North Road Communications Grows Onward and Upward

The full North Road Communications firm poses outside the James A. Cannavino Library. Photo courtesy of Alexis Lee ‘24.

North Road Communications is striving to maintain a high quality of work after becoming one of the country’s largest student-run integrated marketing communications firms. 

With 97 members on the team, NRC provides public relations and advertising services to 19 different Hudson Valley clients. Their communications work affects not only the local community, but also the one at Marist, as it continues to grow with interested students and faculty.

“We were identified as the fourth largest student-run firm in the country and the largest student-run firm [at a school] with under 20,000 undergraduates,” said Senior Firm Director Alexis Lee ‘24. Becoming such a reputable firm is notable, but the real task lies in producing good work on a large scale.  

The firm is an appealing opportunity because of its educational opportunities. “We work with the School of Communication for an experiential learning course where students receive credit for doing work for our clients,” said Lee. “All of our work is completely pro-bono, which is how the firm was originally founded in 2011 as a capstone project.”

The combination of hands-on experience, school credit and non-profit firm experience makes the application process competitive.

“When we are recruiting, we look for people with really strong work ethic, enthusiasm, the need to collaborate, the want to collaborate and meet new people and someone who really strives for that hands-on experience,” said Sarah Marques ‘24, director of member relations and operations.

The application process also factors in prospective members’ previous experiences and how they would fit in with current clients, such as Meals on Wheels (Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie) and local educational nonprofit CultureConnect.

The firm has a higher female population — in line with the Marist community and PR industry — after receiving a higher percentage of applications from female students. NRC’s current leadership group is made up entirely of female members.

NRC Faculty Advisor Dr. Jennifer Robinette added that the firm is breaking the glass ceiling through its work. “The PR industry is overwhelmingly female, but the owners and leadership of PR agencies are predominantly male. With NRC, we are seeing the emergence of a new generation of female leaders in PR,” said Robinette.

According to Lee, NRC has three males in account executive leadership positions and 24 male members in total — a 46% increase from last fall.

“We have a lot of male account executives this year, and they all do amazing work,” said Marques. “We have had males in the past who’ve shown a lack of work ethic or professionalism… but we’ve also had women like that.”

Still, NRC does set itself apart from other student-run firms via its abroad component. Lee spearheaded a global section of NRC during her semester in Florence, Italy, and by doing so, it became the first student-run firm to have an international component. 

“We wanted to bring the Marist mission of helping the community over to Florence and also to give NRC members that are going abroad an opportunity to continue with the firm,” said Lee.

NRC also makes an impact by holding events throughout the year. They hold an annual chili cook-off, help clients with their own specific events and host an end-of-year showcase, where students present and celebrate their hard work. 

NRC’s continued growth represents the opportunities available to Marist students within the context of the surrounding community.

Editor’s note: The initial version of this story used a correct quote out of context. It has since been updated to more accurately depict the involvement of male and female members of NRC.