A Summer of SOUL

Nine weeks ago, we welcomed Nancy Dumitru, Gracie Glen, Aalika Bharti, and Grace Sturgill as summer interns—or, as we call them, our Soulmates. Over the course of the summer, they got an inside look at the SOUL of Pivot: our people, our culture, and the work we create together. Through hands-on, cross-functional experience, our Soulmates contributed fresh thinking and creativity to a wide range of client projects, including campaigns, product branding, internal engagement, launch support, and corporate identity.

A key focus of their internship was a capstone project built around a client brief modeled after the real-world work our teams do every day at Pivot. The challenge: develop an unbranded disease-state education (DSE) campaign for the fictional company SoulTherapeutics, designed to build trust and foster connection within the Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) community. This assignment reflected a challenge our clients frequently bring to us: How do you authentically engage and support a rare disease community while building meaningful trust?

Starting with a blank slate, the interns developed a brand identity from the ground up, refining their ideas through mock client reviews, iterative feedback, and internal collaboration. Their final campaign, Face It Together, centered on empowering individuals affected by FA through shared understanding and community. They brought the concept to life with a fully integrated campaign, including a logo, visual identity system, style tiles, social media content, a landing page, and a patient brochure.

Beyond the capstone, each Soulmate worked closely with a Pivot team member in their discipline. Our digital design intern, Nancy, partnered with Matt Roman, contributing to CRM, logo design, flyers, and signage. Aalika, our graphic design intern, teamed up with Emily Schumer on projects ranging from product launch celebrations and swag design to brand identity color palette exploration. Our copywriting intern, Gracie, collaborated with Lex Vadnais to develop and write copy across manifestos, social content, print deliverables, website content outlines, experiential placements, and brand naming. And Grace, our account intern, worked alongside Bianca Summerville, supporting client status calls, owning discovery and creative brief development for a pro bono project, and leading internal creative development for social media and newsletters. 

Our Soulmates’ creativity, fresh perspectives, and thoughtful ideas played a major role in our social media presence and event coordination this summer. They helped bring Pride Month to life across the office. From developing the creative vision and designing in-office signage to driving employee engagement and organizing our annual drag performance, they helped create a month-long celebration of Pride, acceptance, and belonging.

Nine weeks went quickly, but our Soulmates made their mark. They brought curiosity, creativity, new ideas, and plenty of SOUL to everything they touched—and we couldn’t be prouder of what they accomplished.

Thank you, Soulmates, for an incredible summer. We can’t wait to see where you bring your SOUL next.