“Meow” is the usual sigh that Amanda releases in frustration caused by a interviewee running late. However, Amanda is all smiles and laughter when she comes to work everyday; adding to the office’s friendly atmosphere. Amanda Pilcher, a Marketing and Human Resources intern at Foreign Translations, Inc., is always incredibly diligent in her position. As part of her job, Amanda researches growing global companies and writes articles on their successes. Amanda spends countless of hours perfecting her articles and often immerses herself in her research, to the point that she adopts company mottos. During meetings with the marketing team, Amanda often cites refreshing mottos from other companies like WWGD (What would Groupon do?) and marketing strategy analogies (referring to ‘cheesy’ catchphrases in advertisement) such as, “What kind of cheesiness you want? Do you want Cheddar or do you want Gouda?”

Amanda graduated from Furman University with a Bachelors of Arts in French. Originally an Economics major, after studying abroad in Versailles, France, she rediscovered her passion for the French language and culture. Amanda had always appreciated French culture as her mother was a French professor and worked as a tour guide for a New York company with benefits of travel to France and shared many stories with her daughter. Amanda always considered the French language lyrical. She has also traveled to many places like Florence, Vienna, and Greece, though, when asked if offered the opportunity to travel to Europe again and could only choose one destination, she selected France. She mentions, “I love the food, the art, the way of life. I really enjoy studying abroad and I think that every person should do it, if they have the chance. It’s a challenge to get out of your comfort zone and to speak a language that is not your native tongue and to interact with different people.”

Amanda loves working at Foreign Translations, Inc. She said that studying abroad made her feel more aware of global culture and increased her interest in international business. Although interning for just a few months, she feels that she has learned a lot. Amanda talks about the importance of ‘synergy in the business world’, how all ideas must work together. For example, she states that the journalism aspect is not detached from the marketing aspect. She mentions that you can have a really great business or business concept, but if you’re not out there in the social media world, such as in Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook, then you cannot be successful. “You must understand how to detect the right people for the right company. So you can’t operate one without the other one.”

Author: Jennifer Mo