Summer Series: Alex Randall

Today, we are so excited to continue our summer series with another sister spotlight about one of our members.  Alex Randall is a rising senior at Carolina and an active contributing member to both the sorority and the University as a whole.  So, it's no wonder she landed one of the nation's most coveted internships working for FOX Sports in New York City!  Alex is one of many examples of our tenacious members following their dreams and achieving them in ways they never dreamed possible.  We couldn't be more proud of her and are so excited to share her experience with you!

"When most people asked me how in the world I got a job with Fox Network Group in New York City, my response was, “I literally have no idea."  In today’s job market, to get a job, let alone your dream job, it helps to have a connection high up in the company.  I didn’t have one of those at Fox. After applying for over 40 different internships, being frustrated only hearing from half, I was exhausted. In my interview with Fox, the person from HR flat-out said, 'We have over 500 applicants right now and are taking 18. We also already have many qualified people so you tell me why you should get this internship and impress me.'

I was immediately thrown off and just started talking about Carolina, my work and leadership experience to break the ice. I also added some humor to the conversation. When asked how a '…girl from NJ got a southern accent,' I responded by stating, 'When I’m in SC people think I have a northern accent…when I’m in NJ, people think I have a southern accent,  I will bring both to the internship if I get hired.'

When I didn’t hear back from Fox by the deadline, I was SO discouraged and decided I would go to Italy for a Maymester. I booked everything but my flight, but then came the Fox congratulations email. Words cannot explain how excited I was to receive an offer from Fox.  Landing a job at Fox Sports in advertising and sales was a phenomenal opportunity. From the beginning, I didn’t really know what network ad sales involved besides people buying air ads.  At the end of my internship I knew so much more from a practical and sales standpoint.  By the way, even though I canceled my Maymester plans, I ended up touring Europe through hostels for two weeks before the Internship started which helped grow my independence even further.

The first day working in NYC was probably the most intimidating day I have ever experienced. The commute from my home in northern NJ to the Port Authority in Manhattan was an eye opener but exhilarating.  As I navigated the NY streets and avenues I approached this gigantic Newscorp building that was home to multiple companies, Fox News channel, Fox Entertainment, Wall Street Journal, NY Post etc. I walked into a sea of interns who were also checking in at the Fox front desk (Next to Bill O’Reilly’s studio). I literally knew no one.

Even though there were 18 interns from all over the country we all had at least one mutual friend. One intern was actually the cousin of a fellow Delta, Mary Henderson (small world). Everyone at Fox was super nice and professional. Everyone in Fox Sports also asked about our favorite football star, Clowney. Even after two short weeks I felt like I was already a part of the Fox family. The first time I met my boss I had to take the initiative and find him.  Upon locating him, I was met with, “I didn’t even know I had an intern!”  He was a hilarious and wonderful person to work with…turns out he also lived a few towns over from me in NJ.

Besides developing relationships in the office with interns and Fox employees I also had a few celebrity sightings. I saw Dog the Bounty Hunter, Matt Bomer, Mark Walhberg, Eli Manning, Velociraptor and Humans of NY. Just the other day I walked right by Jesse McCartney, my childhood crush.  Since it was 8 am in the morning I questioned taking a picture with him.  Once he knew he had been “spotted” he hopped into his black sedan car and peaced out, I should’ve acted more quickly!   Fox also gave us a few perks including free movies screenings and personal viewing of 2014-2015 pilots for the next year. Gotham the prequel to beginning of Batman is going to be amazing--highly recommend seeing it!!

During my internship I had to pick a national casual dining restaurant and make a pitch to them on why they should invest in Fox Media Group as opposed to other networks. I was paired up with 5 other interns with Fox Sports along with other interns working for Fox and FX (Hispanic media and NatGeo). The restaurant we thought worked perfectly with Fox Sports was Buffalo Wild Wings, “Wings Beer Sports.” In addition to being assigned to supervisors and mentors, we also were assigned to team leaders who were a tremendous help!  Throughout the summer we researched the Buffalo Wild Wings, visited with them, and strategized the pitch.  To complete our assignment, we had to present the pitch to a Fox audience at the end of the internship. Everyone joked around saying how many people would attend.  We were assured that it would not be “…as many as in the past… not a big deal.” Well it turns out we presented a 20 minute pitch to over 200 people, the Fox president, execs, basically everyone you could think of…no pressure there, right?   

Thankfully my leadership roles at Carolina, voice performance/ theater background and public speaking came in handy for the Buffalo Wild Wings presentation.  Because we did so well and the Account Execs loved our ideas they are actually sharing our proposal with the client, Buffalo Wild Wings!

Some other fascinating things I got to do at Fox was sit in on phone calls with my team and client, observe how ad/sales works, communicate with the west coast, visit other networks like the YES network, have viewing parties of the World Cup (I won the bracket), hear other incredible Fox speakers in education sessions and even take Ad Sales 101. At the end of this internship  l certainly realized that Ad sales is so much more than selling TV air time and you must be passionate about the job that you hold in the work force. 'Treat getting a job, like it’s your job,' said my mentor.

