Pi Sigma Epsilon

 

During the second semester of my sophomore year, I decided to join a professional business fraternity, Pi Sigma Epsilon, that is marketing and sales oriented. I decided to do this since I realized that I won’t be as involved in the International Affairs Scholars Program as a third-year student, or in the STEP Program, and I won’t need to participate in another student organization. I also decided to join because I have always wanted to be involved in a professional business fraternity, and I love meeting new people.

The “New Member” semester is a busy one. Before we are initiated, we have to complete a series of tasks which includes: meeting with at least 25 members, participating in a community service event, and working with my assigned new member group to develop an innovative business plan in which we present in front of actual Fortune 500 companies.

Despite the busy semester, I have really enjoyed this student organization. I have made so many new friends already, and it has in a way forced me to be more social or do fun things in my busy schedule. Not only that, but now I am able to have a more well-rounded college experience with simply being involved in a fraternity, going to formal, attending sales, participating in our annual sales competition, etc.

I can’t wait to see how this professional business fraternity helps me develop professionally and personally. To find out more about what we do, please view this link: http://www.pseosu.com

 

 

Hocking Hills Trip

  

My favorite IA event of the year was a Hocking Hills Trip that I recently went on with my scholar’s coordinator and fellow IA scholars.

On a Sunday morning, we took an hour long bus ride to around Logan, Ohio where Hocking Hills is located. On the bus ride there, I caught up with my friends in IA as well as with the first-year IA students who I rarely ever interact with. Once we were there, we were free to explore the various trails, waterfalls, and caves. I explored with my friend, Karly Krammes, and we went on many paths that indicated “no trail” or “warning” and found the most beautiful sights. We took off ours shoes and walked across a very cold stream; we climbed onto a rock to watch a waterfall as we ate our packed lunches; and we interacted with the many families and dogs who were at the sights as well.

It was the first time in a while that I had gone hiking, and I had forgotten how much I liked it. I actually grew up in Athens, Ohio which is close to Hocking Hills, and in Athens, there isn’t much to do so I frequently hiked in high school. It was nice to do something that reminded me of home, and it was definitely a treat to get off-campus for even a few hours. It was also nice to be able to be outdoors and appreciate nature, as there isn’t as much of that available for us on campus in the middle of a city.

About Me

 

My name is Eileen Wang and I am a second-year marketing major with minors in Chinese and French. I am from Athens, Ohio, a small town in southeastern Ohio and I graduated from Athens High School with an Honors Diploma and in the top 10 of my graduating class of 203. I chose to attend The Ohio State University because I desired the large size and competitiveness of this school that I did not get from growing up in a small town, and from attending a small high school. I decided to study business with a marketing specialization because I am interested in the holistic business experience, as our economy and much of society revolves around the success of companies. I chose to specialize in marketing because it is the sector within business that fits best with my personality. I like that marketing is so flexible in what you could pursue with a marketing degree such as: product management, sales, merchandising, business management, consumer market research, etc. I also like that marketing jobs typically require direct interaction with customers, moving around on your feet, and company travel within the country or even internationally. All of these aspects are important to me in terms of what I want out of a career after graduation. So far, I am content and very passionate about my major and the activities I am involved with.

I am minoring in Chinese and French because of my passion for languages and my eventual goal of utilizing my language skills in my career someday. I hope to be traveling with my career someday, perhaps dealing with international sales. That would be the ideal job but it would take years of experience in the working world before reaching this goal.

Outside of classes, I am heavily involved with student organizations on campus. I serve on the executive board for the American Marketing Associate as the Vice President of Digital Marketing. Over the summer, I created and designed the new website for our student org. During the school year, I am tasked specifically with updating our website with our upcoming events, and updating all of our social media to ensure that members are kept up to date. In addition to that, I serve as one of the main points of contact for AMA as many company representatives or organizations reach out to us via Facebook regarding their interest in partnering with us. Furthermore, I work with the other executive board members to plan our events, company meetings, and service projects.

In addition to AMA, I am a part of the International Affairs Scholars Program which is a community of high-achieving students with interests in international affairs. I am also a participant of STEP (second-year transformation experience program). Both of these programs help me grow as an individual outside of the classroom. They help with developing professionalism, and they surround me with a community of friends.

