NYU Club President Selected for Competitive Internship

September 1, 2008

During the summer of 2008, NYU China Care Club President Erica Swallow worked at her dream job as an intern for the leading New York advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Swallow landed the job by applying to Cosmo Girl Magazine to be part of its Project 2024 program.

“Erica completely stood out,” said Cosmo Girl’s Tara Roberts. “We were like ‘Wow!’ because her [application] went above and beyond.” Cosmo Girl started Project 2024 six years ago in an attempt to promote leadership among young women. The goal of the project is to put one of these hard-working young women in the White House by 2024.

During her internship, Swallow was given the task of combating a social issue through advertising. She decided to produce an ad for China Care. “I chose China Care because I wanted to build on something I was doing in my own life,” explained Swallow.

Growing up in Arkansas, Swallow had little contact with cultures outside of her own. When she arrived at New York University, however, she was quickly introduced to another culture by her Asian-American roommate, who had lived in both New Jersey and China. Swallow’s roommate convinced her to study abroad in China. After spending eight months there and seeing the orphan situation first-hand, Swallow felt compelled to help out. With her roommate, she started the NYU China Care Club.

At Saatchi, Swallow worked with a creative team to come up with her ad. On August 4, she presented the final product to a boardroom filled with onlookers, including fellow Project 2024 interns, Saatchi staff, NYU professors, Cosmo Girl representatives and China Care staff.

“Erica dove in head-first to really understand how we could make a difference to China Care through advertising,” said Amy Steptoe, Erica’s supervisor at Saatchi. As a result of her enthusiasm for China Care and her hard work during the internship, Erica helped spread the word that China Care can make a tremendous impact. “We were all really struck by the difference China Care can make,” said Steptoe. “The fact that $500 could really make a difference was very eye opening!”