As an intern at Morningstar, Inc. I look forward to each day in the office because in such a large company, each day brings new learning experiences and new opportunities to enhance my understanding of the company and expand on my personal development. Being located at the company’s headquarters in Chicago, I am one of nearly 1,500 employees who occupy the space. Some days it is easy to feel like just another employee among many, but the company has constructed a culture in which every employee feels welcome. There are numerous events to get involved with the company’s initiatives through networking events, volunteer days, holiday gathering and many more. The emphasis on company culture and inclusion has elevated my appreciation for the company exponentially and made my time at Morningstar very memorable.

My role as a Library Services Intern for the Morningstar Research Products division has transformed over my tenure. I have worn many hats and through the duration of a company restructure, I took on many responsibilities I may not have had otherwise. Currently, in my day-to-day, I support our team Sales Representative with client outreach and prospecting initiatives. I get to work closely with our clients and have become their contact when they have trouble understanding or engaging with the database we provide. When a client reaches out with a concern, I work with them to understand how they are engaging with the platform and then walk them through troubleshooting techniques to help them resolve the issue. Of course, issues are not always solved on the first try and in that event, I will raise the issue to our team tech developer who then takes on the issue.

When I am not working with clients, I am actively working to prospect new territories and their library demographics to target new clients that my Sales Representative can being reaching out to. Once we have identified enough potential clients to deem new prospects, we initiate a direct mail campaign to reach clients directly. When putting together a direct mail campaign, I am responsible for writing the copy for our outreach and selecting the existing Morningstar publications that best fit the segment we are targeting. These responsibilities have given me the opportunity to grow exponentially as a marketer and provided tangible experience solidifying my decision in my major.

The opportunity to intern with Morningstar while being a full-time student has been an extraordinary experience and one that has helped me to gage the direction, I want to take my career. As I continue to grow in this role, I have mentors within the company to support me and who have become vital pillars within my personal network. These are individuals who I have built lasting relationships with beyond my role as an intern.

A Day in the Life of a Marketing Peer Financial Advisor

Hi everyone! I’m Samantha Mallett, a senior at DePaul University studying Marketing with a concentration in Digital Marketing and I work on campus as a Marketing Peer Financial Advisor (PFA) for DePaul’s Financial Fitness Team. As one of the five sectors within the DePaul Central department, we strive to help students better manage their personal finances. Our primary focuses include: one-on-one advising for students, quarterly EDGE team presentations, and presenting to student organizations. Students come to us for help with loan repayments, building credit, budgeting, and other financial advising topics. No two days look the same for us which makes my job so exciting. Being a PFA motivates me to step outside of my comfort zone and find ways to continuously be innovative.

As the Marketing PFA, my role varies because I focus on increasing awareness of the Financial Fitness team and student organization outreach. Every day I plan out social media posts for our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages (@DePaulCentral) using Excel. Once my supervisor approves those posts, I use Hootsuite to schedule posts in advance. Managing our social media content allows me to express my creativity – something that I’ve always enjoyed in the workplace. I’m constantly thinking of new ways to expand our audience to more students to influence them to use our services. Also, it’s motivated me to increase my graphic design skills by unique creating social media graphics such as this one pun for Valentine’s Day. When I’m not working on social media, I’m reaching out to student organizations for potential presentations from out teams. After presenting in one of their meetings or event, many students are motivated to schedule a one-on-one advising session with us. Some even come back for second or third appointments.

Although we’re a small team of only 6 people, we’re mighty in our impact. I’ve learned not only about creating social media content, but the needs of our DePaul students. We’re continuing St. Vincent de Paul’s mission of determining what must be done for the greater good of our students and I’m proud to be a part of this impact. I’m thankful to be the Marketing PFA and I look forward to the Financial Fitness team’s continuous growth.