This past summer, I studied abroad through the Fisher College of Business to Switzerland and Italy for two weeks. Through the Freshman Global Lab study abroad, me and 35 other business students had the opportunity to visit various international companies to learn about the operations of business abroad. Additionally, I was able to gain sales experience working as a sales associate in a clothing store chain, as well as management experience working as the head cashier of a city pool.

For this upcoming summer, I will be a Marketing Brand Programs Intern for L Brands’ Victoria’s Secret Stores. I can’t wait to gain marketing and business experience, as well as insight into the fashion retail industry.

Year in Review

As my second-year of college is coming to a close with finals that are soon to consume every students’ lives, I am reflecting on my successes, failures, and lessons learned this school year. Overall, it has been a stressful but good year.

The transition from freshman year to sophomore year is a huge jump in terms of difficulty of courses and expectations outside of academics. In fact, for business majors, most people would say that sophomore year is the hardest. It’s the hardest because sophomore year is when most students take the majority of their business core, which consists of classes in every specialization or area of business. In other words, both my semesters have been consumed with accounting, statistics, analytics, business ethics, etc.

Apart from the difficult classes, sophomore year is also the hardest because it’s the year in which students are expected to gain leadership roles and internships. (Unfortunately, as sophomores, it is arguably harder to attain an internship since most companies will only accept juniors). Both of these aspects challenged me during my sophomore year. For example, during fall semester, I was in an endless cycle of attending career fairs, networking with employers, tirelessly refreshing my LinkedIn page, applying for internships, and interviewing continuously. It seemed like I never had a moment to breathe, and that I was living in my business suit.

In regards to gaining leadership, I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and ran to be President of my favorite student organization, the American Marketing Association. This outcome is probably the most disappointing of my sophomore year; I initially tied election votes against a junior, who is also a member of the executive board. However, after the final debate, the members had a revote and I lost. This was perhaps partially due to the fact that my opponent is older and has an additional year of experience on executive board over me. Despite this fact, I was still disappointed in myself. After the initial waves of disappointment, I took this loss as a learning opportunity to realize what I was lacking in my presentation. I brainstormed on what I could improve upon for when I run for President again the following year. As for now, I am happy to be elected as the Executive Vice President of the organization, and I am excited to contribute and learn from my new role on E-board.

As a final thought on my sophomore year, I realized that I have gained a better understanding of the business world because I am now taking all business courses. My courses have also helped to reaffirm that I chose the right major because although my business courses are my hardest, they are also the most interesting to me.

All in all, sophomore year is a transitional year and helped me develop professionally and personally with my lessons learned from successes and shortcomings.

 

G.O.A.L.S.

 

Global Awareness: I am involved with the International Affairs Scholars Program which allows me to participate in discussions, seminars, and case studies about the events and news going on around the world. In addition to this, the IA scholars events also allow me to participate in activities that broaden my cultural experience such as visits to the North Market where I am able to try food from various countries. Apart from IA scholars, I am involved with French Club where I am able to practice my french speaking skills at conversation tables, gain a better understanding of French culture, and experience French cuisine at the French restaurants we go to. Additionally, I am taking a traditional Chinese culture class right now to better understand the culture of my grandparents and to better understand where I come from.

Original Inquiry: Over the summer, I decided to take the initiative to design and create a new website for my student organization, the American Marketing Association. This task was definitely a learning experience for me as I had no prior experience with web designing or web developing. I learned a lot through youtube tutorials, and the IT/OCIO people at OSU helped me over the phone as well. Additionally, my junior and senior years I plan on conducting a lot of market research projects for all of my classes.

Academic Enrichment: I challenge myself every semester academically by taking a heavy load of courses (on average 16.5 credit hours). I am pursuing a degree in business with a specialization in marketing, as well as double minors in fashion retail studies and French. I am enrolled in challenging courses that allow me to gain a holistic business background such as: statistics, business analytics, business environment & ethics, accounting, computer science engineering, etc. Outside of classrooms, I further challenge myself academically through seminars I attend for IA (such as case studies on ISIS, or diversity speaker series), as well as through events I attend for STEP.

