Our Interns Never Give Up

As we head into fall, we're reminded of one of just one of the things that makes summer so great here at The Hub: our interns.
In fact, our interns make working here great year-round, because we ensure that there's space on our team for interns year-round. Why? Well, because of interns like Rachael Pignotti, who joined us at the beginning of the summer and will be with us part-time during the fall.

Meet Rachel, one of our talented interns.

Rachael's a student at Temple University, from which she'll graduate in December. Her major, International Business and Marketing, put her on our radar, but it was her interest in sustainability in business that made us perfect matches for each other. She's an officer in a student professional organization at Temple called Students for Responsible Business, and she happens to manage green event planning for the group.
"The first thing that attracted me to The Hub is that it's LEED certified," she says, referring to our silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
But Rachael quickly learned that Hub Sales Director Stephanie Koch and CEO John New wouldn't let her work with just the aspects of business that she was familiar with. They set her to work on a critical side of business she hadn't yet been familiar with: web sites and Internet outreach for our clients. "This is such a great place to grow," she says. "I've learned so much over the past months, and these are things I was always going to have to learn anyway."
Rachael also works in an area of The Hub that's more germane to her position at SRB: marketing promotions. "I’m learning how The Hub likes to brand themselves, and I combine that with my ideas, and it’s been turning out really well," she says.
Part of that success is Rachael's dogged pursuit of sustainability in the meetings and events industry. "We're adamant about green here at The Hub, and making it a part of our company, but I'd love to see more companies be more aware of choosing places that are sustainable, like The Hub. Sooner or later, the marketing of that is going to be beneficial, if not critical," she says.
While Rachael identifies with all five of our Core Values, the one that's closest to her heart is Never Give Up. "I'm incredibly stubborn," she says, "Mostly to myself. I've had some opportunities to opt out of projects that I'm unfamiliar with, and I think it's important to just keep on working."
We agree, Rachael. We'll miss you when you graduate, but we're so happy we got to meet you.
For more information on interning at The Hub, click here.

Hub Day: Meet Danarita

Our staff is so fabulous, we want everyone to get to know them. From time to time, we'll post staff profiles, so check in every once awhile and meet us.
Today we'd like you to meet once of our sales associates, Dana.

Dana is a Philly-area native, and a graduate of Temple University. It's her job to make sure that our clients, prospective and past, have everything they need to keep coming back to The Hub.
Her experience (she'll be with us for three years this coming August) and her personal passions make her perfect for what we need.
Right around the time we were opening, Dana took a class in meetings, and boy, are we glad she did.
We knew immediately we wanted her for our team. But how did we know that? After all, this is a girl who, in her spare time, dabbles in retail by helping out her friend Kristyn Rudnet at Philadelphia boutique Shimmer and Spice, and also helps out a wedding planner on the weekends.
The answer is simple. We knew because we wanted someone with such varied interests to work for our clients. We wanted someone who could think outside the box and regularly deliver great value in line with our company ethos of sustainability and quality.

This is a cardboard box. Dana's thoughts are never found here.

So we hired her on full-time after her stint as an intern, and we're happy we did. We asked Dana recently what her favorite part of working here is. She only had to think a little bit before she answered. "The fun clients. I really like it when we work with someone for a long period of time," she said. "It just gives you the feeling that they’re really happy with what we’re providing to them."
Dana has another favorite part of working here. She says she loves the challenge for finding solutions that work for our clients. "In this economic climate, it can be a struggle to stay profitable and make sure our value comes through,' she said. "All the time, we'll be on the phone to STARR Restaurants, our caterer, seeing what creative ways we can work in to satisfy both ends of the equation."
Dana's creativity and her willingness to explore different options have helped us to add even more value to our packages in ways you might not expect. Our superfoods shelf, crammed full of dark chocolate, fresh fruit, seeds and nuts, is proof positive of that, and so is the Wii station that we have set up at our Cira Centre location.

But all that is fodder for another post.
For now, we're happy you got to meet Dana, and we can't wait to see what other great ideas she's got up her sleeve to share with our clients.
Follow Dana on Twitter here, and check out the boutique she's been helping out with at Yelp here.