Interesting internships: Elizabeth Deni and the Hertel Walls

By: Hannah Wiley, Assistant Features Editor

If you’ve ever stumbled upon a really pretty Instagram post of one of the murals off Hertel Ave, chances are it was posted by one of your peers! Elizabeth Deni, a senior strategic communications and integrated marketing communications double major, has an internship working at Buffalo City Hall for a council member and runs the “Hertel Walls” social media accounts! The most obvious standout about her internship is that it’s hybrid. Once a week, she goes to City Hall and does things like answering phones and helping out co-workers, even being hands-on in helping set up the annual tree lighting. However, outside of City Hall is where the real magic happens! 

“I drive down to Hertel Ave and get a bunch of content – videos, pictures, different times of the week – and get a bunch of cool stuff,” Deni said, as she described what an average day looks like for her. “I usually use Canva, because I love Canva, and I just generate a bunch of cool, fun content that I think that would gain more traction. You want to target the older audience that kind of lives near Hertel, but then you also want to target the new artists that could potentially make [new murals] there.”

Since this is her first internship, Deni was shocked when she found out she had full creative freedom and trust from her supervisor. However, this was the perfect opportunity to hone in on her leadership and marketing skills. Although this “genre” of social media wasn’t her first choice, Deni said, “I love creating content and social media, so that's why I chose this, because I was like, even though it's not so much the genre I want to be in, it's still like engaging with an audience, trying to see what people like, what people like to see.”

This internship has also allowed her to improve on skills, such as graphic design, and become more educated on how each platform works! She says it’s given her a better understanding of how to make an impact and create posts that garner the attention of Hertel residents. I’d highly suggest checking @hertelwalls on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook to see Liz Deni’s awesome posts! Also consider going to the Hertel Alley Mural Fest that she’s helping promote, on June 14 and 15!