Minerva Roca fell in love with digital marketing when she took a capstone course at Miami Dade College last spring.
Five months later, she joined the Student Operated Digital Agency—originally a pilot program at the Business Innovation & Technology Center at Wolfson Campus—that allows students to gain real-world marketing experience.
For the past eight months Roca and six other students assisted Dinerazo, a local finance and education startup, to meet their marketing goals. The cohort, made up of finance, digital arts and business majors, provided branding and social media advertisement strategies for the company.
“SODA allowed me to go from a designer that barely knew how to introduce herself correctly to a creative director that confidently speaks about her knowledge,” said Melany Rodriguez, who serves as SODA’s creative director.
On Oct. 13, the BIT Center officially inaugurated SODA during a celebration at the Downtown campus.
The next cohort is expected to include 24 students. They will work with local businesses selected from a pool of eight applicants.
The agency arms students with marketing tools so they can gauge the digital footprint of companies to tackle marketing and business challenges. Participants will earn certifications in Hootsuite, HubSpot and Google.
“We’re here for clients to reach their marketing goal[s],” said Maximiliano Ramirez, the manager of the BIT Center.
Ramirez, who is also an adjunct marketing professor at MDC, serves as the group’s main faculty advisor. His experience includes working as a digital marketing sales specialist at CBS and several ad agencies in New York City.
The pilot program’s team will provide mentorship and guidance to the rising SODA cohort. Recruits will also receive support from companies such as Google, Facebook and Dave & Cooper Advertisement.
Student’s interested in joining SODA can visit the agency’s website and fill out a Google form application. Some applicants have experience while others have never ventured into the field.
Participants can work a maximum of five hours per week on projects. They will meet on Zoom for client or brainstorming sessions and use Room 2103 at the BIT Center.
While the program is in its infancy, it eventually hopes to have dedicated spaces throughout all eight MDC campuses.
“I think [it’s] the perfect formula for our students to succeed in their life and that’s really what we want to help them with,” said Chechu Lasheras, the BIT Center director.
