Soph's Digest #4 (05/22/25)

Sophia
May 22
5 min read

Updated: May 23

We are back for the 4th edition of Soph’s Digest. Happy early summer and thank you for tuning in for a quick professional update (and mini life catch-up). I love hearing from old connections, colleagues, and professors, so I'll be excited to hear from you if you have advice, thoughts, or suggestions about anything I shared (or just want to say hi!) So let’s dive in...

TLDR

Internship Update: Joining Gap Inc. Brand Collabs team this summer!
Fall Plans: Studying abroad at University of Sydney + interning at Asta Resort.
DBRS: 5+ killer events this spring building big momentum.
Ask: Tips for excelling in a virtual internship?

Graditude Shoutouts

Huge thank you to Nancy Zimmerman, my Blue Devil Bridge mentor. A Fuqua alum, Nancy has been a steady source of guidance from helping me land and negotiate my summer internship to sharing sharp business insights and answering my (many) frantic texts with calm, thoughtful advice. She’s gone far beyond the scope of this mentorship program, and I’ve genuinely loved our conversations about the retail and consumer space.
Big shoutout to Fara Bakare, the energy behind the Anthos Consumer Lab. Since September, Fara has led our bi-weekly Zooms with clarity and passion, making every session engaging and insightful. At the recent ACL summit in LA, her leadership sparked amazing discussions on cult brands, due diligence, and celebrity-backed ventures. Thanks to her, ACL has been a standout experience—and under her wing, Jenny Duan and I won the Consumer Culture pitch competition, where we presented brand and business ideas with the theme "Activate: The Future of Active Lifestyles."

Asks

What are your best tips for thriving in a remote internship? I landed a dream role and chose the virtual option to spend summer with family, but I’m determined to stay sharp, build real connections, and go above and beyond. How did you bring energy to screen time, network meaningfully, or take on passion projects during slower moments? If you've done remote work (think: COVID days or now!), I’d love to hear what worked for you.

Work/School

Dream Internship at GAP Inc.: Back in March, I had less than 10 minutes on a quick call to impress GAP’s Global CMO. She had just landed from a flight and before hanging up, she asked for a strong follow-up presentation responding to her simple question, “What are 5 brands speaking to their customers well and why GAP?” Fast forward to last week, when I signed my summer offer to join her marketing team! Thanks to persistence and Faby’s incredible support, I’ll be on the brand collabs and special projects team. This role is everything I LOVE- merging brand identities, creating buzz-worthy campaigns, and tapping into new audiences. Can’t wait to share the recap highlights in my next Soph’s Digest!
DBRS Slam Dunk Semester: The Duke Business of Retail Society didn’t just have a great first year, we dominated as a fully recognized Duke student organization. My co-president and I have built this club like a high-growth startup, obsessing over every podcast, article, and TikTok to push DBRS forward. Between January and May 2025, we executed 5+ major events, including exclusive Q&As with top CMOs, a marketing case competition, and a Thrift Bazaar with local vendors, a female DJ, and big-name sponsors. We also produced two polished videos, a launch video (see here) I’d been vision boarding since last October, and a slick Uber commercial (see here) funded through my brand ambassador role. The success of DBRS this year can be attributed to a quote I have taken to heart: "A good leader is skilled at finding exceptional people who know the answers". To me, this reinforces the sentiment that biggest failure of a leader is ego. I stay the latest to clean up all events, I attend all meetings well prepared, I bring empathy to negotiation and interpersonal conflict, and I give power to team members with praise and creative synergizing.
Semester at University of Sydney: Counting down the days until I head to Sydney for a semester of exploring, traveling, and soaking up the Aussie vibe. I’m excited for courses that dive into Consumer Insights, International Business, and Sustainable Urban Development, all perfectly aligned with my passions and the local culture.
The Power of a Cold DM: Is a cold DM unprofessional or a tad invasive? Not in my world. In ninth grade, it got me a marketing consulting project for Clare V. During a chaotic Duke beach week, I nervously messaged Asta Resort’s founder on Instagram about a fall internship. Less than 24 hours later, I was on a Zoom call finalizing details to join as an intern for special marketing projects & brand partnerships. It’s a reassuring reminder to myself that a little boldness goes a long way!

Side Hustle Spotlight

Cross-University Consumer Think Tank: When an old high school peer from LA pitched a Duke x NYU retail partnership, I was intrigued but skeptical. How could NC and NYC schools co-create programming? Our first convo blew me away: a think tank for consumer-obsessed students from Duke, NYU, and Stanford to share insights, spot trends, and build deep networks. Excited to see where this goes! If you have ideas on making this a formal cross-university program, hit me up.
Personal Branding Experimentation: Annie Taube of Love Shack Fancy told a room of stylish Duke undergrads, “If you want to work in media, marketing, or fashion, you need a public social media presence.” That night, I revamped mine and am back making brand recommendations and product development content on TikTok. Check it out here!

Fails + Wins

2 “Failed” Businesses: As Director of Next Ventures, I launched two businesses this year, neither fully took off, but both taught me a ton. Devils Uncovered, my Duke tour guide startup, fizzled fast. Then came No Strings Attached, a formalwear resale page for Duke events. Our biggest win? A pop-up booth at the DBRS Thrift Bazaar outperformed all our online efforts. Sure, the ideas didn't scale, but it was valuable to see how what I thought were incredible ideas didn't always serve other people's needs.
DBRS Advisors Call: This month, we’re hosting our first-ever joint call with the DBRS Advisors, an impressive group of industry leaders (including two new additional alums, CMOs of LoveShackFancy and Casamigos) who’ve generously agreed to support our mission. Up until now, managing this group has been a bit of trial and error. Staying in touch, pulling insights, and actually applying their guidance has been a challenge. Right now, they’re mostly just names on our website, something that feels like a missed opportunity we’re ready to correct. As we prep for the call, I’d love any advice on how to make the most of 45 minutes with a group like this, whether it’s note-taking, setting expectations, asking great questions, or following up in a way that keeps the momentum going.

Current Reads & Listens

Let’s Get Dressed with Liv Perez: A trend focused, styling based fashion staple in my recent list
What Now with Trevor Noah: Each episode is characterized by radical candor, authentic back-and-forths, and honest reactions, all delivered with Trevor's signature playful and probing style
Hot Smart Rich: The name says it all. A podcast that balances the best business, self-help, and lifestyle conversations that will engage the Skinny Confidential audience (me).
Shepreneur on Instagram: For a fun consumer based business update to pop up in your feed!

Personal Updates

Justin (my older brother) graduated from the University of Miami!!!
My best friend and I saved up for the SZA and Kendrick Lamar concert to celebrate the first weekend of summer. It was MAGICAL.
The Palisades is nicely progressing through an intensive clean-up up and the PCH will be opening up soon. I am patiently looking forward to coastal drives to Malibu in the coming weeks (my happy place).
P.S. Ggiata is the BEST sandwich place in Los Angeles