Graduate-Run Agency Makes Marketing and Social Media Internship Click

At Emmanuel, connections come full circle when current students land internships with alumni who once walked the same halls. This series spotlights opportunities powered by our Saint-to-Saint network.

Nashville-based Social Hour Marketing Agency is owned and operated by Morgan Liska ’22, who was a Communications major and Writing, Editing and Publishing minor at Emmanuel. After graduating and spending a few years working at a marketing agency, Liska wanted to branch out and bet on herself, so she laid the groundwork by making connections and doing trade work. Now, Social Hour has officially taken off.

With the connection reaching all the way from Tennessee to Boston, Liska sought out a fellow Saint to support her business – which led to hiring rising senior Paige Zuverink ’26 as a summer intern.

“I could’ve found someone locally, but I was really drawn to giving a current student an internship opportunity – I went to Emmanuel immediately,” Liska said.

Zuverink, a Communications major just like Liska, has spent her summer so far working remotely for Social Hour, and has gotten full exposure to what it’s like building a business from scratch, working in a small, close-knit marketing agency and gaining experience in an industry she is passionate about.

The agency currently has five direct recurring clients, including one in Canton, Massachusetts, and offers content creation, social media management, email marketing and strategy for brands and events. 

When Liska decided she wanted to bring on an intern, she reached out to one of her former professors, Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies, Dr. Mark Flynn. She asked Dr. Flynn to recommend some of his students, since she knew from experience what they were studying and that they were primed with the knowledge they’d need to jump right into the marketing agency work.

“It was an example of Emmanuel practicing what they preach,” Liska said. “At the Career Center for example, they say ‘you can always come back.’ I kept that in mind!”

It’s always great to see alumni not only just succeeding, but seeing value in their Emmanuel experience, Dr. Flynn said, and that was clear in Liska’s decision to take on a fellow Saint as an intern.

“The idea of bringing theory and practice together is something we in the Communications department pride ourselves on – hearing that from Morgan is basically the best feedback I can get,” he added.

Zuverink has been able to put the knowledge she got from the classroom into practice. She's doing social media management, content creation, branding and more, while working directly with Liska throughout, allowing her to receive direct feedback and mentorship. That feedback is even more valuable, Zuverink said, coming from someone she can relate to so closely: a recent Emmanuel graduate with an identical academic journey to hers.

“It’s a totally ideal scenario working with Morgan,” Zuverink said, “seeing how she’s growing her personal brand and getting her advice…it’s really inspiring.” Now, Zuverink not only has a resource as she continues to work with Liska, but a mentor in the future, too. “Morgan’s going to be someone I can always lean on and go back to.”

That’s exactly what Liska hoped to provide for her fellow Saint – a truly beneficial internship that provides relevant experience, exposure and as many transferrable skills as possible to help translate into post-graduation opportunities.