Thank you Julia!

PRISM thanks outgoing CMO Julia Palumbo for her hard work, dedication, leadership, and friendship during the 2021-2022 year.

As PRISMites prepare for the upcoming year and senior PRISMites prepare themselves for their jobs ahead, all are left with the bittersweet task of saying goodbye to Chief Marketing Officer, Julia Palumbo. Palumbo has made a lasting impact on PRISM and every member, making the 2021-2022 year majorly successful and memorable. 

Palumbo is leaving behind a long list of accomplishments that helped shape PRISM into the organization it has become today. Palumbo transferred to Virginia Tech her sophomore year of college, spotting PRISM through Virginia Tech as she researched various schools to apply to. After a quick glance over the website, Palumbo saw her future at Virginia Tech through the PRISM lens.

“PRISM was a large deciding factor in why I came to Virginia Tech. Then, once I came to Virginia Tech at the beginning of my sophomore year, I immediately wanted to get involved so I joined and became an analyst. Being in PRISM has absolutely helped to shape my college experience and I don’t think I would be who I am today without PRISM,”  Palumbo said. 

As a sophomore in PRISM, Palumbo was an analyst for OnwardNRV before moving on to be the driving force of action behind Pamplin Admissions as the account manager. Her leadership skills fostered successful campaigns, leading to Palumbo becoming the sole Chief Marketing Officer, managing PRISM with the help of Director of Business, junior Abby Stewart. Working together fostered a lifelong friendship between Stewart and Palumbo.

“Julia truly exemplified extraordinary leadership throughout her entire year as CMO. She is an unbelievable mentor and her dedication throughout the year has allowed PRISM to flourish into what it is. Having the opportunity to travel to Portland with her and the Digital Summit last fall was amazing and I’ve been lucky enough to have had her become one of my closest friends,” Stewart said.

During her time as CMO, Palumbo learned more about herself and colleagues than she could have imagined. While PRISM replicates a real-world agency, our fellow members transform from coworkers to close friends, and Palumbo notes the friendships made with every member of PRISM.

“Being CMO helped me grow into myself more. I feel like I learned how to be both a leader and a friend. Everyone in PRISM is both someone who I led and a friend, so being CMO forced me to learn how to be both a friend and a colleague,” Palumbo said. “Every single person is in PRISM for a reason, and one of my goals was to be a resource for PRISM members and push PRISMites to reach their full potential.”

Among her many goals for her time in PRISM, one that Palumbo feels she surpassed was improving the culture both inside and outside of PRISM. Despite challenges of COVID-19 that forced many events online and threatened to dampen culture, Palumbo was able to foster a positive and friendly work environment where all 60+ members were able to find their place. 

“My goals definitely changed throughout the year but I am so happy with how the year went. I felt like each time my goal changed or I set a short term goal, I was able to hit it! One of my main goals was improving the culture both inside and outside of PRISM and I think I was able to achieve that,” Palumbo said. 

As Palumbo strived ahead to meet each goal that she set, she was faced with challenges. With the mark of a great leader, Palumbo was able to overcome the challenges she faced and lead PRISM into one of its most successful years yet, playing a major role in signing many new clients, including National Settlement Services, Emisshield, and VT Mechanical Engineering. On top of her amazing work in PRISM, Palumbo was also able to win the Pamplin 2022 Caught in the Act of Leadership award.

There’s a long list of incredible moments for Palumbo to look back on with gratitude, but her best memories from PRISM will come from the people.

“I have so many amazing memories from this year. I would say my favorite memory is getting to know so many people. I’ll say it again and again, but my favorite part of PRISM is the people. I feel like I am both coworkers and friends with every person in PRISM and for a different reason. It’s what has made this experience so memorable. My favorite experience, though, is probably New York. I had never been to New York before and it was such an amazing trip. The group of people who went made it even more special and I’m so thankful for the experience.”

After graduation, Palumbo will be working for the Martin Agency in Richmond, VA. 

Palumbo’s extraordinary leadership and years of dedication has improved PRISM in immeasurable ways. From everyone in PRISM: Thank you, Julia, for not only being a powerful leader, but for being a great friend and colleague. We cannot wait to see what you do next and wish you the best of luck as you begin the next chapter of your life.

Two Sides of the PCPH Coin

Among PRISM’s list of clients is Promote Care, Prevent Harm, or PCPH for short, and senior Pierina Galvez has had the honor of working with this non-profit organization for the last year. PCPH runs workshops targeted towards both students and adults to help them learn how to deal with problems in both their lives and the workplace. The name plays on their methodology to help clients; one works to promote care, and the other is to prevent harm.

