By Will Wieters
Vanderbilt MMARK Class of 2026
Some internships come with cubicles, spreadsheets, and a silent countdown to lunchtime. Vanderbilt Business marketing students from the class of 2026 say their internships did not mirror those experiences. This summer, Vanderbilt’s Master of Marketing (MMARK) students found themselves sprinting across soccer stadiums, standing behind red carpets at CMA Fest, decoding oncology strategy sessions, presenting SEO research to B2B executives, and even running Instagram accounts for Vanderbilt leadership programs.
If there is one thing the Vanderbilt Master of Marketing Class of 2026 proved, it is that marketing is not exclusive to one industry. It lives everywhere. And they went everywhere.
Here is your 411 on who went where, what they actually did, and what they brought back to campus.
Sports: Inside the Pulse of Nashville Soccer Club
For Jordan Zak, an internship with Nashville Soccer Club meant stepping directly into the rhythm of match days. She supported fan fest activities, pub partner drops, performer thank-you notes, and shadowed the community engagement team. Jordan found the role on Teamwork Online and immediately learned that sports do not operate like other industries.
Her biggest surprise came quickly: “The hours in sports are very different.”
But those same hours also gave her some of her favorite moments. She described how welcoming her team was, and how much she enjoyed seeing “how many moving parts it takes to make a match day feel effortless.”
Music & Entertainment: Behind the Curtain at CMHOF
At the Country Music Hall of Fame, Lily Grace Thome spent her days learning how CMA Fest actually comes together. She assisted with red-carpet check-ins, coordinated artist interviews, and supported the communications team everywhere from media lists to live programming.
She joked about how unpredictable the mornings were, especially when people would ask if she wanted to meet an artist “at nine in the morning on a random Tuesday.”
What surprised her most was “the amount of work that goes into the museum, not just during CMA Fest but all over Nashville.”
Entertainment PR turned out to be fast, detailed, and full of moments she will always remember.
Healthcare: Marketing Where Clarity Matters
Ellie Smith spent her summer at Tennessee Oncology, where marketing looks less like splashy campaigns and more like careful, empathetic communication. Her work touched digital messaging, segmentation, and patient-facing content that had to strike the right tone every time.
Ellie explained how much the Vanderbilt MMARK curriculum helped her approach audience-specific messaging and how meaningful it felt to contribute to communication that genuinely helps people understand their care. Her internship shifted her understanding of strategy and made healthcare a path she could see herself continuing in.
B2B & Corporate: Strategy With Patience
At Endeavor Business Media, Ella Masterson found herself immersed in competitor research, SEO-driven writing, and preparing insights for leadership. Unlike the high-velocity marketing roles she had imagined, B2B work revealed a slower, more deliberate pace.
“I was surprised by how long corporate projects can take,” she reflected.
But she came to enjoy that pace. It gave her the room to build thoughtful analysis and see how her work contributed to bigger decision-making conversations inside the company.
Higher Education: Storytelling and Community at Vanderbilt
Working with Vanderbilt University’s Leadership Development Program, Donaji Tomas Baltazar stepped into a role focused on storytelling, relationship-building, and celebrating the program’s 20th anniversary. She conducted interviews, managed Instagram takeovers, created communications materials, and collaborated with executive coaches and staff.
She did not expect to find such a vibrant network in higher-ed marketing, reporting that she was “surprised by how many amazing people I met.”
Her summer showed her a version of marketing that is mission-driven and community-oriented.
Agency Life: Creative Momentum and Real Client Work
Maddie Joseph spent her summer inside an entertainment marketing agency, discovering firsthand how quickly creative projects move. She described the pace as “a fun challenge” and loved jumping between client needs, artist branding projects, and campaign development. The internship showed her how fluid, collaborative, and unpredictable agency work can be — and how rewarding it feels to see your creative ideas turn into something real.
Podcast Production: Bringing Audio Stories to Life
For Olivia Corsino, podcasting was the perfect intersection of storytelling and visual branding. She edited episodes, created show graphics, and helped build cohesive content from raw audio conversations. Her favorite part was watching an episode go from voice memo to finished product, realizing how much narrative control comes from editing, tone, and sound design. She left with a stronger sense of her creative instincts and how versatile marketing can be in nontraditional media.
Small Business Marketing: Independence and Ownership
Ava Edwards spent her internship with Modern Marine, where she had complete autonomy to manage projects, plan content, and explore different marketing channels. She valued the independence most, explaining how “choosing my own projects helped me figure out what I actually enjoy working on.” The role gave her a front-row seat to how marketing works when you are the team, not just part of one. It also showed her the impact of decision-making in a small business setting.
Each internship looked entirely different, but together they reflected how many directions a marketing degree can travel.
What Surprised Them
Ask the class what caught them off guard, and the answers don’t sound like bullet points being listed off. They sound like realizations. Jordan learned how unpredictable sports really are. Ella realized corporate timelines stretch longer than expected. Ellie realized the importance of intentional healthcare messaging. Maddie watched projects move from idea to execution faster than she thought possible. Lily Grace saw the massive behind-the-scenes work powering CMHOF. And Donaji found herself surrounded by far more people and relationships than she imagined.
The surprises weren’t about tasks themselves, but about how each environment actually feels when you’re the one doing the work.
What They Loved About Their Work
While the technical aspects of their internships were valuable, the students’ favorite moments were focused on the more human elements of their jobs. Jordan loved feeling part of the Nashville SC family on match days. Lily Grace admired the red carpets and the energy of live media. Ella enjoyed presenting research to leadership. Ellie thrived seeing strategy shape real patient experience. Donaji treasured the community she found. Ava cherished newfound independence. Olivia took pleasure in seeing creative work come to life. And Maddie took pleasure in the momentum of agency life.
The highlight was not just one moment. It was all of them layered together.
How the MMARK Curriculum Showed Up in Their Work
Students consistently named the same set of skills that appeared across their internships: segmentation, SEO, consumer behavior, presentation structure, hooks and calls to action, storytelling, visual branding, fast and clear writing, and audience analysis.
The Vanderbilt Master of Marketing curriculum provided them with the knowledge and skill set, while their internship experiences provided the necessary context and industry setting to apply these theories. Together, they gave each student the confidence to excel on their own path.