Leadership Development: I develop my leadership skills by serving as an executive board member for the American Marketing Association in my role as the current VP of Digital Marketing and upcoming Executive Vice President. Through this leadership experience, I also develop my public speaking skills, my teamwork skills, as well as event planning skills. Additionally, I serve on the Programming Committee in the Blackburn Residence Hall where I have the opportunity to be a leader among the residents I live with. Through this committee, I help to plan events that would benefit our residents.

Service Engagement: I engage in service through the multiple philanthropy projects that the American Marketing Association takes on. The most recent example was our Pancakes for Parkinson’s event in October in which we were able to make free pancakes for students and families on the Wexner Center Plaza before the Northwestern Game. In exchange for the pancakes and free drinks, we asked for donations of any dollar amount, and through this we were able to make approximately $460 in proceeds towards the Michael J Fox Foundation. (The Michael J Fox Foundation funds research to cure Parkinson’s disease). Additionally, I have participated in a few Honors & Scholars service events such as writing letters and creating care packages for soldiers.

 

Career

This past summer, I was selected to be one of the 36 freshman participants of the Freshman Global Lab which is a study abroad tour of international companies (some were U.S. companies with international offices abroad). Through this study abroad, I was able to network with other business students, the professors who accompanied us on the trip, as well with was the company representatives for Deloitte, ItalDesign, Interxion, etc. Additionally, I was able to visit distribution centers, offices, production centers, as well as a  cloud-storage facility. Being able to see the operations of businesses in different industries helped me discover my interests in terms of the type the industries I would like to work in post-graduation.

Additionally, over the summer, I was the head cashier of a city pool as well as a swim instructor. I was able to gain management experience as I supervised all of the cashiers, coordinated monthly work schedules, and regulated concessions inventory. My second job over the summer was as a sales associate in a clothing store chain which allowed me to gain experience in sales, styling, fashion retail, and merchandising.

Currently, I am serving as an executive board member for the American Marketing Association chapter at OSU. Through this organization and my position as the VP of Digital Marketing, I gain skills in teamwork, coordination, event planning, website building, web design, and social media. For the upcoming school year, I was just recently elected to serve as the Executive Vice President of our organization, in which I will be responsible for scheduling our weekly meetings with company speakers. In these roles, I have developed professionally, and had many networking opportunities with employers and recruiters.

Recently, I also joined a professional business fraternity, called Pi Sigma Epsilon, which is marketing and sales focused. Through this organization, I am able to meet new people within the business school, form friendships, and further my sales knowledge.

Furthermore, I am currently still involved in a mentorship program with Cardinal Health which allows me to learn and network with my company mentor. My mentor just recently was accepted into the MBA Program in the Fisher College of Business, and so we meet up more often now. We often discuss academics, personal life, career goals, and more. Soon, she will be helping me shop for internship workplace attire.

Lastly, I am soon to start an internship with L Brands for this upcoming summer. I am incredibly excited since L Brands is a dream company of mine, and I will be working as a Brand Programs Marketing Intern, whose job description sounds like the dream job to me.

All of these experiences above are my involvements that tailor directly to my career interests. I hope to continue to grow my junior and senior year of college.

Cardinal Health Mentorship Program

This fall semester I was selected to be one of 9 Ohio State University Business students to have the opportunity of being mentored by a company representative from Cardinal Health. This opportunity has benefited me tremendously, and it has allowed me to expand my network of connections within the professional business world.

I was paired with a mentor who is an Ohio State graduate student who had specialized in Finance at the Fisher College of Business, but now works in a marketing role at Cardinal Health. My mentor and I meet once every 2-3 weeks just to talk about life in general and about our school or career goals. Having a mentor is especially beneficial to me because I am able to ask questions and learn about the steps that lead success.

This mentorship has already taught me a lot that I would not have learned from classes. For example, I have learned that the specialization we choose in our undergraduate education doesn’t limit us to work in just that field or department. As an another example, I have learned the do’s and dont’s of interviewing from an entire panel of Cardinal Health employees.

In addition to the business skills and knowledge I gain from this experience, I am able to tour and gain insight to a company that I am genuinely interested in. I am able to learn more about Cardinal Health’s company culture, and I can see what work in the healthcare industry is like.

LBrands Marketing Internship

This Fall 2016 Semester I was busy with applying to summer internships, as internships are a crucial step to finding full-time employment after graduation in the business field. This meant hours after hours of applying to various companies offering to work any business-related positions at any rate.

