Summer Internship Spotlight: Ilona Emery, (B’22): Wall Street Journal

Each year, our students spend their summers in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world working in corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations. Meet a few of our graduate and undergraduate students in our 2021 Summer Internship Spotlight series.

Ilona Emery, (B’22)

Marketing Intern, Wall Street Journal

Tell us about your summer.

I spent my summer in NYC interning virtually for The Wall Street Journal. I was in the Retention Team, in Marketing. I was dealing with clients who wanted to cancel their subscriptions and worked on projects that aimed to retain these customers. These projects were focused on International Online Cancellation (dealing with the legal teams), working alongside with the call agents in Hamilton and Manila in the Philippines. I also helped with the different save offer plans the Journal has, including the price increases and different discounts offered. I also worked with 8 other interns on a group project which focused on different solutions to attract, recruit and retain Gen Z’s to the Journal.

How did your internship relate to your professional or personal interests?

I would want my career to start in Marketing, and this internship taught me what aspects of marketing I liked and did not like. The Wall Street Journal is a very dynamic and modern company who is connected to a lot of different industries. Not only is it focused on finance, but it also has a very dense focus on Business, entrepreneurship, design and technology. I would love to work in a company that creates things in collaboration with giants from other industries and Dow Jones is exactly like that. 

How did you find the internship?

I called an alumni who was on Hoya Gateway who offered to refer me to the internship program.

What did a typical day look like?

I would have a 1-1 meeting everyday with my manager to start the day, debrief about the previous day and set up a plan for the rest of the week. I would assist to at least 3 other meetings with my team which collaborates closely with 2/3 other teams. I would set up personal networking calls (1 a day) with employees from other teams and would work 2 hours on ongoing projects.

Any advice for other students?

Reach out to as many people as you can, a lot will help you in ways you would not expect.