But then, she hadn’t planned on being made vice president a few years after graduation at one of the largest PR companies in the world either.
Marchesi is senior vice president and health-care practice director for Manning Selvage & Lee in New York City. She joined the agency in 1996. Previously she was vice president and group manager for Ketchum Public Relations in New York City.
"I’ve spent my entire career after CU in health-care public relations," she said.
"My clients are predominantly pharmaceutical companies. I market primarily prescription pharmaceuticals." She follows the product from development through Food and Drug Administration approval to market.
Marchesi’s first employer was Barnum Communications in New York City. From there she went to Manning Selvage & Lee and then to Ketchum before returning to Manning.
Both Ketchum and Manning are among the Top 10 public relations firms in the world. Manning’s health care practice is ranked No. 4 among health-care PR agencies.
At Ketchum, just a few years after leaving the University of Colorado, Marchesi was made a vice president.
After graduating with a degree in advertising, Marchesi wanted to be an advertising copywriter. During spring break of her senior year, she returned to her home state of Illinois and interviewed with Chicago ad agencies. Interviewers all told her that she needed to go to New York to get started and then return to Chicago.
So after Marchesi got her degree, she sold her car, found an apartment in New York and looked for a job.
She took the highest paying offer she could get and earned $16,000 a year in the public relations arm of Barnum, a company specializing in medical advertising.
She admits she knew nothing about public relations, but learned on the job and after a couple of years was offered her first stint at Manning.
"Health care is an area of public relations where people with that kind of experience are very marketable," she said.
Marchesi lives in Rowayton, Conn., a town of 3,000. That makes the commute about three hours, but Marchesi only takes the trip four days a week, although she still puts in full-time hours. She says its a schedule that reflects a significant trend in public relations.
"I have a number of women who work for me for whom I’ve arranged some kind of flexibility," she said. That includes telecommuting, time off and part-time status.
"This is an industry that is so women oriented. If you can figure out a way to make that work, you definitely have a leg up on your competition."
Marchesi has won several regional and national awards:
- The Public Relations Society of America PRSA Silver Anvil, a national award, for a program she worked on for Upjohn -- "Stroke: The First Six Hours" -- that educated older Americans and health-care professionals.
- The Big Apple Award, presented by the PRSA’s New York state chapter, also for the stroke campaign.
- Another Big Apple for a campaign concerning the merger of two pharmaceutical companies to form Centeon.
- A CIPRA (Creativity in Public Relations Award) for work on a national public education program -- "Unlocking the Captive Mind" -- on obsessive-compulsive disorder for Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Upjohn.
Marchesi served the board of directors of the Community Family Planning Council, a group of local health care facilities in neighborhoods of need throughout New York City that provide health care to women and their families.