Jillian Ferrari

A typical day as a first-time co-op consists of updating product copy documents, editing and proofreading artwork, and submitting artwork for legal review. Most of her interactions were with Hasbro brand writers, graphic designers, and game designers.   Ferrari also says she “had some fun opportunities to brainstorm names and taglines and to write rules for new games. ” For Ferrari, this meant she was paid to play lots of games! “Writing rules can seem tedious,” says Ferrari, “especially when game play is constantly changing, but I’ve found it extremely rewarding.”

As an English major, Ferrari said she wanted to explore different career paths.  Her primary goal for her first co-op was to gain editorial and writing experience. Hasbro is a big, fast-paced company, but Ferarri reports that her team was “rather small, which I liked,” and which gave her the opportunity to write. Ferrari’s supervisor at Hasbro, Terry Somerson, noted that Jillian is “professional, smart and somewhat fearless…she’s a very polished and clear writer and communicator.”

For her second co-op, Ferrari headed for a smaller corporate setting in a different industry- public relations. As an intern on the entertainment/electronics and parenting teams for 360PR, Ferrario helped track media coverage, build media lists, mailed product,  helped with event planning.  Public Relations is a communications-heavy industry, do “the written and verbal communication skills I’ve developed through my English classes have been huge assets,” said Ferrari.  She also noticed that the critical thinking skills gained through her English studies -examining narratives, identifying themes, understanding tone-  “connected to my work experience in terms of how the agency crafts overarching stories for clients and presents those stories to the media and consumers.”  Additionally, Ferrari’s  co-op involved “lots of research, and although the content differed from that in my classes, the methods and organizational skills I learned in class certainly helped me on co-op.”

Ferrari plans to bring what she learned on her co-ops back to campus.  “I’ve learned a lot about how stories are constructed and how media outlets function. I’ll definitely bring these insights back to the classroom.”  The agency also does a lot of blogger outreach, and “the influence that these bloggers have is something that I’ll keep in mind when considering how communication, storytelling, and social movements have evolved in recent years.”  Ferrari also plans to carry another aspect of co-op back: risk-taking.  One recent example was when she was asked to travel with a small team to Chicago to help with a 360PR event. “Stepping out of my comfort zone at the office is something that I want to carry to the classroom.”