A University of Lynchburg senior is getting real-world experience by working on the marketing team at Bank of the James, a Lynchburg, Virginia-based bank with branches across Central and Southwest Virginia.
When Maren Howard ’25 started working at BOTJ last spring, it was to satisfy an internship requirement for her major, art with a graphic design emphasis.
She was looking for internships via the University’s website last winter and saw one at Bank of the James. She emailed BOTJ’s vice president of public relations, Jimmy Davis, and senior VP of marketing and culture, Lisa Taylor, and was excited to get a quick response.
When she returned to campus after winter break, she interviewed with Davis. It went well. “It was supposed to be a summer internship, but I started in March,” Howard, of Wilmington, North Carolina, said. “I’ve been there since March and I’m planning to be there until [next] May.”
Over the past seven months, Howard has promoted the bank on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. She uses her graphic design skills to make flyers, posters, handouts, mailers, and other printed materials.
Along the way, her internship turned into a paid position.
Davis describes Howard as “a respected part of our team,” adding, “She is efficient and resourceful. She also brings a much-needed student perspective. She has completely rebuilt our social media communications.
“We went from a few posts each month to multiple weekly posts that include employee profiles, nonprofit profiles, bank products, cyber security, 25th-anniversary promotions, student banking promotions, and much more. She handles photos, videos, editing, scheduling, etc.”
Taylor says Howard is “positive, eager to learn, willing to try anything,” and “a real problem-solver.”
“If we’re not sure whether a certain strategy can be deployed via social [media], even from the technology side, she will do her own research and come up with a solution,” Taylor said. “We really value self-starters and innovation — she is both for us!
“While she has worked with Jimmy on social media, I’ve utilized her skills more on the design side — print ads, digital ads, marketing handouts, etc. She understood our brand very quickly and her work products have been excellent.
“This particular skill set has been a boon for our budget as well, as we have been able to keep some of this design work in-house.”
Taylor praised Howard for her “integrity and reliability” and said, “a lot of our bank colleagues, who haven’t actually worked directly with her, have commented on what a fun addition she is to our team.
“In my experience, Maren has also been efficient with turnaround time, which has been just great from our end.”
Howard said she’s learned a lot from Davis and Taylor, calling them “pretty much my main advisors” and “super helpful.”
“They integrated me seamlessly into the whole thing,” she said. “It’s cool working with them because they know a lot about marketing and the bank and the community in general.”
Howard also has learned a lot about the city of Lynchburg, something she didn’t have much time for in her first three years of college. “Being with the bank, I’ve [helped] a lot with their partners and community efforts and learned a lot about what we have around here,” she said, adding that she’s also helped promote the bank at events like the annual Virginia 10-miler.
“It’s been really helpful. It’s nice to know … that they’re partnering with a lot of programs and businesses. … I just like going to events like that and seeing how it works. It’s really cool and it’s good for what my career will be.”
As for what she’ll do after graduating next spring, Howard said she’s “been thinking about that a lot.” She likes the idea of working for a small business and she’s interested in art. “Good branding in a small business makes it a lot more successful and I want to help with that,” she said. “And working for cool companies in general, like a museum, would be cool.”
Wherever she lands after graduation, Howard is confident her experience at BOTJ has been worthwhile. “I think it will give me a good step into the business side of things,” she said.
“I have experience with the software and the design aspects of stuff, but actually being in person and with clients or with coworkers and having that experience is going to be really helpful for getting a job and being in a job in general.”
