By Marya BarlowWhen Consortium Media needed to research audience development for TOArts, a nonprofit supporting the three resident performing arts companies at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center, they found a perfect partner in CSUCI’s student-run business solutions agency, CI Solutions.
“Working with the CI Solutions team was a great solution and so very much fun,” said Denise Bean-White, President and CEO of Consortium Media, a Ventura/Bay area-based brand development and PR firm. “For projects that need to be extremely cost effective, this is a great route. I enjoyed working with them and will do so again.”
CI Solutions provides students of all majors with opportunities to work in paid positions on real-life business problems with small businesses and nonprofits. Students gain professional experience by tackling projects ranging from advertising and design to brand development, research, and web marketing. The student organization was founded in 2020 by Professor of Marketing Ekin Pehlivan, with support from the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics and the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Institute.
“This is the best thing I’ve done in my professional life,” said Pehlivan. “I thought we were going to build an experiential learning program for students to work with local employers. It turned organically into this vibrant student community that learns, creates, and hangs out together. This has been better than any teaching experience I could provide.”
To join CI Solutions, students must perform a marketing-related exercise that tests their ability to be self-driven learners. The CI Solutions team then brings the candidate in for an interview and makes a coordinated hiring decision.
“It doesn’t matter what major they are,” Pehlivan said. “We don’t look at resumes or CVs. They have to show a willingness to learn by doing and through trial and error.”
CI Solutions works regularly with Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV), a regional nonprofit that helps empower small business owners. They have collaborated on web marketing and also on evaluating business plans from candidates in WEV’s Emprendimiento program, which awards grants and training to Hispanic entrepreneurs.
“WEV chose to work with CI Solutions due to the students’ accessibility and the excellent value of their service,” said Ashley Goldstein, Associate Director of Business Training at WEV. “We would 100% recommend CI Solutions to other nonprofits and businesses.”
Students in CI Solutions build a professional portfolio of work that gives them a distinct advantage in the job market. Before graduating in 2023 with a degree in Business, Jesus Avila had participated in more than 17 client projects for CI Solutions. He now works as a teaching assistant for WEV, training small business owners in online marketing. He also continues to serve as an alumni mentor at CI Solutions.
“I’m doing work that’s very close to my heart because I’m helping the community,” Avila said. “CI Solutions helped me take my learning from theoretical to applied, by providing hands-on experience with clients. It was the best part of my education.”