“PCPH stands for Promote Care and Prevent Harm. It basically stands for having this view from two sides of the coin; one is the positive and promoting care, like targeting the problem based on the promoting care aspect. The other one is by preventing harm. That’s why there’s both sides in the name, and we give these workshops about how to deal with problems and understand which side of that coin [the clients] are on,” Galvez said. 

A senior majoring in graphic design with a minor in marketing, Galvez was the perfect PRISMite to help run the PCPH account. Her time working with client Shane McCarty has allowed her to utilize her design background while getting a dose of marketing management experience. Soon after being on-boarded as the new Account Manager for PCPH, Galvez was offered a summer internship with them.

First on the list was to redesign PCPH’s logo. Originally a shield with a peace sign in the middle, Galvez saw the opportunity to better convey their methodology through the logo design. With a keen eye for strategy opportunities through different design methods, Galvez saw the chance to incorporate the PC and the PH into the logo to portray their theory behind the organization and capitalize on both sides of the PCPH coin.

“[The logo] changed a lot, but their new logo has a much clearer strategy in terms of concept,” Galvez said. 

McCarty was very open to the ideas Galvez brought to the table and was beyond impressed with the changes she made. 

“Shane is willing to help with anything and help you complete your goals. He’s very flexible and is always open to our ideas. He’s able to understand why things work and why some things don’t in terms of design. There are some people that are very particular about what design they want with little reasoning behind it and will disagree with the designer's opinions, but Shane is very open-minded on that aspect and understands the designer’s marketing perspective,” Galvez said.

Alongside the logo redesign, Galvez set to work on creating a new website for PCPH, created an annual report, and assisted in a postcard campaign to encourage donations through a QR code. Their efforts were rewarded with donations, including some who donate vast amounts monthly. 

As for the future of PCPH, Galvez notes that the main focus is on social media and creating content. 

“First, we need to nail what the objective of a campaign is and what their main goal is. We already built out the website, so now the information is more accessible and easier to understand. Everything is much more cohesive now, so we now have a channel to make conversions, so now we need to focus on social media to take people to the website. From there, we need to create their overarching goal and make sure we target the right audience,” Galvez said. 

Galvez appreciates the time she got to spend working with this non-profit organization through both PRISM and her summer internship. 

Simply The Best Scholarship Press Release

BLACKSBURG, Va.— To thank PRISM for its phenomenal work, the outstanding students that run it, and amazing advisor Donna Wertalik, distinguished Virginia Tech alumni James “Jim” Hatch has pledged $25,000 in scholarships to be awarded to the most deserving PRISM members over the course of five years.

“I have had the opportunity to observe the amazing work of the student run PRISM marketing team. Everything produced by this wonderful group of students is professional grade material. The opportunity for students to be a part of PRISM represents the best experiential learning opportunity at Virginia Tech,” said Hatch. 

The scholarship will be known as “Simply the Best,” or “STB” for short. Simply the Best, named after a Tina Turner song as Hatch noted, exemplifies those PRISMITE’s who go beyond the threshold of greatness and show outstanding leadership and dedication to the future of the Pamplin College of Business. This award recognizes members who are extraordinary in their efforts to increase awareness and support of the Global Business and Analytics Complex.

PRISM Chief Marketing Officer Julia Palumbo said, “We feel so thankful to Mr. Hatch for creating the Simply The Best Scholarship. It is such an honor to have this scholarship available to PRISM members.”

Simply the Best recognizes up to two undergraduate PRISM students per year, awarding both with a generous scholarship of $2,500. All undergraduate PRISM members with a GPA of 3.0 or higher are eligible for the scholarship and are encouraged to engage and spread awareness about this new award.

“Without Jim Hatch, who is making all of this possible, we would be lost. This truly reflects the experiential and applied impact of our programs in the college and department,” Donna Wertalik, Founder and Advisor of PRISM, said.

Hatch himself has pledged $25,000 towards this scholarship with a goal of raising a total of at least $100,000 to establish a permanent scholarship for the future of PRISM. Hatch looks forward to other alumni and friends to join him in recognizing and celebrating the great work of PRISM through this scholarship.

“All students who are part of the PRISM team are exceptional,” Hatch said, “but I think that it would be appropriate to, each year, recognize the best of the best.” 

PRISM recognizes how powerful this innovative concept is and thanks Mr. Hatch for his generosity. This scholarship will further motivate PRISM members to apply their real-world digital knowledge and data insights to drive impact and support for the future of the Pamplin College of Business.