuals left me with a career defining experience I’ll never forget.
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Story by:
Loredonna Fiore, senior public relations and advertising major
Photos by:
Stephanie Batista, junior music industry major
Select photos courtesy of:
Lexi Jubin
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designing a motorsport vehicle, then travel to compete the car in a bunch of races. This process prepares me for my future in automotive engineering and allows me to meet like-minded people.
assistant. I do have an advertising internship and I am a part of the final talent pool for the T. Howard Foundation. This organization gives college students professional work experience with major media, technology and advertising companies. 
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The following year was a whirlwind of experience, as Kayla found more ways to get involved with sports communications and strengthen her resume. She jumped into play-by-play, color commentating and sideline reporting for Rowan Athletics, as a TV broadcaster. She even broadcasted the first football game of the fall 2019 season against Widener by herself! “We usually don’t [broadcast without a partner], but we were first getting into a groove for the season and figuring out our roles. It was definitely difficult, but it was cool to have that pressure and experience to get me started,” Kayla recalls.
When I heard that my sorority was creating a new position called mental health chair, I knew immediately that it was something I would like to be a part of. The executive board created this position to really highlight the importance of mental health in college and promoting resources that are available to us currently and beyond our college experience to ensure that we get the most of those. 
Next I planned to hold peer support groups in which I planned to schedule a library room before our chapter meeting and just hold an open one hour space where my sisters could come and talk about stressors in their life or their current anxieties they were having. I thought this would be a good idea because talking it out sometimes helps and makes you realize you’re not alone and a lot of people surrounding you are having these same feelings as you. This would give hope and an outlet. 
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research, and allowed me the space to explore different career and research paths. In addition, with it being a new program, it allowed me to help make a difference and work to shape the program for the benefit of future students.
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how the operations are completed was an awesome experience. Being able to contact engineers and operators who are working at this plant to ask them questions and learn from their experiences has been a great experience for my future.
Could you share a moment you’ve experienced in which you have felt that Rowan is a welcoming environment for you? 
What’s your favorite thing about your typical Monday at Rowan? 
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been consistent over the decades, whether it comes to talking about healthcare he’s been pushing for Medicare for all these years. He was on the right side of civil rights, which is something we can not say for other candidates. He has been pushing for $15 an hour wage, that’s something he has been pushing for years … He is not only pushing for these things in Congress but he is actually doing them right now.
I volunteered a lot in high school, too. I was in Key Club, so I did a lot of volunteering then and I wanted to continue here. I was a leader this year because I loved it so much my freshman year. I wanted to do it again and have a positive impact on the incoming first-year students, because that was really important to me.”
What was your favorite activity?
Marko decided to look into the 
The “everything else in life” just happens to consist of more great opportunities for Marko, such as an internship this semester with the 
Alyssa will become the first doctor in her family; both her parents chose different careers outside of the medical field. “I really want to become a doctor, so I liked how it [the TBS major] kind of had a built-in premed track. I want to be a pediatrician,” she said.
Kasey took classes in children’s and adolescent literature that helped her to prepare for her summer role. “I reached out to my professors and told them, ‘The books I read in your classes are in my curriculum — thank you! Your choices applied to my life in a way I was not expecting.’”
From Hackettstown, NJ (Warren County), Kasey stayed in South Jersey this summer solely to complete this internship. With she and her parents’ lacking familiarity with Camden — only knowing what they’ve seen on the news — at first Kasey’s parents had some trepidation about their daughter teaching in the city. “My dad is nervous about everything,” Kasey says. “But, the school was nice. The location was fine. I wasn’t nervous and the drive wasn’t bad at all.
Another wonderful experience provided by the Rowan Journalism department was the opportunity to take a class and cover the Democratic National Convention in 2016. This experience made him feel like a true reporter. He even referred to this as “the Super Bowl for journalists.” He covered protests, made livestreams and networked all from a South Jersey perspective. He said this experience helped in the transition from college journalist to professional.
After his internship at the Ellen Show, Purvis moved onto another big-name internship, “Good Morning America,” where he learned how to create a morning TV show at the network level. Along with getting the network TV experience under his belt, he also made some recognizable friends along the way! Once again Purvis followed one amazing internship with another. In fall 2017, he began his work for “The Today Show.”
Coming from a small town, I was not exposed to many careers that I could possibly commit to one day. Rowan first accepted me as an Exploratory Studies major, which helped me to explore different classes that may have interested me. My advisor recommended I take Essentials of Psychology and I fell in love with the subject. 
As a Psychology major, I have already accomplished things I never thought I could. I was the President of the 
affordability. Although, once here Joseph quickly realized that the professors were another strength Rowan held. “The professors are all extremely accessible,” Joseph continues, “and they make themselves available beyond what I would consider their duty.”
cases involving children at risk of abuse or being cared for by unfit parents. “Through working here I have the opportunity to see the behind the scenes action; being a part of the process that most people aren’t witnesses to.” Joseph explains, “Gaining this experience further prepared me for more intense and involved work.” Through Joseph’s hard work and assistance from his professors at Rowan he gets to be a real help to children who aren’t in the best situations.
associated with cancer treatments and compare them to the cost of transitioning to more environmental-friendly methods. Overall, Joseph clearly has a mindset a strong ambition to make the world a better place for everyone to live in.
The students — Kailey Bertelson (advertising), Brittany Eng (public relations, advertising), Megan Jean (studio art), Timothy Stanford (advertising), and Hannah Vendetta (public relations, advertising) — spent many long nights and weekends in the Public Relations & Advertising High Street building on campus, developing their campaign for BOXED, an e-commerce store and app that provides customers the convenience of purchasing household items in bulk online, and shipping to their door for an affordable price. The group’s winning campaign ran with the slogan “Two Day Shipping, More Two Day Weekends,” and included the optional addition of a video advertisement, featuring Hannah as a busy mom trying to balance maintaining a household and spending quality time with her kids. The judges loved the creativity and detail of the campaign, awarding the group, nicknamed “The Incredible Bulk,” first place and a cash prize of $2,000 to split!
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