Hi! I’m Sophia Marzka, a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying Marketing with a minor in Philosophy and a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. This summer I’m doing something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, spending eight weeks in Seoul, South Korea as a Marketing Intern with ObzeKorea Inc. through Pitt’s International Internship Program. After graduation next spring I’m heading to grad school, but before that, this is exactly where I want to be.
Outside of school I spend most of my time reading, skiing, listening to music, and thinking about entrepreneurship probably more than is normal. Marketing felt like the natural place for all of those interests to land because it sits right at the intersection of psychology, creativity, and strategy, which is basically how my brain works anyway. The Philosophy minor and entrepreneurship certificate came from the same place. I like understanding why things work, not just that they do. I’ve always been drawn to the idea of building something, and studying how brands grow and connect with people feels like the closest thing to that in an academic setting.
The Internship
My placement this summer is with ObzeKorea Inc., a Korean cosmetics company specializing in data-driven skincare planning and K-beauty manufacturing that currently exports to over 50 countries. Their in-house brands, prejuv and Saltysleep, are focused on breaking into the U.S. market right now, and my job is to help make that happen. I’ll be creating short-form video content for TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels, refining AI-assisted blog content for SEO and readability, conducting consumer interviews about Korean skincare experiences, and researching global skincare trends with a focus on American consumers.
The thing I’m most excited about with this placement is that ObzeKorea is in the middle of a real expansion push. I’m not going to be doing busy work. I’m going to be contributing to something the company is actively trying to figure out, and that’s the kind of learning that actually sticks with you. Getting to work on a brand that is trying to cross cultural and language barriers to reach a new audience is about as relevant to my degree as it gets.
Why Seoul
Honestly the culture is a big part of why I chose Seoul specifically. There is an energy to Korean culture right now that feels different from anywhere else. The way Korea has taken industries like beauty, music, food, and film and built them into something that resonates globally is something I find genuinely fascinating, especially as a marketing student. It didn’t happen by accident. There is a real intentionality and creativity behind the way Korean brands connect with people, and I want to understand that from the inside.
I’m also walking into a business culture that operates very differently from what I know. South Korea is a high-context culture, meaning a lot is communicated indirectly and relationships and hierarchy matter in ways that American workplaces don’t always reflect. I think navigating that environment for two months is going to teach me things about communication and people that I couldn’t learn anywhere else.
Beyond the internship, I’m genuinely excited to explore Seoul as a city. I want to get into the neighborhoods, try the food, see the temples and palaces alongside the skyscrapers, and experience the contrast between how old and new exist together there in a way that doesn’t really happen in American cities. I want to go to local markets, find good coffee shops to work from on weekends, and just let myself be a person living in a place rather than a tourist passing through it. Seoul has a reputation for being one of the most vibrant and dynamic cities in the world and I plan to take full advantage of that.
What I’m Looking Forward To
More than anything I just want to absorb as much as possible. I want to watch how a Korean company operates day to day, understand how they think about their consumers, and bring that perspective back with me. I want to get better at thinking globally, not just studying it as a concept. I want to come back having had experiences that genuinely changed how I see things, professionally and personally.
I leave on May 31st and I can’t wait to see what the next eight weeks bring.