Name: Julia F.
Position: Intern – U.S. & Canada Consumer Public Relations
Dream destination: Japan or Thailand
Drink or treat of choice: Sea salt brownie
University of Massachusetts junior Julia F. first realized her passion for traveling at 12 years old during a trip to the National Parks. Now, she’s building her future career — and travel itinerary — through a summer internship at Marriott’s corporate headquarters.
After completing a prior marketing internship with a food flavoring company, Julia set her sights on the hospitality and travel industry, most recently as an intern for Marriott’s U.S. & Canada Consumer Public Relations team.
“I love being able to have conversations with people and build relationships, which I feel is something that is very prevalent in the hospitality industry,” she says. “I definitely had those on my list when I was looking for internships.”
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When a younger Julia and her family embarked on a three-week road trip across the U.S., she realized just how much there was to explore. And while there are many avenues into the realm of travel, Julia applied to a Marriott internship specifically for the company culture.
“What really stood out to me about Marriott was what I had heard about the company culture. It made me want to apply to work there,” she says. “It’s been a big step in my career. I’ve never worked in a big corporation before, let alone something as big as Marriott. What I’d heard about the company culture is definitely true. Everybody is so friendly and welcoming. I haven’t felt out of place once; everybody is more than happy to chat with me and get to know me.”
One of the highlights from her time with Marriott was being able to create a day-in-the-life video, showcasing her experience as an intern. Check out her video below and learn more about how her internship has helped her grow her post-grad curiosity.
What was the most valuable lesson or insight that you gained from your internship experience?
Being willing to put myself out there. When I was little, I was very shy until high school, and then I realized there’s so many people out there who don’t know me yet. I can be whoever I want to be. I have never lived outside of Massachusetts, so coming here [to Bethesda], I have been willing to ask to be put on projects that I wouldn’t have otherwise or to talk to people on different teams. It’s fun to be able to learn more about the industry and the company, as well as what else I might be interested in.
How do you plan to apply this knowledge moving forward in your career, or even throughout your college journey?
I’m going into my junior year at UMass, so I have a lot more to learn there, but I’m nearing the end of my PR classes. It’ll be interesting now that I have knowledge of some actual PR campaigns that real companies are doing to be able to see how I can use that in the academic realm — and then moving forward in a career. I also got to experience how the corporate world works…understanding how a business really runs with so many different teams. There’s so much collaboration and cross-functional work going on. That will be helpful moving forward as well.
What’s next for you? Where would you like to go?
Back to UMass and Massachusetts. In the spring, I will be studying abroad in northern Italy. I’m a very future-oriented person, so I’ve already been thinking about life through the end of senior year. Next summer, I’m interested traveling somewhere else. I’ve been playing with the idea of going to the West Coast and maybe Hawaii to study ecotourism. I feel like I have more flexibility now to have those experiences.
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