The application process was the equivalent to at least one course’s worth of work. The process taught me a lot, such as ways in which to market and better present myself to recruiters face-to-face and on paper. This fall semester, I felt that I especially grew professionally from the weekly networking events I attended and the myriad companies I talked to at the career fairs. I learned how to improve my resume even more so, how to create a visually-appealing LinkedIn profile, and how to deliver an elevator pitch to recruiters. I even learned something from the various tests I had to take as part of applications for a couple companies. And I even had a professional headshot taken. I am now officially a real business student.

Apart from the professional skills I gained, I also gained perspective on personal wellness and managing time between my increasingly difficult classes, my extracurricular involvements, and my internship search process. I learned how to most efficiently manage my time, and I am proud of that skill by itself.

After many rounds of interviews and applications, I was very lucky to have received offers from two companies by October: LBrands and Marathon Petroleum. Choosing between the two companies was a very hard decision, as I honestly love both companies and their culture.

The process of choosing also allowed me to grow as a person. I was able to realize and consider my long-term career goals, and for the first time, I was considering real adult things such as: relocation stipends, vacation days, benefits, etc. This process made me think about what I really wanted in terms of a career and my professional goals, regardless of pay. And I ultimately decided on LBrands since it is more aligned with my interests; fashion retail interests me more than gasoline. 

This summer, I have the opportunity to be a Marketing Brand Programs Intern for Victoria’s Secret Stores at LBrand’s home office in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This opportunity is one of my proudest achievements, and I can’t wait to learn through the internship program and to hopefully give back and positively contribute to the company.

 

MidOhio Food Bank

Packaging food for Buckeyes Against Hunger

Packaging food for Buckeyes Against Hunger

Philanthropy has always been an important aspect of my life. I strive to give back to the community, and to do work that actually makes a difference in the world, no matter how small that difference may be. I enjoy volunteer work because it provides me respite from my school work and it allows me to still feel productive, like I’m contributing something to society. Not to mention, I usually volunteer with friends making it all the more enjoyable.

This year, I volunteered through multiple different student organizations such Fisher Citizenship Program, Buckeyes Against Hunger, and FisherCares. Each org offers an array of various volunteering opportunities and I chose to volunteer for the MidOhio Food Bank every time. I chose this philanthropy because I completed a year-long project on hunger prevention senior year of high school, so it is an issue in which I have researched immensely and one that I am passionate about. I have participated mainly in food packaging. In fact, on Fisher Impact Day, we packaged ten of thousands of meals for families all within 8 hours. Last semester, I also helped people grocery shop at the food pantry every Wednesday. I liked helping people grocery shop more because I actually got to interact with members of our community and talk with them one on one. In the future, during college and after graduation, I hope to stay involved with philanthropy work.

 

American Marketing Association

2016-2017 Executive Board Members

2016-2017 Executive Board Members

My favorite student organization is American Marketing Association. I joined this organization since my major is marketing, and I wanted to network with other marketing majors and company recruiters. Throughout the year, I attended the weekly meetings and usually sat alone, since I didn’t know anyone as a freshman. I made a few friends here and there, but I was mainly there to listen to company representatives present about their role in their company and the internship and job opportunities offered. Through these presentations, I learned an abundance about the various types of jobs I could attain with a marketing degree. I learned about industries I thought I would never want to work in, such as Marathon, a part of the oil industry. Participation in this organization truly broadened my perspective about life in the real world. I also participated in my first marketing case study, and I learned about marketing strategies before I am even enrolled in any marketing courses. This is helpful because it helps me affirm my interest in marketing and sales.

Recently, I ran to be apart of the executive board for AMA for the next year. I was one of the very few freshman running for a position, and it was a nerve-racking to be giving a speech in front of so many older, more relevant upperclassmen. Nonetheless, I spent hours preparing for my slideshow presentation and brainstorming ideas for what I would do if elected to my desired positions (we were allowed to run up to 3 positions). In the end, against, all odds, I was elected to the position. Now, I am even more involved in AMA and I’ve made even more friends through our socials and philanthropy. Not to mention, as VP of Digital Marketing, I am tasked with creating a new website for our organization, and this will teach me invaluable website design skills, which are very important in our society today. I think this student organization will remain as one of my top priorities for the entirety of my college career.