Internship Insider: Alanna Dowdy

Early Opportunities 
​During my senior year of high school, I was tasked with finding a short-term internship to prepare me for college. I took a leap, reaching out directly to the CEO of Cunningham Baron, a small but mighty marketing communications agency in the heart of downtown Cleveland asking if I could shadow someone there for the next three weeks. To my surprise and immense gratitude, she said yes.

During those three weeks, I created graphics, wrote social media posts and engaged with clients’ audiences. I found myself romanticizing the rhythm of professional life and feeling “grown up” in a way high school could not provide.
When the internship ended, one thing was clear: I had discovered the kind of work I wanted to pursue.


College Internship Pathway
Fast forward to my freshman year at Kent State. I could not shake that experience, so I searched high and low for opportunities that mirrored my time at Cunningham Baron. During the spring semester, I received an email from the CEO inviting me back for a summer internship, this time with real responsibility. I did not hesitate for a moment. I said yes.

Now I am a junior in college and I’m still working at Cunningham Baron. My role has expanded far beyond those first tasks. I manage content calendars through tools like Hootsuite, plan campaigns, measure analytics, assist with media buying and draft press releases. More importantly, I have built relationships with a team whose dedication and passion are contagious. It is no surprise that so many of them have stayed for years. The community they have fostered is something rare and invaluable.

I enjoy writing social posts for our clients because it allows me to wear many different hats, infuse my own creativity and make each post unique. I especially loved interacting with the Little Caesars corporate Instagram account. In one of their posts, I replied, “Okay, but will you be hot and ready?” They replied, “That’s kind of our whole thing.” It is incredibly rewarding to see my work live on their pages.

Key Takeaways
I have learned more than just the mechanics of marketing. I now understand the resilience and creativity it takes to grow a business fueled by strategy, storytelling and social media. Perhaps the greatest lesson, though, is something deeper: the importance of loving what you do. Passion in hobbies, such as my love for music, feels different from passion in a career. Hobbies provide joy and expression, while a career provides purpose and direction.

Looking back, I realize how powerful it was to take a chance and send that first email. I could have let fear hold me back, but I instead gained an experience that shaped the course of my college years and likely my future career. 

That is advice I would give to anyone stepping into an unfamiliar stage of life: do not be afraid to reach out, ask questions and put yourself in spaces where you might not feel ready. Sometimes the smallest risks open the biggest doors.

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