Alexis Ventre Interns at the Italian Trade Agency through 2019-20 Inserra Program

The Inserra Internship program continues to offer opportunities to gain professional expertise to students pursuing an Italian BA or a Language, Business, and Culture BA. Among this year’s recipients of a scholarship to support an internship was Alexis Ventre, who was assigned to ITA (Italian Trade Agency), the commercial branch of the Consulate General of Italy in New York City. Alexis is a major in Language, Business and Culture in Italian, with a dual minor (Anthropology and Pre-Law). On campus she also started serving as the President of the Italian Honor Society at MSU in Fall 2019.

Unfolding during the summer and winter breaks of the 2019-20 academic year, Alexis’ internship focused on the fashion industry. She worked under the supervision of the outgoing head of the fashion department, Alessandro Greco, and the newly appointed head, Paola Guida. Ventre’s main task for the first phase was a market research report on the denim industry in the US, touching upon its international influence. For the second phase, she worked on Italian footwear, its global impact, its distribution in the New York/New Jersey area, and the most influential brands among three consumer demographics (men, women and children). For both research projects she relied on the data and statistics available via Statista and Euromonitor, two databases that were accessible to her through ITA.

“This internship at ITA provided me with the experience of understanding the relationship and impact that Italian companies have in the U.S., specifically the NY/NJ area. I am grateful to have learned about the different industries that make up the Italian-American marketing and fashion sector and how they work, coexist and influence one another,” Alexis stated.

“The partnership with ITA, made possible by the Inserra internship program, is further strengthened every year. We find that by spending time in a Consular context, students are able to be exposed to tools, practices, and paces that are common in Italy, and that may differ from US environments, while being influenced by them. Part of the experience in bridging countries in business is that of bridging cultural habits, and ITA remains an ideal location for our students in this respect. We are grateful to the entire ITA team, and in particular Dott. Ferdinando Gueli, our liaison, for his commitment to this project,” Teresa Fiore (Inserra Chair, Montclair State University, and coordinator of the internship program).

“The Italian Trade Agency of New York has so far hosted three internships as part of our cooperation with MSU launched in 2017. MSU interns proved to be highly qualified both in language skills and marketing data management skills, so their contribution towards creating more business connections between Italy and US as well as to developing the knowledge of authentic Made in Italy products among US consumers has been remarkable, though limited in time. We really believe that this cooperation is based on a mutual advantage and we are glad to share similar views on what the Inserra Chair internship program is offering”, Ferdinando Gueli, Head of Administration and General Services Division (ITA).

See more information about the Inserra Internship program
See post about 2019-20 interns