From Wintern To Full Time Associate Marketing Communications Manager

My name is Alex Ennis and I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. At the age of 15, I moved to the United States in 2011. Since coming to the states, I've been blessed enough to receive my associate degree in liberal arts from Independence Community College, Bachelor of Arts from Morgan State University and, more recently, a Master of Business Administration from Southern University.

My journey started with Rocket Companies® in December 2019. I was blessed enough to be a part of their Winternship program and represent my Historically Black College/University (HBCU), Southern University.

Winternship is a weeklong program during winter break that provides college students a chance to shadow some of the best team members and leaders that Rocket Companies has to offer, all while experiencing the Detroit culture.  

I personally shadowed some of the best leaders like Casey Hurbis, the Chief Marketing Officer at Rocket Mortgage®, William Cochran in Mortgage Banking and Josh Luber from StockX.

I even got a chance to attend my first hockey game and watch the Red Wings play, and my second NBA game, to see the Pistons play, all thanks to Rocket Companies.

The Winternship was a great learning experience for myself and many other interns thanks to the University Relations team and the many other leaders involved. Getting a chance to meet a diverse set of students from schools like Ivy Leagues and HBCUs was very informative and gave us a chance to learn from each other.

Then came fall 2020, my last semester of graduate school. I got the opportunity to intern on the Marketing team, working directly with Casey Hurbis. I started in September 2020 as Casey’s intern and from day one, I started learning valuable lessons and working with a great team of leaders throughout the Marketing team.

As a major sports fan and former Division 1 college athlete, I was excited to work on the Super Bowl LV campaign which finished #1 and #2 on USA Today’s Ad Meter. It was an amazing experience from start to finish that I’ll be telling my future wife and kid about years from now.

The internship experience truly opened my eyes to the world of marketing and all the work needed before consumers see a product or service. The experience helped me grow and I was able to see all aspects involved firsthand.

My internship was set to end December 14, 2020, the same day as my graduation. A week before my end date, Casey extended my internship to April 2021 and I was overjoyed by the chance to learn more on the Marketing team.

Then, two months into my extended internship with the Marketing team, a new opportunity arrived. I was offered a full-time role on the Rocket Homes® Marketing team. I was fortunate enough to get a job offer and my first full-time role after college.

Switching my title from intern to Associate Marketing Communications Manager was such a great feeling. Now, in my current role, I assist in developing brand marketing communication plans and I work closely with project managers, creative teams, and technology teams in executing campaigns across the Marketing team. Seeing all my hard work start to come to fruition has been so liberating.

This is just the beginning for me and yet, I’m closer to my career goals of one day becoming a CMO or working in front of the camera in some capacity. These first few weeks in my new role have been a great learning experience. I’m thankful for the team around me that constantly teaches me new lessons every day. 

Rocket Companies is filled with talented team members and I’m thankful I’ll have a chance to learn and grow here. From intern to full-time team member, the lessons learned, and relationships built so far have all been invaluable. I look forward to continuing to represent myself, my family, Jamaica and the HBCU culture proudly each day.