I’ve learned that if you want to work in NYC it’s worth the time and effort.  Every challenge is an opportunity. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. and coming home after 7 p.m. is exhausting but very rewarding. Welcome to the real world! Absorb everything when you have a job of a lifetime.  It was so worth it. The walk to and from the Fox building on Avenue of the Americas, across from Radio City Music Hall, was always very entertaining. From walking through Times Square seeing super heroes and naked cowboys, to being in the theatre district and hoping to see James Franco or Bradley Cooper, to being close to Rockefeller center was phenomenal and a taste of what I want to continue to pursue after graduation.

I can’t wait to see all of you in a couple weeks!

Delta Love and all of mine,

Alex Randall"

UIFI

This year, rising senior Hannah Stroud and rising sophomore Hayley Geis were given scholarships and the opportunity to attend the UIFI leadership conference in Indiana last month.  While there, Hannah and Hayley were placed into different small groups to encourage them to reach out and make new connections with Greek leaders from across the country. Today's post is all about the invaluable experiences from UIFI that helped shaped them into even better leaders for our sorority, told by each of their individual perspectives.

Hannah (far right) with her UIFI friends from LSU, University of Washington and University of Iowa

"So, this may come as a shock to those of y’all that know me. I’m not sappy…some say I may not have tear ducts. Well surprise, I do. And writing about my whole experience may actually bring on some of those emotions. Here we go.

APPLYING

Woohoo, an opportunity to travel to a new place over the summer and learn something? I’m in. When I was applying for the Eve Woods Riley Scholarship to go to UIFI, I honestly had no idea what I was signing up for. It took a little over a week to fill out and go through the application before I finally submitted it—partly due to my lack of organization, and partly from my undiagnosed ADD. A few weeks later I was excited to find the ‘Congratulations!‘ email in my inbox, but still didn’t know what I had signed up for.

STALKING THE UIFI FACEBOOK GROUP

What? This is like the Freshman year Facebook group all over again… everyone’s like “Write where you’re from and your chapter”. I was way too casual for that until I started realizing that people were coming from all over the country—heck, one kid came from Mexico. So I did my stalking and some of the kids looked kind of cool, some more interesting than anything. I figured it would be a large group of power-hungry, unrealistic Greeks eagerly waiting to “change the face” of their organizations, at best.

Hannah with sisters from University of Cincinnati and University of the Pacific at Bowling Night!

AIRPORT AND SHUTTLE RIDE

Yes, it was just like Freshman orientation. I was greeted at Baggage Claim 4 by what was clearly a group of college Greeks—the giant letters on their shirts may have given it away. Don’t get me wrong, I was in my Deltas too, and I was all about the small talk and asking if we knew people from the same school. As we all sat and talked for an hour or so waiting on the shuttle, I met kids from Washington, New York, Arizona, and Louisiana—people in letters I had never seen before. Everyone seemed a lot more down to earth than what I had expected. We all talked about how this experience was supposed to “change our lives” so we could “make a difference.” Oh, okay.

Hannah with a Delta Gamma friend at the airport!

IU CAMPUS

Geez, those Greek houses were big. One thing I found interesting was the difference in the Greek culture from school to school…they didn’t even have a grassy knoll? We set up our rooms and beds and met for a big group meeting. It consisted of around 100 fraternity and sorority men and women who knew only surface level things about each other. No one knew what the five days would bring.

MEETINGS

Some negative and some positive things were discussed. I sat there in awe of the experiences that people have had. All in all, the big meetings were to bring back ideas from the smaller group meetings, the great ideas. We shared philanthropy thoughts and great function themes, to name a few.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

We had a day where a few hours were devoted to community service. Yay. Some jobs were harder than others. But there was a point. Our core values that we were founded upon, back in the ol' 1800s, represent why we give our service. I pulled weeds at a natural water filtration duct for several hours…yes, hours. That’s self-sacrifice if I’ve ever seen it. You should have seen some of the monsters we pulled out of the ground. One we named the “hell bush” because of the spikes that tore through our gloves. Knowing that the 15 of us assigned to that site did the work in two hours—that one man would have taken a week to do—is powerful. It’s the little things we do that make a huge impact on the lives of others. Also, we had to do it all in the 90 degree weather while staring at a Steak and Shake across the street—which may have been the ultimate challenge.

THE FOOD

I’m not too picky, but the food was great. We even had a taco day, which seems to be a hit no matter what school you represent. That is all.

GRADUATION

I cried, yes. Small tears that only two people saw, but they were there. At that moment, I realized the impact of this experience. I didn’t want to leave these awesome people that I had gotten to know, but we keep in touch and plan to do so throughout our lives.

