OUR BLOG

08 Feb 2022

Welcome Our 2022 Spring Interns: Alijah Chamberlain and Donald Ballou

We are so excited to introduce the newest members of the Coal Crew: our Spring 2022 Interns Alijah Chamberlain and Donald Ballou! During their time with us, they will amplify a variety of our marketing initiatives. They’re both powerhouses in their own right, bringing a boatload of creativity sprinkled with excellent style. Let’s get to know them:

Alijah comes to us from Penn State Wilkes-Barre where she’s currently studying business management and marketing. She is in her senior year and is originally from Shickshinny, PA. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, traveling and watching Gordon Ramsey’s cooking shows.

Since her internship began, Alijah has been working alongside Holly and Sam on Dress for Success Luzerne County’s 31 Days of Women in Power Campaign. She’s been an incredible help and is getting lots of design experience working on social media posts and t-shirt ideas. Throughout the next few months, she hopes to learn more about the design and release of social media campaigns, the production of videos, and the development websites, as well as finding what really sparks her creativity.

“I am so thankful for the opportunity I have been given to work alongside the Coal Creative team. The environment at Coal Creative has sparked my inspiration and pushed me to pursue my creative passion. My interest in pursuing a career in marketing is increasing every day and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Donald is a senior at Wilkes University. He’s set to graduate this spring with a major in communications studies. 

A true Renaissance man, Donald is ready to learn pretty much everything, from social media management and video production to marketing and operations. Already, he’s started to work alongside Jesse and Samantha to learn the ins and outs of our creative community arm NEPA Creative while also collaborating with Alijah to revamp the Coal Interns Instagram account and plan their intern video project. 

Outside of his internship, Donald loves to play piano, watch movies, hike, play tennis and volleyball and do any kind of themed get-together or adventure with his friends. He has a passion for fashion and his hidden talent is that he can make his eyebrows do the wave. 

Eagle-eyed Coal Creative fans will recognize Donald from that time we painted the windows of the Luzerne Bank Building. Since then, we’ve been hoping Donald would come back to us! I think we made a good impression on him too:

“Ever since I met the Coal Creative Team I’ve been so excited to be a part of what they do; they do good work and have so much fun doing it. I’m more than grateful to share a bit of time with the team and learn from the best.”

Our internship program is something we care deeply about at Coal Creative. CEO Holly K. Pilcavage comes from a background in higher education, so she knows the importance of providing opportunities for real-world experience. On the other end of the spectrum, our Social Media Specialist Jesse was deeply disappointed that we are not allowed to ask Donald and Alijah to make Starbucks runs. 

While it’s had to change shape over the past few years, we are so excited to continue our internship program. We’re grateful for the fresh perspectives and talents Alijah and Donald share with us. 

Plus, our interns have gone on to do some pretty amazing things. And like a proud parent, all we want to do is hang their photos and accomplishments on our fridge. Fall 2019 intern Shanie Mohamed is doing awesome work at the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce as their Economic Development Specialist. 2018 intern Barry Pawlowski is currently serving as the Assistant Director of Student Affairs at Penn State Fayette. Summer 2019 intern Sami Amato is creating all sorts of cool content (check out her Instagrams @samanthafaith.creative and @samanthafaith.photography) AND she’s a Director at WBRE/WYOU. Samantha Bucher though, one of our Spring 2019 interns, has arguably the coal-est job ever (in case you didn’t know, she’s currently crushing it as our Content Director). 

Now, with the passing of the torch to Alijah and Donald, they’re all set to continue this great legacy. Welcome to the Crew!

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