Geneva Garcia: Marketing and Media Production Intern
Visit McMinnville formed in 2016 as a way to enhance McMinnville's economy by advocating and promoting tourism. Since their inception, the organization has proved to play a pivotal role in creating business for local wineries, restaurants, and stores. If you've followed them on any social media accounts or have seen their advertisements, you will recognize their vibrant use of imagery and color.
Geneva Garcia was brought on as a marketing and media intern for the summer of 2016. Her main role is creating content. From film, to photography, to cinemagraphs (a combination of film and photography that creates one moving part of a still picture) Geneva's skill behind the camera is being utilized by the local tourism team. A senior Cinema and Media Communications major at George Fox University, her view of McMinnville as a "cultural haven waiting to be discovered" and her visual storytelling passion create the perfect combination for this project.
By the end of her 9-week internship Geneva hopes to have a year's worth of material Visit McMinnville can take advantage of in their marketing campaigns. Though Visit McMinnville is benefiting from her visual eye, Geneva states that this internship creates opportunities for her as well: "With such a hands-on degree, the more you make things, and the more you think of creative ways to make those things and communicate what you want to get across, the better and more efficient you’ll become at it and the more you’ll grow." Her videos are already being enjoyed by people from McMinnville and beyond. After a week, the first video she produced, featuring Third Street Books, has more than 800 views.
In the end, Geneva and her mentors at Visit McMinnville, Kitri McGuire and Jeff Knapp, sync together in a creative form of excitement. Walking into the Visit McMinnville office you'll find comfortable furniture and natural lighting mixed with an open concept and area rugs. Geneva's desk fits in as her editing process entails music, a hot beverage, and "creative disarray." When she's not in the office, Geneva's favorite part of her internship is meeting people. When she goes to film in different locations, the relationships become the most important part: "When I’ve gone to places and I get to meet people and they’re really nice and they remember me that’s my favorite."
"With such a hands-on degree, the more you make things, and the more you think of creative ways to make those things and communicate what you want to get across, the better and more efficient you’ll become at it."
McMinnville as a "cultural haven waiting to be discovered" and her visual storytelling passion create the perfect combination for this project.
Geneva states that this internship creates opportunities for her as well: "With such a hands-on degree, the more you make things, and the more you think of creative ways to make those things and communicate what you want to get across, the better and more efficient you’ll become at it and the more you’ll grow." Her videos are already being enjoyed by people from McMinnville and beyond. After a week, the first video she produced, featuring Third Street Books, has more than 900 views.
In the end, Geneva and Visit McMinnville seem to sync together in a creative form of excitement. Geneva's favorite part of her internship is meeting people. When she goes to film in different locations, the relationships become the most important part: "When I’ve gone to places and I get to meet people and they’re really nice and they remember me, that’s my favorite."
By the end of her 9-week internship Geneva hopes to have a year's worth of visual content Visit McMinnville can take advantage of in their marketing campaigns. Though Visit McMinnville is benefiting from her visual eye, Geneva states that this internship creates opportunities for her as well: "With such a hands-on degree, the more you make things, and the more you think of creative ways to make those things and communicate what you want to get across, the better and more efficient you’ll become at it and the more you’ll grow."