My UShadow Experience at Univision

By Tiffany Kerr, UShadow Participant

This semester I was accepted into the UShadow Program which is a very unique program that matches you with a professional in the career of your interest. I was very excited when I got accepted, because I am interested in many different things and wasn’t sure if it was even possible to match me. I am currently a junior at University of Miami studying Advertising with a minor in Latin American Studies and Entrepreneurship. In the future I plan to go to grad school to get an MBA. When I received the email that I was paired up with Silvina, the manager of programming research at Univision, I was very surprised that I was given the opportunity to shadow a professional at a location that was related to all my interests.

I was introduced to Leidys, the senior programming research specialist at Univision, who coordinated the time and date for my visit to Univision. Leidys stayed in touch with me through email until it was the day of my visit. I could immediately sense I was going to love my experience at Univision before I even visited. The day of my visit to Univision, the first person I met was Leidys. I walked through that glass door and entered a world I could not imagine. The first floor was lightly dimmed and there were televisions everywhere and people working at their stations. Programming research was on the second floor and from there I was introduced to Michael, the programming research specialist, and Silvina.

My day started with Michael showing me a PowerPoint about what programming research is and what they do. I asked a lot of questions and learned something new. The company uses Nielsen, which I have heard a lot about while studying Advertising, and Michael showed me examples of what Nielsen does for programming research. After the PowerPoint session, I sat in on a meeting and the programming research team discussed ratings. Then, I was given a tour of Univision and visited different departments such as Advertising, Radio, and Fusion. I was introduced to a University of Miami alum that worked at Fusion and he joined us for lunch later on as well.

During lunch we all sat together and I got to know everyone a little more. Silvina went to the University of Miami for a semester for the study abroad program and is from Argentina. I mentioned to her how I love to travel and told her about my experience with doing a service trip to Guatemala with the University of Miami. She was very familiar with that trip and we ended up talking about the next places we would both love to visit. Michael, the University alum, and I talked about finals, video games, and they gave me advice on what classes I should take next semester that would help me in the job market. Leidys and I talked about her career and how she loves her job.  I mentioned how I was still trying to find my career path but my experience here is giving me ideas of what I would like to pursue.

After lunch I was introduced to producers in a conference room and sat in on their meeting. They talked about shows and what can be done to improve them. I met with the advertising team who showed me a new view on how advertising works. The team is very innovative and the content they create is unique. I learned about different ways to create ads and that when advertising to a certain demographic, the right spokesperson is important. I met a professional who helps create and designs the apps and I got a chance to look at some new work in development. My day ended with exchanging contact information with everyone and an invite back for another shadow day. I had a wonderful time at Univision and I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity. I learned a lot and the experience was incredible.