They say Disney World is the happiest place on Earth, and it’s about to get even happier as rising senior public relations student Marissa Marsh (she/her) prepares to move to Orlando for eight months to pursue an internship in influencer communication for the park.
“It was always kind of a dream, a very far off dream, to work for the company one day. Now that it’s happening, it still hasn’t hit me yet,” Marsh said.
After finishing an internship at Being Agency in the fall of 2021, Marsh started looking for another opportunity in the same field. As an avid Disney lover, she knew she had to apply when she saw a posting for the company in influencer communications in January 2022.
Several rounds of interviews later, Marsh and her mom are leaving for Orlando where they will spend five days going to the parks before Marsh starts her internship on May 18, 2022.
As an influencer communications intern, Marsh will work with Disney World’s influencer partners at events and will get the opportunity to brainstorm content with the social media team.
Marsh is excited to have an internship she loves with a company she loves. When she was young, she said, she was obsessed with princesses. Now that she is older, she feels as if she has a different appreciation for all that Disney has to offer such as their other franchises and the updates to their parks.
“She really loves Disney. She loves communications, she loves her major, she loves what she does, and no one deserves it more than she does,” said sophomore PR major Jesse Taylor (she/her).
Taylor met Marsh on the InMotion Dance Team and credits her with helping her learn about everything the PR major has to offer when she declared it in fall 2021. As an active member in PRSSA and PRowl Public Relations, Marsh guided Taylor from the dance team to the PR professional clubs.
Taylor noted that Marsh always finds the best way to do something, whether it is as the social media manager for InMotion, a PR committee member in PRSSA or assistant firm director in PRowl. The rest of the dancers on InMotion feel comfortable going to her for advice on personal and professional matters, and Marsh was even named “team mom” at their end of semester formal.
Firm Director for PRowl Kyra Beckish (she/they) met Marsh when she was still a prospective student and she came up to a PRowl table at Experience Temple Day.
“The fact that she had the bravery and that drive to come up is something that I remember,” Beckish said. “That was incredibly impressive.”
It was no surprise to Beckish that Marsh started getting involved in PRowl and PRSSA when she got to Temple University, and they immediately wanted her to move into leadership roles.
Marsh started as an account associate at PRowl her freshman year, became an account executive her sophomore year and is now assistant firm director. Because of her internship, she will need to take a break from PRowl for the fall 2022 semester, but is excited to jump back in upon her return.
“Of course I’m so excited, but it is a little bittersweet just because I’ve been involved in all of these things pretty much since the first day of college,” Marsh said.
Beckish knows that Marsh will be successful in Orlando and is excited to see what her future holds.
And, on brand with Marsh’s “team mom” superlative from In Motion, Beckish noted that Marsh has been dubbed a “ray of sunshine” by everyone at PRowl.
In addition to her work with PRowl and PRSSA, Marsh has had three other internships. First, she worked as a digital media assistant with Katrina Erb Photography. Next, she did a virtual internship program with Philadelphia PR firm Devine + Partners before heading to Being Agency in the fall.
The next chapter in Marsh’s career begins now, as she finally realizes her dream of working for Disney and learns more about PR while doing it.