During her sophomore year Hannah Fink ’19 launched a summer internship search with a focused approach and a clear idea of what she was after, primed by early support from the Hamilton Career Center. The result a — full summer’s work as a public relations and social media intern at Praytell, a digital communications firm in Brooklyn with a roster of impressive clients.
“I ended up searching online for public relations and communications firms that really focused on their employees because I think that that was the best place to look to get the most intern growth,” Fink says. She applied to Praytell because it had won several awards, including three “Best Place to Work” awards from PRWeek magazine.
Major: Government
Minor: Communication
Hometown: New York City
High School: Horace Mann School
It has been a good place for Fink, who helps clients prepare pitches for journalists and run their social media accounts, gathers data on how posts are performing and undertakes any sundry task her employer needs done. She majors in government with a minor in communication, and Praytell has been a perfect fit with her studies and with her interest in creative problem solving.
“At Praytell they have a specific subsection for working with super PACS, working essentially with grassroots groups that want to make progressive change,” Fink says. “I definitely love being in the fray, helping super PACS get daily trending content ready for their social media websites and working with brand strategists to analyze which people are active in politics and how to reach them via paid advertising."
She loves applying the ideas she’s learned in her coursework, for instance the concept that communication is receiver based, which she learned the first day in Intro to Communication. She uses that understanding to consider how messages will be perceived by recipients rather than focus on how she views them.
Fink thinks she may be on the right career track with public relations, but she has not cemented her post-Hamilton goals. She may want a career that requires more writing, like journalism, or she may move toward marketing.
“I’m still open, as long as I can bring creativity into solving a puzzle,” she says. “That’s how I like to think about it. A client gives you a question, and you have to figure out the best way to deliver, in a sense; that’s how it is with most things in business. As long as I can do it creatively, then I think I’ll be happy.”
