About: Sam Arcieri

As our internships at Bravo Group near an end, I took the time to talk with Sam Arcieri, our intern in Wayne, to ask her about herself, her experience at Bravo, and her future plans.

Sam came to Bravo in September having just graduated from Penn State University with a degree in journalism and a minor in business. She was born and raised in Manahawkin, New Jersey. Her hobbies include spending time at the shore on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of Manahawkin Bay, watching New York Jets football, listening to Bruce Springsteen (with whom she is obsessed), watching the TV show “Girls,” and reading magazines. Sam’s favorite magazine is Marie Claire. She says its articles are relevant and interesting. Sam is also a bagel aficionado. She worked at bagel shops in Brielle and Point Pleasant, NJ on-and-off for six years while growing up and developed an extensive knowledge of bagels, as well as an admirable ability to butter bagels quickly. She informed me that egg bagels are really just plain bagels with food coloring, and that she can butter as many as 15 bagels per minute. Sam says that she is at times afraid to leave the New York-New Jersey area because the concentration of bagel shops is nowhere near as large anywhere else in the country. However, Sam says her dream job would involve traveling around the world.

Once Sam was finished blabbering about bagels, we finally got down to business. Here’s the gist of our conversation:

WD: Why did you want to intern at Bravo?

SA: Well, I went to a job fair in the spring and found out about Bravo there. I never had heard of Bravo before and I didn’t know anything about it. I talked to Brad [Cary] and he explained to me that Bravo was an advocacy firm that does public relations. I didn’t know anything about advocacy and I had never done PR before, so I wanted the internship because it was something new. The day after the fair, I emailed Jill Smith and asked her about an internship. She said there was nothing in the summer, but that there would be a fall internship, so when the time came, I applied and now I’m here.

WD: What skills did you develop and what new did you learn during your internship at Bravo?

SA: The main difference I noticed when I got here is that public relations is different from journalism. I learned how to pitch a story to reporters. It was hard at first—trying to sum a pitch up in 30 seconds to them over the phone—but the more I did it, the better I got. I was also here the day Bravo officially got Suttons & Robertsons as a new client. It was really cool watching that campaign develop—from talking about it, brainstorming ideas, and then finally putting things in motion. Lastly, another really great accomplishment was working on a conference call with the secretary of the Commonwealth. We set up the call and gave colleges across PA the opportunity to dial in and ask her questions about Voter ID. It was a great moment knowing that all the hard work we did prior to the election paid off and resulted in an opportunity to speak candidly with an important state official.

WD: What was your favorite part about coming to work every day?

SA: I’d have to say there are two things. Firstly, the people. Everyone here is so nice and helpful. Also, I really enjoy what I do at Bravo, so it makes it easy to come to work.

WD: Any funny or memorable stories from your experience at Bravo?

SA: Some of my favorite memories are from when the entire office would go to lunch together. It was so nice seeing everyone outside of the office and getting to know them on a personal level. I’ve also made countless trips with other employees to the bakery across the street, Elegance Café, for tea and scones and to the pizza place next door to our office, which is ironically called Bravo Pizza. The café seriously has the best blue berry scones in the world. I went there almost every day this week. The pizza at Bravo Pizza is some of the best I’ve ever had, too. The day everyone met in Harrisburg was my second day at Bravo and another one of my favorite days at work so far. Seeing everyone together gave me a good idea of the company atmosphere. Everyone was so relaxed and really funny. Working with Will and Minette was also really cool! I think it’s neat that we’re all going through the same internship on different sides of the state.

WD: What’s next for you?

SA: I have absolutely no idea. I’m trying to ignore the fact that this doesn’t last forever! I’m applying to everything everywhere it seems. I hope to find a job in PR, advocacy, or journalism—preferably PR—in either Philadelphia, New York City, New Jersey, or somewhere along the East Coast. I really want to live in a city. For the time being, I’m going to tell everyone that I’m networking. Anna Idler told me when I first got here that if you’re applying for a job, but you don’t have one currently, the best thing to tell people is that you’re busy networking. So that’s what I’m going to do.

WD: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us about your bagel fetish?

SA: OMG YES! Firstly, just to clarify, the place where I worked rolled and made their bagels by hand every morning. Places like that don’t exist in Pennsylvania, so I’ve become extremely snobby when it comes to all things bagel-related. Anyway, did you know that one bagel equals six slices of bread? I hope this isn’t true considering the amount of bagels I ate this summer…

WD: Okay, aside from bagels, do you have any last words?

SA: I can’t stress enough how much I really like everyone in the office and the company in general. It’s so refreshing to work in a place where you respect everyone and admire their talents.

Best of luck after Bravo, Sam! Stay cool and stay employed. You’re good at what you do!