Brandywine Alumni Spotlight: Lauren Hoover, class of 2020

MEDIA, Pa. — Penn State alumna Lauren Hoover, class of 2020, is flourishing in her marketing role four years post-graduation.

Hoover began her Penn State journey at Brandywine in 2016, majoring in business with a marketing and management option. She said she chose to attend Brandywine because her family attended the campus, and she wanted to be close to home.

“My brother attended Penn State Brandywine, which really inspired me to attend as well,” she said. “Also, it was only 10 minutes up the road from where I lived at the time, so I was able to commute to campus and save money. I really liked the fact that when you go to Penn State Brandywine, you still get the full Penn State experience and get a Penn State degree.”

During her time at Brandywine, Hoover spent most of her time focused on her studies. She noted that her favorite memory during her time at Brandywine is the relationships she was able to build with her professors.

“I was able to form great relationships with my professors, which made me feel like I belonged at Brandywine,” she said. “My marketing courses were amazing, especially my consumer behavior course. That course in particular, in addition to other marketing classes I took, really helped me in my career now.”

Hoover also mentioned how the internship requirement for her major really helped prepare her for life post-graduation. During her third year, she got an internship at PrimePay, a human resources, payroll and benefits company.

“After countless interviews for many internships, I finally landed a position with PrimePay, where I ended up working for four and a half years,” she said. “The company brought me back for my fourth year and I ended up working there full-time. My professors at Brandywine really helped prepare me for that.”

In October 2023, Hoover departed from PrimePay and is now a content marketing manager at Agio, a hybrid cybersecurity and managed IT organization based in New York City. In her role, she curates content that’s used in the sales process and manages editorial content.

Her favorite part about her job at Agio, she said, is the connections she’s made with her coworkers.

“I have a lot of great connections with my coworkers who inspire me every day. We have really good systems, and we work together very well, which is super encouraging,” she said.

Hoover also expressed her joy in marketing, mentioning how she loves many different aspects of the field.

“I also just love marketing; I love writing, and I love how dynamic it is. There are so many different things you can focus on with marketing, and content marketing is its own little world. I absolutely love that world,” she said. “Being able to learn and write about such complex topics in technology has also been super cool to me.”

When asked what advice she would give to current Penn State students, Hoover said to enjoy college and stay present as much as possible.

“Enjoy your college journey and try your best not to rush through life. I spent way too much time thinking about what’s next that I almost forgot to enjoy the moment — it’s something I’m still working on to this day,” she said. “Don’t think ‘I’ll be happy when I graduate’ or ‘I’ll be happy when I land that dream job.’ Instead, every once in a while, take a moment to pause and think about how far you’ve come.”