August 2, 2024
My Summer With Vive - Erin McAleenan
When I was told I needed to complete an internship before I could graduate with my bachelor’s degree in agriculture communications, I was uncertain about where I wanted to start or what area of agriculture I wanted to pursue. I come from a family deeply rooted in agriculture and have amassed so much passion for the industry. My experience had been primarily focused on livestock and business rather than crop science. New adventures welcome the opportunity for growth which ultimately led me to complete an internship with Vive.
Vive exceeded my expectations for a summer internship. In school, you think you are prepared for working in the agricultural field, with all the classes, research, and projects you dive into. Still, nothing allows you to excel more than working firsthand with the growers who keep our world fed and with a company dedicated to helping them.
Despite my role being mostly remote from my home in Loveland, Colorado, I still felt connected to growers and Vive team members all over the United States and Canada. My manager, Emily Roden and the rest of the Vive team guided my fellow intern Chloe and I through the intricacies of the crop protection industry while at the same time navigating the world of social media marketing. Crafting engaging social media posts through different graphics and videos that not only aligned with Vive's brand but resonated with growers and agriculturalists all over, was something I found myself jumping out of bed every morning excited to do. The complexity of designing posts that promoted Vive’s mission and products was equally challenging and rewarding. Developing a three-month social media calendar and creating each post was just one of the tasks that accelerated my understanding of how to blend marketing on social platforms with products that support farmers in bringing food to the table.
Of course, to understand a company's mission and reason behind their business it’s essential to understand who they are doing it for. Vive’s mission to use Precision Chemistry to produce real results is truly grower-focused. I had the opportunity to travel to the Red River Valley and collect three outstanding testimonials from growers dedicated to the real results they have found with Vive products. Hearing firsthand how Vive’s products have made a positive difference in their operation allowed me to grasp the importance of continuing to provide crop solutions that allow growers' operations to thrive. Sharing a laugh and a smile with Vive’s growers made me understand that marketing a product is so much more than reaching a large audience but rather connecting real growers with a company that cares about their operation and success like it’s their own.
There is truly no other industry like the agriculture industry. The Red River Farm Network Farm Tour allowed me to see this in even more detail. Getting to tour and talk to several different farming operations in the Red River Valley with other communications professionals opened my eyes even further to the importance of communication when advocating for and working with growers. Sitting in on a panel with farmers and other major agriculture companies allowed me to strategize ways that communications professionals can use tools like social media to be a voice and helping hand in the industry.
The passion I have for the agriculture industry in its entirety has grown exponentially throughout this intern experience. Working with Vive was so much more than an internship, it was an opportunity to see where my focus should be as not only a communications professional but as an advocate for agriculture. I can’t thank Emily and the rest of the Vive team enough for allowing me to be a small part of such an incredible company. My passion has grown from a spark to a full-on fire for growing as a communications professional in the agriculture industry. I am so thankful that Vive allowed me to not only join them this summer but to continue cultivating my knowledge and passion for ag a full-time member of the Vive team for the next few months. Stay tuned for more as my Vive journey continues onward. Happy Farming!
My Summer With Vive - Chloe Uhlenhake
At the age of three, I was given my first dairy calf to show at the local county fair. Though I was raised on a beef and row crop operation and watched my older siblings show, this calf was now my responsibility… and wow did I love her. As I aged, this love shifted to showing beef cattle and pigs which is what I continued to show until I aged out last summer. Through the agriculture community at my local county fair, I found my voice for agriculture and decided that agriculture communications was the perfect industry for me.
Vive has given me the opportunity to learn so much about social media and marketing, as well as what an amazing team they have. After my first week, part of my onboarding was meeting some particularly important people who are members of the Vive team. On my second day, I got to go to lunch with the Vice President of Marketing, Sara Zinck. As we got to know each other I knew right away Vive would be a great company to work for!
One of my favorite projects I did this summer consisted of testimonials in Wisconsin. I was able to gain knowledge about agriculture in my home state. One topic that was particularly new to me was potatoes. I never knew potatoes were grown in Wisconsin until I got to visit Beau Hartline from Alsum Potatoes. He taught me about the Colorado Potato Beetle pressure they face along with other pest struggles they have since a lot of bugs love the taste of potatoes. I then visited Chris Heckle, a corn grower from central Wisconsin. We talked about his struggles with rain that my corner of the state was not facing, so seeing the difference a little distance can make on the crop's outcome was eye-opening. After I finished visiting, I got to go back and listen to what they had to say as I edited their testimonials and learned about Adobe Premier Pro, a software I had never used before! I was able to turn their RAW testimonials into an enticing story Vive can use on their social channels, YouTube page, website, etc. This was such a great learning experience for me, and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity.
As I go back to school at the end of August to finish my degree I plan to go full-time next May with an agricultural company, hopefully working in marketing or communications! I will be able to use my new skills learned at Vive to work with videos and continue to share the stories of farmers across the world! I will also take the teamwork skills I gained from working with my fellow intern Erin McAleenan, and my mentor Emily Roden! They were both so easy to work with and offered me such a distinct perspective on agriculture and marketing.
I am so thankful to have spent this summer with this amazing company and cannot wait to follow along and see Vive grow! Thank you to the team and everyone who was involved in my journey this summer!