2017 Internship at the Italian Trade Agency in New York and Choose New Jersey in Princeton

Montclair State student Emma Rush, a double major in Italian and Justice Studies, has recently completed the 2017 Internship in Italian Business. During the summer, Emma worked at the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in New York and during the winter-spring of 2018 she interned at Choose New Jersey (CNJ) in Princeton, NJ. The latter portion also included a business trip to Italy with meetings in major cities. The internship is part of a broader initiative linking the study of the Italian language and culture with the Made in Italy business sector.

At ITA Emma was put to work on a wide range of assignments such as contacting Italian designers for the Women Expo, writing the intro to the ITA catalog for the Fabric of Cultures Exhibit, as well as revising contracts and reports. “One of the most interesting projects I worked on was creating an introduction to a catalog regarding Italian Fabrics. The companies that were included in the catalog all emphasized sustainability and workers’ rights which tapped perfectly into my Major in Justice Studies.” Emma received praise from Ferdinando Gueli, Head of Information, Investments and Start Up, and Alessandro Greco, Emma’s direct supervisor and Head of the Fashion Sector at ITA: they both played a key role in the success of this internship as they fully understood the shared goals in this new collaborative initiative.

“In just two months at the Italian Trade Agency in New York, I have learned a lot more about the Italian culture, the language, and myself than I would have ever thought,” Emma stated in her final report. “The purpose of an internship is to work in an organization in order to gain professional experience and satisfy requirements for a qualification, which I did by looking over contracts, writing reports about retailers and introduction to catalogs, and working on economic profiles for states. But the true learning lies underneath the list of things I had to complete. There were emails, conversations, and a ton of research that all contributed to my growth as a professional and as a person.”

Thanks to this experience, Emma Rush gained more confidence with her skills in Italian and was able to bring them into her everyday life: “Working in an area like New York City gave me an opportunity to use what I learned inside the office and take it to the streets. I went to a few Italian restaurants with co-workers and wasn’t shy about speaking Italian and was able to negotiate the meaning of what I was trying to get across.”

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“The lessons taught at the Italian Program at Montclair State such as what Made in Italy signifies, Italy as a G-7 country, the sustainability movement, and the Italian culture in general, are enlightening material to give substance to the comprehension of the language,” Emma concluded. “All of these topics were covered within my time at ITA and CNJ in one fashion or another. Taking everything that I learned into consideration, I am most grateful for the opportunity to see what a degree in Italian is able to accomplish.”

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In the featured photo on top: Emma Rush (in the black dress), Francesca Maniscalco, Francesca Costa, Mariella Terminello and Claudia Schirripa of the Fashion Sector at ITA.

Photos on the bottom: Presentations and NJ stand as part of the CNJ Select USA seminars in Italy.

Photo credit: Emma Rush
See photo album