Monitoring Product Performance

By Matt Hawkins

Bradley social media marketing major Aurora Pieprzak ’17 is digging data this summer. As an intern for deli meat producer Land O’Frost, she’s exploring consumer behavior and turning that data into useful marketing recommendations for the company.

The internship is giving the Shorewood, Illinois, native an opportunity to explore data analysis after a marketing research class sparked her interest.

“It’s rewarding to answer a question using data, then come up with creative new ways to market products,” Pieprzak said. “It’s exciting to see results and piece everything together to solve a problem.”

She’s had a hand in the whole research process, from creating and distributing surveys to analyzing results and making marketing recommendations from the findings.

Her duties come with freedom to develop projects without a strict approval process she thought would be in place. That independence has encouraged Pieprzak to learn more about the company and pursue research wherever it led.

As a result, she has strengthened her ability to pitch ideas to superiors and to make critical decisions under pressure.

“I’ve learned a lot in a short time,” Pieprzak said. “Every day, I’m learning something new or applying what I’ve learned through the internship.”

The summer also has pushed the intern into community relations work through charity outreach. Land O’Frost staff volunteered several times for the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s mobile produce distribution truck. Company interns also created a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

“As an individual, it was rewarding to help those in need,” Pieprzak said. “It was also rewarding to be part of a company that takes time to give back to the community.”

Once the internship ends, she will return to Bradley with a better sense of her strengths and weaknesses. She plans to polish her professional skills in her last year on the Hilltop as she looks forward to the professional world.

“I’m excited to see where I end up after college,” Pieprzak said. “I feel I can make an impact wherever I am, but I also know learning won’t stop at graduation.”