Students

Analyzing Data, Mock Selling, and Dancing

Priyanka Eluri

Product Manager, Fundrise

Class of 2020
BBA in Marketing - Global Marketing Management

Member Of: Lambda Sigma National Honor Society, Lubin Sales Team, Pace Shakti Bollywood Dance Team

Meet Priyanka Eluri, a global marketing management student who doesn't take student involvement opportunities for granted. In her sophomore year, she became the Vice President of the Lambda Sigma National Honor Society. For the past two years she has been the Co-Capitan of Pace's Shakti Bollywood Dance Team, and this year she became a member of the Lubin Sales Team. Additionally, Priyanka has a passion for travel. She studied abroad in the United Kingdom and took that opportunity to start a travel blog. We talked to Priyanka about her experiences as a student leader and her internships doing research for Discovery Inc. and CNN.

Why did you choose Pace University and the Lubin School of Business?

I chose Pace University and the Lubin School of Business because of the vast opportunities available to students. Out of all the universities I visited during my college search, Pace was the one school that stood out to me because of how focused they were on getting their students prepped for post-grad success since Day 1. As graduation is nearing, I look back at the past years and immediately think of how lucky I am for all of the opportunities I have been given here, from being able to represent the Lubin School of Business in a national competition to studying abroad in the United Kingdom. Choosing to attend Pace is one of the best decisions I have ever made and it has set me up for success in so many ways.

You are interning at CNN this semester and have done five other internships. What have you learned at those internships and how will you apply what you learned to the rest of your career?

I started my internship journey in marketing, transitioned into sales strategy, and eventually found myself in the research and analytics space, which is what I have been pursuing for the past year at Discovery Inc. and currently at CNN. I think the most important skill that I have learned through these experiences is being able to adapt to different environments. Most internships tend to be only 10-12 weeks. On top of adjusting to a new role within this timeframe, you meet and work with so many different people — each one with a different work ethic and personality. I have found that being adaptable has helped me make new connections and succeed in my positions. Overall, I will inevitably have to adapt throughout my career, whether while working with new people or stepping out of my comfort zone in general. I am happy that I developed this skill early on and I look forward to refining it even more and putting it into action in the “real world.”

Do you have any advice for other Lubin students looking for internships?

The most beneficial advice I can give to other Lubin students looking for internships is to not get discouraged and to find the strength to keep going until you land that offer. More often than we would all like to admit, we find rejections in our inboxes and they can easily discourage us. Instead of letting a rejection get you down, use it as motivation to keep on applying; work even harder on those applications. Another piece of advice I can offer is to find and establish your differentiating factor and use it to your advantage while interviewing. Hiring managers interview so many candidates, but you want them to remember you not just as part of a group of candidates, but as an individual!

The best thing about being a part of teams in general is that you get to work with other students who have the same interests as you. Overall, these organizations have helped me expand my creative boundaries, develop my teamwork skills, and enhance my communication skills; these three things combined will definitely help me on my journey to becoming a well-rounded professional.

What motivates you to work hard?

Rather than starting off with what motivates me to work hard, I would like to talk about who motivates me to work hard. My mother, father, and older sister are the three people in my life who I have constantly looked up to. My parents came to this country from India 28 years ago. They tirelessly worked, studied, and assimilated to life in a new country all while building a better life for our family—and that is something that I am eternally thankful for. Through the ups and downs, my parents always kept persevering and showing us that anything is possible with hard work. My sister has always been a role model to me throughout my life, whether it was witnessing her walk across the stage at her college graduation when I was only fourteen-years-old or watching her take the entrepreneurial world by storm in her career now. All of this being said, what motivates me to work hard is the hope that one day I can make my parents and sister as proud of me as I am of them.

You are co-captain of Pace's Shakti Dance Group and a part of the Lubin Sales Team, tell us a bit about these extra-curricular experiences and how they can help you become a well-rounded professional.

Shakti is Pace University's competitive Bollywood fusion dance team. We compete all over the tri-state area against other colleges during the Fall and Spring semesters. I love being able to pursue my passion for Bollywood dance and keep my South Asian heritage alive while at Pace. The Lubin Sales Team is another competitive team that focuses on developing students' professional selling skills and putting them to use in competitions against other universities around the nation. I recently traveled to Bryant University in Rhode Island and proudly represented Pace University as a finalist at the Northeast Intercollegiate Sales Competition.