Immediately after Commencement, Sami Bernstein ’17 loaded her car and set off for California.
The cross-country trip with Aubrey Cain ’17 took two weeks, but when they arrived in Venice, Calif., Bernstein knew she was home.
Now almost two years later, she’s sharing an apartment with one of her best friends in Venice off Abbot Kinney Boulevard within walking distance of her office, paying her own bills and living her best life.
“I’ve learned how to cook and keep a plant alive thanks to my roommate,” says Bernstein. “I’ve never met a stranger in Venice. I’ll stay here as long as I can. There are people here from all walks of life — from the guy who owns two shirts and has chosen to live outside to the CEO of Google. This is where I’ve decided to flourish.”
Bernstein is the director of influencer marketing for Markett, a marketing tech company her brother Franky Bernstein began after founding, then selling, another startup. Some of their clients include Sam’s Club, Airbnb, FanDuel, Lyft and Unilever.
“Everyone’s an influencer, but I work with lots of people with an extreme social media presence. These are people with a million-plus followers,” says Bernstein. “I’ve built a community of advocates who get rewarded for sharing why they love their favorite brands.”
The job requires being accessible almost around the clock because the company has social media influencers across the globe. Using computer analytics to track them and their success, then using those successes to attract new clients is what Bernstein does best.
Because of the influx of major technology firms, “Venice is known as Silicon Beach,” says Bernstein. “I’ve shaken important hands and made contacts with people who wouldn’t have accepted my LinkedIn request a year ago.”
Bernstein turned down water polo scholarships to join the Wofford community. She started out as a biology major before falling in love with the liberal arts.
“I majored in psychology but took classes like the philosophy of lying and women’s history. I traveled three of four Interims — to Australia and New Zealand, England and the Hawaiian Islands — and discovered a huge appreciation for the nonprofit sector during my summer internship with the Aspen Institute. Wofford helped me realize that I was going to be successful at whatever I decided to do.”
By Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89