Cultivating a Social Media Presence Elora Fucigna '19 completed an internship in social media and marketing for Ground Floor Farm, an urban farm in her hometown of Stuart, Florida.
“As a nature lover, I was happy to be in an environment that valued our earth, and worked to share that goal with the community.”
Elora Fucigna ’19 poses in the W&L garden.Name: Elora Fucigna ’19
Major: Strategic Communication
Minor: Studio Art
Where did you intern this summer?: Ground Floor Farm
Tell us a little bit about that organization: Ground Floor Farm is a relatively new food and community space in Historic Downtown Stuart, Florida. They are part urban farm, part experimental kitchen workshop, part arts and events venue, and part open-source community space. This summer, since it wasn’t Florida’s growing season, they hosted camps, workshops and events to teach community members about gardening, baking, fermenting, cooking, cheese-making, and all kinds of sustainable activities. During the growing season, they produce all kinds of crops, and have a café and farm stand.
Describe your job there: I worked with the owners to help create material for their social media presence in the upcoming farming season, took photos and made write-ups of events at the farm, and made original art pieces and brochures for their use.
What was the best story or project you worked on?
I really enjoyed creating a “mural” wall-spanning art piece that communicated the seasonality of each of their harvests and crops. I worked with the farmer to figure out which crop to highlight each month of their season (September through June in Florida), created pitches for potential designs, and then created the art piece that they hung over a whole wall by their produce stand. It was fun to combine strategic communication and art into one big project!
Who did you meet, such as a source, a story subject or a mentor, that made the most vivid impression on you – and why?
I just loved working with the owners of the farm – they’re three friends who graduated from the same local high school that I went to, and have pursued their dreams to create a friendly, community-centered, and natural environment right in the middle of downtown. I was inspired by their love for the farm, and all of the hard work they put into growing such great sustainable crops. As a nature lover, I was happy to be in an environment that valued our earth, and worked to share that goal with the community.
When did you feel the most challenged and how did you meet that challenge?
I would say I felt the most challenged right at the beginning – I kind of co-created this internship with the owners of the farm, so there was no predetermined set of tasks that I was assigned to. It was up to me to create material, pitch ideas and motivate myself to find things that I thought could help them. It was a little bit daunting at first, but I overcame that worry of “not being right” by just doing research, and coming up with as many ideas as possible to show them. From there, it was much easier to be productive.
What did you enjoy most about the location of the internship?
I was at home, so it was kind of cool to help with an urban farm right smack in the middle of our downtown area. A lot of people in our area still don’t know about it, so being the communications intern was a great way to help spread outreach, and even just invite all of my friends at home to like the page on Facebook.
Will this internship impact the direction of your career in any way?
I definitely think it made me realize that I love learning about an organization, and interpreting that pre-existing vibe into my own style. It’s fun to get a fresh new subject to work on, and it’s even more fun collaborating with the owners, and seeing what they think about your take on it. This summer showed me that I do really love my major, and I especially like incorporating my artsy side.
How did W&L help to prepare you for this opportunity?
I learned about a lot of great content-creating platforms such as Canva and Piktochart in my PR classes, and I would have been at a loss were it not for them. Making brochures was a breeze after creating infographics and other things like that in class (PR 227). My reporting class helped me remember to always double check spelling and facts, and to be as accurate as possible. Finally, I think that the nature of this particular internship was heavily reliant on self-motivation and creativity, rather than someone just telling me exactly what to do – I would say my time at W&L has certainly prepared me for that type of role.
Did any particular grant or other funding, besides your personal funding, help pay for this opportunity?
Yes! I was lucky enough to receive a $500 grant which helped me pay for transportation. I am so grateful for that! My family of four has three cars, and we all worked separate schedules, so we were actually able to use that money to rent a car over summer (there’s no public transportation in our area, since it’s not a big city- just a beach town). I was so grateful for that help.
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