POST UIFI

I never thought I would say this after a leadership conference, but I have been changed for the better. ~cliché~ I know, but the goal of the Undergraduate Interfraternity Council is to shed a positive light on our Greek community and develop awareness, leadership, and responsibility within our chapters. The time we shared allowed us to be real with each other; get to know people on a deeper level. I have some awesome ideas for the chapter, and although sometimes we don’t want change, it won’t be all that bad. I realized how proud I was to represent my larger chapter, discuss our philanthropic achievements, brag about the friendships I’ve made, and chat up the school I represent. Many of us—including me—still have a long way to go. I have made lifelong friends and really learned what it means to be a Greek, no matter what the letters. So if you have made it this far, I hope you’ve had a laugh and get the pure enjoyment I gained from this trip. I strongly encourage anyone in the chapter to go—I mean I’m the music chairman and I was all about it. So I’ll leave you with this quote, because all great blogs end with one, right? “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison. I’ve learned to take every opportunity that I can to make a positive name for my organization, no matter the obstacles or how great the challenge.

DL,

Hannah Stroud"

Now, for Hayley's perspective:

"When I arrived in Indiana, I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous because I didn't know what I was getting myself into, and I didn't have a single familiar face by my side.

Hayley at the Tri Delta house at Indiana University

Those nerves quickly faded away into excitement, and then excitement turned into love. Love for the program, love for all of the people in the program, and love for my sorority. I walked away from UIFI with courage, strength, ideas, a deeper understanding of who I am as a leader, and most importantly, a new family from across the country.

Hayley with her "small group" of leaders from universities across the country!

The relationships I formed at UIFI will last a lifetime, and the lessons each and every person taught me go through my mind every day. I was so lucky to meet two amazing Tri Deltas at UIFI who redefined my understanding of sisterhood and gave me so much to aspire to. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, and looking back on it, it's funny to think I was ever nervous. 

Hayley and her newfound sisters--Tri Deltas from West Georgia and Nebraska

DLAM, 

Hayley Geis"

Tri Delta National Convention

Since its earliest days, Convention has been a time for members to come together, celebrate the bonds of sisterhood and help shape the future of Delta Delta Delta.

"For more than 125 years, Tri Delta has been driven to excellence, and as we gather in Indianapolis for our 56th biennial Convention, we're ready to celebrate the Fraternity's many accomplishments and set the pace for a future filled with achievement. Our members will come away from their time together inspired to pursue excellence in their roles within their chapters and keep Tri Delta on track for success (tridelta.org)."

This year, two of our members were fortunate enough to take part in Convention.  Today's blog post is the recount of Kourtney Dworsky and Hayley Geis' incredible experience there!

"There were four days packed full of events at Tri Deltas 2014 National Convention. We kicked off the four days with a Ritual Ceremony for an honor initiate. The opening banquet was accompanied by a showing of the new State of the Fraternity video which I am proud to say featured Alpha Lambda a great deal.  We continued the weekend meeting other collegiate chapter officers, collegiate chapter members, alumnae chapter members and officers, some amazing women from Executive Office including the National Fraternity President, Phyllis Durbin Grissom, and a few very special guests like Leeza Gibbons, a University of South Carolina Tri Delta alumni and famous talk show host.

Kourtney and Hayley with Fraternity President, Phyllis Durbin Grissom

Kourtney and Hayley with Leeza Gibbons, a USC Tri Delta alumma and talk show host

We learned about Fraternity Bylaws, discussed more about the Pilot Program our chapter was lucky enough to participate in, honored chapters and women who achieved great things in the past biennium, and took a trip through time hearing all about the history of Tri Delta from its founding through today." 

For Kourtney specifically, "The most special part of Convention for me was the St. Jude Luncheon. We celebrated our partnership and all that we have accomplished together over the past ten plus years. We heard from a University of Tennessee Tri Delta whose life had been saved and forever changed by the wonders of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The CEO of ALSAC then announced some extremely exciting news, our newest goal for St. Jude: to raise $60 million dollars in ten years to build 'Tri Delta Place,' a housing facility for the families of St. Jude patients.

This is the single largest commitment ever by any St. Jude partner.

I am so honored to be part of an organization that continues to support such an amazing facility with a great cause. I cannot wait to watch Tri Delta come together and make this commitment a reality over the next few years. 

The girls in front of Tri Delta Place

We ended the weekend with a fun night at the Dallara Indy Car Factory, a special final banquet, and the Delta Shop midnight madness sale, and it truly was madness as eight hundred girls rushed a small room for their favorite t-shirts. 

This was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. I learned so much from everyone I met and cannot wait to take everything I learned back to our chapter in the fall. I absolutely loved sharing this experience with Hayley; we have the same passion for our chapter and Tri Delta as a whole."

As for Hayley, "Going to convention as a freshman was such a blessing and a privilege. I was able to not only learn so much and gain insight into Tri Delta chapters from across the nation, but it also ignited my passion to live our values and make Tri Delta the best it can be. I loved spending time with Kourtney, and there are no words to describe my love for her, DDD, and our purpose."

DL,
Kourtney Dworsky and Hayley Geis