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Profile of Alyssa DiLoreto, Intern, Office of Institutional Advancement, University of Pittsburgh, 4/08

Alyssa is a junior in a double degree program with the School of Arts & Sciences and CBA. She is earning degrees in Italian Language and Literature in A&S and Marketing in CBA. She'll also complete certificates in Public and Professional Writing and in Western European Studies.

Alyssa interned with the Office of Institutional Advancement at the University of Pittsburgh. The Office of Institutional Advancement focuses on promoting scholarships, trusts, and endowments that donors have set up for students. “We also plan events for the donors and publish online newsletters and printed pieces to promote the University's Capital Campaign goal of $2 billion,” says Alyssa. “It's an extremely friendly and open environment.”

Alyssa attended a PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) event in the spring of 2007 and decided that PR would be a great fit for her interests and skills. Afterwards, she spoke with one of the people who organized the event, who gave her a business card. Alyssa sent her a resume and was offered the position.

According to Alyssa, the Office of Institutional Advancement was a great site for an intern: “Once I was there, there were projects waiting for me. They did a fantastic job of making sure that I had work to do. I never felt bored or that I was grasping for something to do. I loved my experience at the IA Office. My first week was a transition week in that I met everybody and read over publications that they put out. I caught up on current issues and trends in Public Relations. After maybe two weeks (at the most) I felt completely comfortable there. My advisor Jasmine, did a great job of making me feel welcome and introducing me to everybody.”

Alyssa did a lot of independent work on the articles she wrote, but she checked with Jasmine at least once a day on her progress or if she had any questions. Some of her projects were done working with another person, and she had a lot of brainstorming sessions with 3 or 4 people. Alyssa really liked the mix of independent work and teamwork.

“There are always new projects popping up and I have to manage my time to get the most important things done first,” she says. “At my internship I spent a lot of time compiling questions for interviews and conducting some via email and some over the phone. Once I had all of my content I just started to write. I spend a lot of time editing and proofreading, creating different drafts of my pieces, but it was so much fun. Once in a while I had design projects where I got to arrange a layout for a brochure and create a sympathy card from the University. Those were some of my favorite projects.”

Alyssa says that the IA internship could not have been better for her: “My internship went above and beyond any expectations that I had. I knew that it would be exciting and that I was going to have a lot of responsibility, but this was more than I could have hoped for, especially for it being my first internship. One of the best moments was when I wrote an article about a family who lost their daughter and a good friend of the family. They created a scholarship in memory of the two and I interviewed the family members about the scholarship. After I wrote the article they gave me great feedback saying that I captured the essence of the scholarship. One of the people actually said that he looks forward to following my career in the future. It meant so much to me that they appreciated the work that I put into the piece. I think that I've grown as a writer and learned so much about journalism, public relations, and marketing.”

Alyssa says that she tried to keep her sense of responsibility and professionalism in mind. “The fact that I've communicated with donors who've given generous amounts of money to the University is a pretty large responsibility. Whenever we speak I have to make sure that I'm prepared with questions and act professionally.”

Alyssa encourages PPW students to engage with other to secure internships and to make sure that they have good experience when they actually serve. Two of the people that she worked closest with are involved with PRSA Pittsburgh. Thorough them, Alyssa found out about summer internship opportunities and built her network with other people who could be potential employers. “Don't be afraid to ask questions, that's what everybody is there for,” says Alyssa. “They have experience in their field and if they can't help you they know somebody else who can. Also don't be afraid to network and say, ‘Do you know anybody looking for interns?’ That's how I heard about almost all of the internships that I applied for. Get to know as many people as possible and keep in touch afterwards. I would be nervous to enter the post-grad life without at least one internship. At my internship I've learned the importance of being responsible and that other people are going to trust you to complete your projects. Deadlines are important and being ontime (early is better) says a lot.”

Alyssa’s plans for the future? “For now, I'd like to get experience in agency and corporate PR just to see which is a best fit. My ultimate career goal is to do Fashion PR/Marketing for an Italian designer so that I can either live in Italy for a period of time or work for an American company with branches in Italy. In my life, however, I want to raise a family and be able to take off of work for a long time so that I can do that. After a while, I think that I might like to get back into nonprofit PR and maybe create a business to promote community service programs and help get them on the map. If there's one thing that I've learned about working in nonprofit PR, it's that even if one person feels inspired to do something good that will help others, then you've done your job.”