September 14, 2022
In turn with Binta Touray
During the summer break, senior Binta Touray of Raleigh interned with Fresh, a personal care product manufacturing company. She is a self-described creative with a knack for “aesthetics and design.” The current Adobe Student Ambassador and ECU American Marketing Association president recently spoke with us about her stint at Fresh and how the College of Business helped her prepare for it.
How did the Cunanan Center for Professional Success help prepare you for your internship search? By keeping up with job postings throughout my years at ECU, I saw what companies were looking for in marketing students. I got to evaluate opportunities and work on my strengths and weaknesses as I prepared for my internship search.
What were your responsibilities during your internship?
I took a deep dive into the recent sustainability trends across luxury and prestige brands with a focus on refillable and rechargeables across skincare, fragrance, body, and lip care products. I learned about sustainability in the luxury beauty market by identifying how key top brands have started to tap into refillability across categories. I provided a competitive analysis to understand how brands have evolved sustainable practices through competitors’ features, market share, pricing, marketing, differentiators, strengths, weaknesses, open-sell, culture and customer reviews.
How did you apply what you learned in BUSI 1200, BUSI 2200, BUSI 3200, or BUSI 4200 to your internship?
These classes have allowed me to learn about my professional work ethic, the skills that came naturally to me, and what skills I can develop. I learned to be confident in my qualities and grow into a leader who works alongside people.
What was the most challenging thing you experienced during your internship, and how did what you learned in the COB help you overcome it?
I had to work on how to be strategic and how to take my work a step further. Being able to think not only from a local perspective but also how to develop sustainability tactics on a global scale, as luxury beauty is so diverse, having an open mind is key! I overcame this by not being afraid to ask questions and do research to weigh out options and ideas.
How have you applied what you learned in your classwork to this position?
Taking classes such as Writing for Business, Marketing Management, Strategy First, Cultural Environment of International Business, etc, introduced me to the business world on a more baseline level. I was able to enter the workforce with the background knowledge of key concepts used in marketing and business in an organization.
What has this internship taught you about responsibility?
I’ve learned how to be flexible and structure my working time to benefit a team, whether that means I start working on a project earlier than I need to or continuously reconnect with my co-workers to make sure they are in the loop with the work to be done.
Why would you recommend a business student take advantage of the Cunanan Center for Professional Success resources?
This is a free College of Business resource. Having your college support you is how you can make your transition from a student to a full-time employee easier!