Alpha Phi Iota

Mia Hanekamp (fashion)

Mia (PC ’09), a senior, interned at the headquarters of Marc Jacobs International in New York City working in the Collection Accessories department. This means that she dealt exclusively with Marc Jacobs Collection (as opposed to Marc by Marc Jacobs) handbags.

Mia worked with the sales department as well as a bit of PR and retail merchandising. Her duties really varied from day to day. They ranged from analyzing weekly sales reports from global department stores and e-commerce sites (including Madison local, Twigs!); sending samples out to magazines, PR firms, events, and more; creating proposals for prospective clients; managing buys for department stores each season; pulling looks from the store for shoots; and so much more!

Mia loved working at Marc Jacobs because of the incredibly dynamic work environment. One day she would be looking at selling reports and entering orders, but the next she’d be running around town to PR firms and Marc stores trying to find a certain bag that someone needs immediately.

Mia said it was so fun and inspiring to be in such a creative environment all the time. She loved being at such a big company that influences so much of the international fashion industry. Every time Robert Duffy or Marc is in the office, she thought about how the brand has evolved since 1984 through hard work and passion. And as much as Mia loved being in New York and working at Marc, she definitely thought of her Wisconsin home every time she worked on an order for Twigs or saw one of Marc’s Bordeaux bags :) 

Martha Evans (pharmacy)

This summer, senior Martha (PC ’09) held her third internship with Abbott Laboratories. Abbott is a Chicago-area pharmaceutical and health care company, most commonly known for its nutritional products such as PediaSure and Zone bars.

For her internship, Martha was in the pharmaceutical products division in the area of Regulatory Affairs. Her summer project involved developing regulatory plans for the therapeutic areas of neuroscience and pain. It was challenging work involving a lot of research on different disease states. 

Abbott hosts a large internship program of over 300 interns, so her summer was also filled with some of intern-specific events. Martha and her fellow interns formed a Relay for Life team for a local Relay event, and they even did a super cheesy flash mob that night! The interns also did a case study, which was a great way to meet interns stationed outside of Chicago.

After working at the same company for three summers, Martha has learned how important it is to maintain good relationships with all of your colleagues. Three years later, she has still stayed in contact with her first manager at Abbott. As a pharmacist, she is going to write one of Martha’s recommendation letters for pharmacy school, so it has definitely been worthwhile to maintain the networking connections she have made.

Megan Devine (financial consulting)

Megan is a senior (PC ’10) and this summer she lived in Chicago while interning for Huron Consulting Group, a financial consulting firm whose clients include UW-Madison. Her personal client was Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., so Megan flew out there every Monday and comes back to Chicago on Thursday nights.

While the travel is tiring, working at the client site makes it easier for Megan to give them the assistance that they needed to become more efficient.

Along with other projects, the interns also participated in a case competition that they presented at the end of the program. One of the best parts of the company was that the higher management was eager to get to know the interns. The CEO and CFO joined them when they went to a Cubs game and even took them all out afterwards!

This internship gave Megan the opportunity to do actual consulting work and see if it’s what she wants to do after graduation.

Advice: Never hesitate to take on an extra project that might get you noticed by higher-ups. They really pay attention to employees that are willing to put in time to do more than what’s required of them. Networking truly is key. Talk to everyone you can and ask them about their work. They’ll be more likely to get you involved in their area in the future if they know that you’re genuinely interested.

Amanda Ulrey (engineering)

This summer senior Amanda Ulrey (PC ’09) interned for Procter & Gamble Tambrands. She worked as a Process Engineering Intern in the Pearl Operations division in Auburn, Maine. She worked on four main projects that are all very different which made her internship really interesting.

All of the projects given to her were very open-ended and did not have a clear solution, so it was fun to work through the problems and try different solutions. Amanda said working at such a large company has really taught her the importance of networking. Meeting and working with others has been very beneficial to her projects because she was getting multiple perspectives. Along with networking Amanda has discovered the importance of asking a multitude of questions to everyone she meets when working on a project. 

Check out our latest version of “The Ivy Linker!” It’s a newsletter we put together to let each other know what we’re all up to during the summer. Fun!

Hello everyone! Just a quick update: we’ve recently developed a new chapter website with the company Vertex. Check it out here: http://alphaphiwisconsin.com/

On March 3rd, we had our fondue dinner alumnae night! Alumnae from schools like UW-Lacrosse, Minnesota and right here at UW-Madison came to our house for food and fun! We all had some great conversations, and the alumnae had the opportunity to share some memories from their time in Alpha Phi. It was a great night overall, special thanks to everyone who organized this event and helped put it together!

Photographs by Olivia Giglia

This semester has been a lot of fun so far, and we’ve just started! Recently our Vice Presidents and President went to Alpha Phi’s North Central Midwest conference in Dearborn, Michigan. While there they learned about all things A Phi to help our chapter continue to grow! 

Since returning from break, we’ve also had a social and two sisterhoods! We hung out at the house for a fun sleepover and celebrated Valentine’s Day together with some sweet treats!

While the outcome of the 2012 Rose Bowl wasn’t in our favor, the women of Iota still had a great time in the beautiful, sunny California! The weather was nice all week long and there are few better places to ring in the New Year than the city of Los Angeles. Between shopping, tailgating, sightseeing, the Rose Parade, and enjoying the local fare (In-N-Out Burger!) the ladies of Iota had a fabulous time invading the west coast!

By: Alex Claiborne, photos by Kristin Waymire, Jamie Black, and Mia Hanekamp

It’s game time! Let’s show ‘em how we do it! #gameon #OnWisconsin