Rachel Venuti

After graduating from Barnard in 2008, I started a full time position at Ladies Who Launch as the Marketing and Ad Sales Coordinator. This position allowed me to hone my customer relation skills, become better acquainted with the use of power point as a pitching tool, and develop programming to support and strengthen the brand.

Unfortunately, things did not work out for Ladies Who Launch, but I used that opportunity to set off on another journey that took me around the world. I moved to Shanghai, China to teach English. I was presented with a whole new set of barriers I had to overcome.

Teaching to a classroom of 45 children, with whom I shared no common language, forced me to become creative in my presentation and improve my ability to engage an audience even in the most challenging of circumstances. I have become an effective communicator and through repetition, animated language, and interesting tools have been able to successfully get my message across.

While in China, I also worked on a project aimed to bring sustainable entrepreneurs to Shanghai for incubation and PR services. I designed an event experience for 800 attendees from Shanghai's top universities. This included all of the corresponding marketing collateral to attract partnerships, sponsors and participants. I also created a guerilla marketing strategy involving international competitions to generate buzz.

I strongly believe that all of these skills will prove useful in my future career.