We’re excited to introduce another of our 2019 summer marketing interns, UMBC technology student, Claudia Pierson! Claudia is a recent graduate of the Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville (CCBC), where she holds an Associate degree in Business Administration. Currently, she is pursuing a bachelor’s in Business Technology and Administration from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Claudia’s educational coursework has provided her with a broad understanding of business, and work on a diverse array of projects has increased her knowledge of marketing. In Fall of 2017, she headed a political marketing research project that focused on differentiating marketing techniques used with Democratic and Republican parties during elections. Claudia’s research showed that different political affiliations utilize different marketing techniques to reach their audiences. “No campaign uses the same marketing techniques, especially when it comes to politics,” Claudia states.
As traditional marketing campaigns have changed over the years, due to the emergence of social media, Claudia’s research provided both Democratic and Republican parties with a marketing strategy to be used across social platforms. This involved creating campaign logos and messaging that would support the image of both political parties during an election process.
Claudia has also been involved in designing a travel marketing campaign, that provided a marketing strategy for the city of Dubai. Her role involved conducting in depth demographics and geographic research on Dubai’s tourist audience. Claudia was able to create personas that represented the different types of customers that fall within Dubai’s target audience. “I had to research what a travel customer’s journey was because I realized in order to intrigue my audience, I had to be informed about them.” Claudia’s research helped the campaign to create advertisements that spoke directly and efficiently to Dubai’s target audiences, promoting people to book more trips.
Aside from being a full-time student, Claudia is also a full-time mother to her adorable two-year-old son, Xavier. “He’s my good luck charm,” she states, “he was born on November 11th at 11:11 weighing 7lbs and 11 oz.” Having a young child, while pursuing her education, meant many long nights and early mornings. Claudia believes this has taught her what it truly means to persevere through all circumstances. “I refused to let my circumstances keep me from graduating and expanding my knowledge of Business and Marketing”, she states. Claudia believes she gets her determination and hard work mindset from her grandmother. “My grandmother is the strongest person I know; she is 1 of 11.” Claudia says her Grandmother has “taught her the importance of hard work, taking responsibility, and that you must always finish what you start.”
As a Marketing Intern for Northeast Maglev, Claudia is responsible for helping the communications and marketing team educate the public about the SCMaglev project. She has chosen to focus her research on developing an engagement plan that will increase Northeast Maglev’s brand recognition and subscribership within minority communities. “My goal is to develop an engagement plan that will educate more people on what the Northeast Maglev is all about.” This will be done Claudia says, by identifying and partnering with local minority owned businesses and organizations, across Baltimore. “I’m working to develop a plan for Northeast Maglev that will allow the marketing team to reach a diverse audience of people interested in innovation throughout Baltimore.”
Additionally, Claudia has translated the entire Northeast Maglev website, as well as many print materials, into Spanish.
Interning with Northeast Maglev has helped Claudia realize the importance that diversity and inclusion have in a business. “In translating materials during my internship with Northeast Maglev, I realized that the United States is becoming a melting pot of diversity, making it important for all businesses to have a plan for inclusion moving forward.” Claudia wants to be a part of that plan, by continuing to utilize her fluency in Spanish by becoming a certified translator and interpreter.
“I want to help families like mine, who had to fill out forms like the FAFSA without knowing fully what everything meant due to a language barrier.” Claudia’s goal is to ease the confusion individuals feel when seeking information, whether it be news, health, or education related. “I have the ability to change someone’s life, but it starts at home, every night I read books to my two-year-old son, in both English and Spanish, as I am encouraging him to learn as many languages as possible.”
Claudia believes the development of the SCMaglev will transform many people’s lives, all along the Northeast Corridor, positively. The train, she believes, “will not only make roads less congested and provide benefits for our environment but will more importantly give parents back quality time to spend with their children.” SCMaglev will give any parent the opportunity to work in DC and still make it home to Baltimore, in time to enjoy dinner with their family. “For me,” Claudia says, “it means being able to take my son to the DC Zoo and be back in Baltimore in to visit the B&O Museum, all in one day.”
“I believe in the project and I love the opportunities that Northeast Maglev is bringing to Baltimore. I sought out this internship because I like being a part of something that helps everyone including the environment, and Northeast Maglev is doing just that.”