The Pelham Civics and Junior League hosted a Careers in Marketing/Advertising Panel in partnership with the PMHS Guidance Department on November 17 in Alumni Hall. Students from grades 9-12 came to Alumni Hall to hear a variety of marketing professionals speak over Google Meet.

Among the panel were Kate Scappaticci, SVP, Operations of GroundTruth, Mary Kate McGrath, Chief Brand Officer of Gallery Media Group, and Jonathan Margolis, President and CEO of The Michael Alan Group (MAG). McGrath is an alumnus of PMHS and all three speakers have been members of the Pelham community. The speakers told students about their specific roles in their profession, and they spoke about general careers and the emerging marketing world.

“I wasn’t originally very interested in marketing, but I thought it was cool to hear about how they adapted and most of them were focused on social media and the internet,” junior Annika Halvorson said. “I didn’t know that there were companies who put things out on social media as a career.”

Scappaticci told students that advertising is a type of storytelling and is all about understanding audiences. Specifically, her profession uses location tracking to see the websites where people frequent and send them ads based on these categories. For example, if someone gets an ad on taco bell and visits taco bell after receiving that ad, that would be successful, and they would receive similar ads.

Beyond marketing advice, McGrath gave students advice for deciding on a career path. She urged students to not waste time on topics that aren’t natural and feel forced to them. She also encouraged them to explore an array of passions before they rush to pick a career.

These panels have been organized and hosted by the Pelham Civics for several years now, and have covered topics such as finance, environment and sustainability, along with software development. According to the Civics website, the goal of the panels is to “help students understand a range of career options as they begin thinking about college and the world beyond Pelham.” The next panel, applied finance, will be held in late January.