Verrazano Alum is LinkedIn

By Ewa Wojciechowska, Class of 2018

The view from the observation deck of the Empire State Building affords a unique perspective, one that Marie Margarella (née Mignone) appreciates. Marie (Class of 2011), like most students, began college not knowing what she wanted to do. It wasn’t until after a particularly insightful COM 100 class with professor Brian Cogan, that she was inspired to go for a corporate communications major with a minor in business.     

Marie Margarella is LinkedIn

Unlike most students, however, Marie acted immediately on her newfound interests by interning at PLJ Radio the summer of her second summer at CSI. This one internship then led to a part time job for Radio Disney, which she held for the rest of the year. She landed a job with a tech company straight out of college, but was determined to get back into radio. In September 2011 she lined up a job at iHeartRadio, where she began as a sales assistant for the manager of radio station WKTU. The big thing at her new company was ‘Jingle Ball,’ an annual winter concert that Marie helped to plan a good portion of on the sales end, doing tasks such as working with clients and arranging seating. After doing an outstanding job with Jingle Ball, only three months later she was promoted to a national sales team. Marie cites this as one of her greatest accomplishments, and is thankful to the Verrazano honors program for having helped her get to that position in the first place.

For Marie, it all began with a career fair at CSI that she was encouraged to attend by Verrazano advisors. Marie said that everything was like a domino effect for her, beginning from her enrollment at CSI, to the honors program, and then the job fair. She advises that networking events are invaluable, and that asking a lot of questions is key. Marie wants everyone to know that even if they aren’t thrilled with the degree that they finish with- they aren’t stuck. She recommends to students to figure out what it is they really like, and then to start befriending people in that field. If this sounds like an advertisement for networking platform LinkedIn, well, it is. Marie now works for the professional social media company on a talent solutions team, doing advertising related work such as setting up recruiting advertisements on LinkedIn that help people get jobs.

Interning played a key role in Marie's success

So how do you get to the observation deck of the Empire State building? You can buy a ticket and wait in line or, as Marie says, “Intern! You don’t get paid, just intern! I think no matter what you should try to get an internship… I don’t think I’d be where I am if I didn’t do that [first] internship.”