Designed for Action: Sophomore International Business Major Completes Summer Internship with Local York College Alumni Start-up

At York College, students aren’t just reading textbooks and listening to lectures. They’re working on community projects, solving real-world problems, and using their education to effect change. In Designed for Action, we meet the students who are making an impact outside of the classroom.

York College alumni know how to give back to current students and the local community.

That’s what Blanca Zepeda ’26 experienced when she worked for BeeCentral Technology, a local smart home technology start-up founded and run by York College alumni Alexander Louderback ’21, John Gallo ’20, and Taylor Bull ’21.

The sophomore International Business major worked as a marketing intern for the company for two months this past summer. During the internship, she scheduled posts for the company’s social media accounts, and researched legalities, other markets and competitor companies, comparing them to BeeCentral Technology.

The internship

Blanca was looking for a summer job during the Spring 2023 semester. One day, during her Principles of Management class, a guest speaker from Career Development offered some advice.

“She told us, ‘Instead of getting yourself a job this summer, get an internship,’ ” Blanca recalls. “Which is exactly what I did.”

She found out about the internship on Handshake (formerly Spartan Career Path), applied, got accepted, and the rest is history.

When it came time for Blanca to schedule social media posts, she developed a specific process for finding the right information to include. During her research, she was even able to find a new potential market for the company to explore.

“I mainly focused on finding different articles that covered relevant topics that related to BeeCentral. For example, any improvements in home care technology, statistics of seniors that want to remain independent, etc., which is what BeeCentral focused on,” she explains. “With my research I discovered a lot of new technologies that are currently in the process of being made to help seniors with health care, safety, etc. There is definitely a market and audience that is looking for these services.”

The internship was perfect for someone like Blanca, who “loves” social media.

“I have always liked social media. Being able to contribute was fun, and I was able to learn more about the topic,” she adds.

Building from the ground up

Thanks to her business and marketing classes at YCP, Blanca felt prepared for this internship.

“In my Principles of Marketing class for my fall semester, I had a project where I had to create a buyer persona for a product. And during my internship I was tasked with doing a buyer persona analysis of the people in BeeCentral’s market,” she says. “With what I learned during my Marketing class, I was able to use my education and apply it to a real business situation.”

Blanca isn’t quite sure what she wants to do after graduation yet, but she knows she wants to be involved in the business sector and travel, she says.

“At the moment I’m not very sure about what I want to do after graduation. I know someday I wish to own a business and travel abroad. I am very thankful to Alex and John for giving me this opportunity to grow my skills and get experience in the real world.”