Italian Major Lands a Full-time Position at the End of an Inserra Paid Internship

Is a major in modern languages able to land you a job right after graduation? Yes, if you carefully combine it with a relevant minor, or another major, and embrace opportunities to work as an intern towards the end of your studies. Talia Antonacci, a 2018 graduate with an Italian major and a Business minor, did just this. And she has been recently offered a full-time position as a Marketing Coordinator at Choose New Jersey in Princeton, NJ, where during Winter and Spring 2019 she completed an internship offered by the Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies within the Italian Program (MLL Department) at Montclair State University.

Talia was the second recipient of a two-part paid internship in Italian Business, supported by a $5,000 Lawrence R. Inserra Jr. Scholarship. The internship included working with teams at the Italian Trade Agency, as well as Choose New Jersey, an organization that actively attracts Italian companies to New Jersey, in what is already an ideal ecosystem for Made in Italy. This successful collaboration with Choose New Jersey, which also included a one-week trip to Italy as part of the prestigious Select USA summit, eventually resulted in a position that involves digital marketing initiatives, planning and execution of events, and support to the business development team, including assistance with translation in business with Italian companies.

”At first, I knew the internship would be a stepping stone into something bigger, but I didn’t expect it to become bigger within the same place. During my internship phase at CNJ, my boss Carly kindly and patiently mentored me as I built my proficiency in WordPress, Elementor, Adobe Photoshop, Hubspot, and many other tools intended for social media and digital marketing. During the Select USA summit trip in Italy, I facilitated exchanges in Italian with representatives of local businesses,” Talia states. (Read the full internship story).

“After the internship ended, Choose New Jersey kept me on as a regular intern and entrusted me with more significant responsibilities. When I saw that they were hiring a Marketing Coordinator, I decided to take the step and apply. If it weren’t for my initial internship from MSU and the skills it provided, I would have never applied for the job. I am proud to be an example of the outstanding possibilities that the Inserra Chair/Italian Program and Choose New Jersey collaboration offers. This type of university-company synergy helped me reach my full potential and begin my career immediately after graduating. It will only get better from here,” Talia concludes.

The Inserra paid internship program in Italian Business, whose philosophy and activities in the field of Made in Italy since 2016 have set the tone for a new BA on campus Language, Business, Culture, rests on the generosity of the Italian Program’s main donor, solid partnerships with Italian and NJ agencies, and an interdisciplinary vision that combines Italian and Business as part of the internationalization of the student experience. It was created to provide Italian majors with pre-professional opportunities in the global market while also securing financial support for them to defray tuition costs.

Relevant links

Internship description (Italian Business)
Post about Tali Antonacci’s internship experience 
Language, Business and Culture combined major