Janae Verhelst spent her final semester as an Iowa State student applying all that she learned from her major in public relations and minor in event management in her position as a marketing intern for the Iowa State Center.
The Greenlee senior’s position requires her to do a variety of tasks from creating press releases for all of the performing art series shows, managing the Center’s social media accounts, managing their website, monitoring the Stephens Auditorium email for customer inquiries and more. Her position also means that she serves as the president of the Stephens Street Team, a grassroots marketing group that promotes Iowa State’s performing arts to the ISU community.
Verhelst says that every day at her internship is different and busy. The majority of her time is spent updating the website, sending mass emails and posting social media content to each of the Center’s accounts. Depending on the day, she typically works between three to six hours at a time.
One of her biggest responsibilities is creating and distributing emails to Centerbeat subscribers, the Iowa State Center’s newsletter that keeps Iowa State’s faculty, staff, students and other subscribers in the know. There are over 65,000 people subscribed to Centerbeat, which provides exclusive information about upcoming events, pre-sale tickets, contests, theater capacity and more.
“You have to put in as much as you want to get out of it and that is exactly what I did,” Verhelst says. She’s enjoyed the responsibilities that her position entailed and feels like her time at the Iowa State Center will be a valuable addition to her résumé as she looks for jobs after graduation.
“I cannot imagine trying to do things out in the real world without this internship,” Verhelst says. "I am constantly learning new things everyday and it can be very challenging at times, but I know that it will pay off when I get my dream job."
Tammy Koolbeck, Executive Producer of the Iowa State Center, has enjoyed her time working with Verhelst as well. When asked what she’s looking for in upcoming interns, she says, “someone just like Janae,” who can handle extended to do lists each day and work independently, in a prompt manner.
Verhelst plans to stay in Ames for a while to continue furthering her education and experience in her field. She believes this internship will stand out to future employers, as will her involvement in Revival Magazine and the Iowa State Daily. In the future, she hopes to work for the entertainment industry to help plan music festivals and work with musicians.