Ava Guilford
Ava Guilford is a student-athlete at Albion College pursuing a degree in Marketing and Communications with a 3.89 GPA. As captain of the women’s basketball team, she earned the Top Female Junior Athlete award. Through marketing internships at SET SEG and Albion’s Career and Internship Center, she has developed skills in content creation, social media management, and brand strategy.
Get to Know Ava Guilford
Ava Guilford is a driven student-athlete at Albion College pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Communications. As captain of the women’s basketball team, she earned the Albion Top Female Junior Athlete award and made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll in consecutive years. Her dedication extends beyond the court through membership in Sigma Delta Tau and the International English Honor Society, which recognizes academic achievement in writing and communication.
Ava has built a strong foundation in marketing through multiple internships. At SET SEG, she managed LinkedIn content, designed conference materials, and produced a multipart blog series. As a Marketing Intern at Albion’s Career and Internship Center, she oversees social media platforms, creates digital and print materials, and develops strategies to increase engagement. Ava is seeking full-time marketing opportunities after graduating in May 2026.
Education
Marketing and Communications, Albion College (Albion, MI)
Anticipated Graduation – May 2026
Albion College Women's Basketball
- Albion Top Female Junior Athlete
- MIAA Academic Honor Roll (2022-23), (2023- 24)
- Iron Brit Award
- Team Captain
Sigma Delta Tau - Member
Selected for membership in the International English Honor Society, recognizing academic achievement in writing and communication.
Professional Experience
Marketing Intern
Albion College, Career & Internship Center (Albion, MI)
April 2025 - May 2026
As a Marketing Intern at Albion College’s Career and Internship Center, Ava Guilford plays a key role in connecting students with the resources they need to launch their careers. She manages the Center’s social media presence, crafting content that resonates with students and spotlights the programs available to them.
Ava brings stories to life by photographing campus events and documenting student experiences and success stories. She also flexes her design skills by creating eye-catching flyers, graphics, and promotional materials for both digital and print use.
Beyond day-to-day content creation, Ava thinks strategically. She develops initiatives to boost visibility and engagement, helping more students discover the career development tools at their fingertips. Her work strengthens the CIC brand and builds meaningful connections between students and the opportunities that will shape their futures.
Marketing Intern
SET SEG (East Lansing, MI)
May - August 2025
From competitive research to conference design, Ava Guilford wore many hats during her Marketing Intern role at SET SEG in East Lansing.
She started by digging into the competitive landscape, researching companies in employee benefits, property and casualty insurance, and workers’ compensation. This analysis helped inform how SET SEG positioned its marketing strategies against industry peers.
Ava’s creative work took center stage through two major content initiatives. On LinkedIn, she launched and managed a content series featuring custom graphics and engaging copy that highlighted the company’s projects and events. For the SET SEG Foundation, she produced a multipart blog series that paired compelling written stories with original visuals to showcase program impact and connect with donors.
When the Risk Management Facilities Conference came around, Ava translated complex information into visual storytelling. She designed large-format easels that presented real school property damage cases alongside risk prevention insights, giving attendees a powerful way to absorb critical information.
Ava also proved she could think on her feet beyond the desk. She helped coordinate member golf outings from start to finish, managing logistics and providing hands-on support during the events.
Office Manager
Excel Seamless Gutters (Portland, MI)
May - August 2024
Before diving into marketing internships, Ava Guilford got a taste of small business operations as Office Manager at Excel Seamless Gutters in her hometown of Portland, Michigan.
The role put her at the center of daily operations. Ava kept the business running smoothly by fielding phone calls, managing scheduling, and handling billing. It was a crash course in the behind-the-scenes work that keeps a local company on track.
But Ava brought more than organizational skills to the table. Spotting an opportunity to gather insights, she developed and distributed customer surveys, compiling feedback that gave the business owner a clearer picture of client satisfaction and areas for improvement.
She also tapped into her creative side. Ava designed branded logo wear and accessories that were distributed to local businesses and customers, helping extend the company’s visibility throughout the community.
Though different from her later marketing roles, this experience gave Ava a well-rounded perspective on how businesses operate from the ground up, skills that continue to inform her approach to marketing and brand building today.
Personal Values
Discipline
Balancing a 3.89 GPA, Division III athletics, and multiple internships doesn’t happen by accident. For Ava, discipline is the thread that ties it all together.
On the court, it shows up in early practices and the consistency required to compete at the collegiate level. As team captain, she models that commitment daily. In the classroom, discipline means staying on top of coursework during basketball season, earning MIAA Academic Honor Roll honors two years running.
Her professional work reflects the same mindset, meeting deadlines and managing multiple projects with structure and focus. For Ava, discipline means showing up consistently and putting in the work.
Teamwork
Individual talent only goes so far. Ava learned this on the basketball court, where success depends on trust, communication, and putting the team first. As captain, she embraces that responsibility.
That collaborative spirit follows her off the court. At SET SEG, she worked across departments to bring events and content to life. At the Career and Internship Center, she partners with staff to connect students with resources. And through Sigma Delta Tau, she contributes to a community built on shared purpose.
Making everyone around her better isn’t just a philosophy. It’s how Ava operates.
Determination
The Albion Top Female Junior Athlete award. Membership in the International English Honor Society. Multiple marketing internships before senior year. None of it came easy.
Ava pursues her goals with relentless focus. Tough losses, demanding schedules, and competing priorities haven’t slowed her down. They’ve sharpened her resolve. She doesn’t just want success. She does whatever it takes to achieve it.
Loyalty
Ava commits fully to the people and organizations she’s part of, through wins, losses, and everything in between.
As team captain, she’s invested in the basketball program, not just her own playing time. At SET SEG and the Career and Internship Center, she didn’t just complete assignments. She bought into their missions and created work that made a lasting impact.
Loyalty, for Ava, is active. It’s showing up when it matters most and following through on commitments, every time.
Service
What drives Ava isn’t personal recognition. It’s contributing to something bigger.
At the Career and Internship Center, her work helps students discover opportunities that could shape their futures. Through Sigma Delta Tau, she invests in a community that supports its members. On the basketball team, she leads not for the title but to lift up those around her.
Service comes naturally to Ava because helping others isn’t separate from her goals. It’s central to them.