Whitman School Shows Its Commitment to Entrepreneurship by Hiring Student-Run POV Digital Marketing Agency

If you’ve noticed some additional content on the Whitman School of Management’s social media platforms lately, it’s likely the work of POV Brand Management, a student-run digital marketing agency working with the school’s marketing and communications department this semester.

“Fostering emerging entrepreneurs and supporting their ideas are at the heart of the Whitman School. And, what better way to promote our commitment to entrepreneurship than to hire some of our own?” says Executive Dean J. Michael Haynie, who also is vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation for the University and a faculty member in Whitman’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE). “We identified a need in our efforts to market to Gen Z and filled that need this semester by hiring POV, a digital marketing agency founded by a Whitman/Newhouse student and run by other students across the University. It’s been a terrific partnership that has benefitted both Whitman and POV.”

POV was created by Phoebe Gullingsrud ’24, the firm’s CEO. Her entrepreneurial talents date back to high school, but once she started her first year as a dual major in the Whitman School and the Newhouse School of Public Communications, her brain was racing with ideas on how her courses in business and communications could help her establish a real business. At the time, the pandemic was in full force, but Gullingsrud understood that companies were struggling, and there was an urgent need to adapt to online business. Knowing she couldn’t do it all herself, she brought on others with diverse skillsets, and by Gullingsrud’s sophomore year POV Marketing Consultancy was launched.

Gullingsrud continued to run POV, even while studying abroad in Barcelona in spring 2023. Upon her return, she thought about getting an internship but quickly realized what she really should be doing was building out her own company.