When Julie Gorham and Esther Pisano met at a Vancouver gym, there was serendipity in the air. Julie Gorham is the Marketing Architect at Marketing EQ, a marketing agency in Vancouver, WA offering holistic services in branding, content, media, and web. Pisano is a Clark College student studying web development and set to graduate in 2022. After the two realized their common professional interests, Gorham extended an offer for an internship with her company.
Marketing EQ builds their talent with web technology internship
When Julie Gorham and Esther Pisano met at a Vancouver gym, there was serendipity in the air. Julie Gorham is the Marketing Architect at Marketing EQ, a marketing agency in Vancouver, WA offering holistic services in branding, content, media, and web. Pisano is a Clark College student studying web development and set to graduate in 2022. After the two realized their common professional interests, Gorham extended an offer for an internship with her company.
Gorham suggested that the two of them work with WorkSource, and during May 2021 they did just that. Gorham turned to WorkSource because her company was ready to grow but needed the resources to do so. Gorham and her business partner had parted ways, leaving Marketing EQ with more work than her team could handle, but not the funds to invest in hiring and training a new employee.
“I was at a really critical tipping point and yet some of the things I needed to be able to off-load and train someone for, I didn’t have either the bandwidth or the extra capital to use while I train somebody.”
– Julie Gorham
WorkSource connected Marketing EQ with funds through their adult employment training services to host Pisano as an intern on WorkSource’s payroll. This program allows Pisano to gain quality training and hands-on career experience and enables Gorham to invest in a young adult launching her career with the hopes of retaining her at the internship’s end. In partnership with WorkSource, Marketing EQ put together an Internship Training Plan. This plan broke down the 240-hour internship into succinct categories detailing the skills and duties Esther would be responsible for learning and executing.
On May 27, 2021, Pisano began her internship at Marketing EQ and Gorham jumped into training her. While Pisano learned the ropes, Gorham offered her on-going support and mentorship. While learning with each other, they adjusted to each other’s learning styles and working modes, creating a symbiotic relationship. Pisano immediately began applying the skills in design and coding that she is learning through her program at Clark College. She began to see the pieces of her education falling into place. Pisano continued to work hard and take initiative in testing plug-ins and gaining experience in web technologies.
“I see now what my teachers are talking about when they say ‘yeah, all this is going to come together when you start a job’ and I am starting to see that. The different classes that I took are all joining together when I work with Julie … That’s exciting for me to see.”
– Esther Pisano
Over the course of the internship, Gorham realized that Pisano was an exemplary fit for Marketing EQ. Both women recognize and appreciate each other’s hard work and dedication to helping small businesses gain critical and competitive marketing services. Gorham plans to retain Pisano after the internship term supported by WorkSource ends.
WorkSource was able to place Pisano in the Marketing EQ internship by utilizing funds for adult workers. WorkSource is one of the community-based resources invested in by Workforce Southwest Washington (WSW) to help people in Southwest Washington get jobs or advance their careers through employment services and career training.
For young adults looking for internship opportunities, contact WorkSource Cowlitz/Wahkiakum at 360.577.2250 or WorkSource Vancouver at 360.735.5000.
Contact WSW here to learn about support for your business in various facets and areas of growth.
