Giving back to the local community is a key value of ours at Autumn Consulting, and it’s a passion of ours to work with the future generation of business leaders to help in their career growth. A key part of this is bringing interns on to the team. Our newest intern, Delaney Niemeyer, joins us from Clemson University’s School of Communication.
We recently sat down with Delaney, an intern at Autumn for the Spring of 2021, to learn more about her experience at Clemson University and Autumn Consulting.
Tell us about yourself- where are you from, what are you studying and what are your interests?
I am a sophomore at Clemson, working towards a major in communication and a minor in brand communications. Prior to college, I lived in the Milwaukee area, but am originally from Charlotte, which is why I was looking at colleges in the south. What caught my eye about Clemson is the strong and highly regarded communication department. Overall, I’d say I’m most interested in the fields of marketing, public relations, and branding.
I am always interested in furthering my professional growth, and I love that Clemson offers me a lot of opportunities for that. I feel really lucky in that sense.
Right now, in addition to my internship at Autumn, a best rated search marketing firm, I’m also serving as a project manager for our student-led branding agency on campus. Additionally, this semester and last semester, I have been interning with the Pearce Center for Professional Communication, where we work with clients as well. It has been so interesting to widen the lens of my interests beyond what I’m learning in the classroom setting.
Tell us more about your coursework at Clemson. Is there anything that has been surprising so far in your studies? Good or bad?
I took my first course in brand communications class last semester, and once I took that class, I was blown away with how interesting it was.
The thing is, the study of communications can be very broad, which I like because it gives me many options for careers throughout my life. That being said, learning about this specific kind of communication, as well as how to do account management, strategy, creative and giving a brand voice is something I didn’t realize people had jobs for! That class is the reason I chose to minor in brand communications, and I think it’s where I ultimately want to take my career.
When you heard about Autumn Consulting what was the most appealing to you?
I was definitely most drawn to the Google Analytics aspect of Autumn’s work, including Organic SEO and Google Ads for B2B. That’s something I’m not very familiar with, and I don’t know that I’ll get that kind of exposure in any of my classes. I know that if I am to go into marketing or branding later on in my career, that is something that is very important to be familiar with.
What has it been like working with Nathan Misirian, the founder of Autumn Consulting?
I have really enjoyed working with Nathan and all the insights he has given me. I really appreciate all the hard work that he puts in to preparing assignments for me and ideas that he comes up with of things that I can take on. He’s really taking into account the goals that I have and what I’m interested in, which really makes this experience for me that much better- it’s really tailored to what I want to do.
He also has a lot of faith in me, and that makes me be more confident as an individual and gets me really excited for the work that he has prepared for me. Nathan is incredibly knowledgeable, very caring and very intentional with all that he does and our meetings and communicating with me. Overall, it has been an amazing experience so far!
What have you been working on during your time so far with Autumn?
I’m working with a client of Autumn’s who is a real estate agent. I have been working on her Google My Business posts and her WordPress posts on her blog and website. The goal is to gain traction for her business through digital marketing and SEO.
Nathan has been guiding me through the process of how to work those programs and tools, how to publish material, and how to obtain and resize quality stock photos. Most importantly, I’ve also learned how to condense very critical information from a lot of it to a little bit of it, and focusing on what’s most important.
I’ve also loved taking part in meetings with clients - it’s so great to observe Nathan going through his agenda with clients and learning how to smoothly transition from point to point, bringing really good insights and suggestions. Nathan has such a good way of having a balance between being a knowledgeable professional and being a little bit more personal and very friendly - it’s so clear why clients love him so much.
What are your goals for the rest of your time in college?
I really plan to take advantage of all that Clemson has to offer. I am working on getting more involved in PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) on campus. I’m serving as Secretary right now, and in the future I hope to acquire a higher role, like VP or President.
I also plan to continue on with the brand agency and work closely with my mentors in the brand communication department. There are so many Clemson alums who can help out, and we’ve already been given so many opportunities for networking and job opportunities. I will definitely be taking advantage of internships and career fairs coming up, and doing my best to pinpoint where I want my career straight out of college to be focused on. I have a lot of interests, and there are a lot of ways I can take it, so I want to be sure to use the two years I have left in college to experience the wide field of communications and focus on where I’d like to take my future career.
What do you envision your first year out of college to look like?
As of right now, I would love to work at either a PR agency, ad agency, brand agency or within a company in their marketing department or PR department serving as a project manager role or a strategy role. I know some people who I collaborate with at my brand agency here at Clemson who have had internship experiences like that, and that’s really where I see myself right now, and where I feel like I would thrive.
We have really enjoyed having Delaney be a member of our team. Her level of maturity and her approach to her work is something we’d expect to see from someone older than her. She is very inquisitive and observant, and she knows how to apply the patterns that she sees to whatever she’s doing. Delaney’s natural curiosity serves her very well, and we’re sure that it will continue to serve her as her interests evolve.
If you’re interested in interning with Autumn Consulting in the future, get in touch with us to see if it might be a good fit!