In starting her search for an internship, marketing major Miriam Rodriguez-Aguilera met with her NIU advisor for guidance and learned of an exciting opportunity. “I wasn’t aware of the IGNITE! program, and connecting with faculty at NIU helped give me access to important experiences,” she said.
IGNITE! is a College of Business initiative designed to help NIU students gain important,
real-world experience with business organizations. It also allows nonprofits and startups access to paid internships that they normally would not have the budget to provide. The student intern works with their partner organization, and NIU subsidizes the student intern’s wages.
The program gave Rodriguez-Aguilera the opportunity to help a new startup get off to a strong start. Rodriguez-Aguilera joined LivNow Relocation as a marketing intern, and her impact has been significant for the company’s beginnings. “Because they were a startup, LivNow did not have much social media presence when I joined them. I’ve been responsible for setting up their Instagram and Facebook pages in the last three months. I also strategize the content schedule for our pages and design the content that will be posted on those pages,” Rodriguez-Aguilera explains. “I create branded social media content, direct our online marketing strategy and even design video pieces.”
LivNow Relocation opened for business Jan. 3, 2022. Co-founded by corporate relocation experts Maureen Longoria and Lisa Burns, LivNow aims to help a new type of client: Senior citizens hoping to move into senior living communities. “We got the idea a couple of years ago when we worked for a company that provided real estate services to help senior citizens sell their homes and move into the living communities,” says Longoria. “We saw an opportunity to provide a larger range of relocation services like the ones offered to a corporate executive. When executives move, they have a single point of contact that will manage the movers, the realtors and so on. We asked ourselves why senior citizens don’t have a similar service that will help them manage their move as they need it even more than executives do.”
LivNow partners with senior living communities and offers its services to senior citizens looking to move into those communities. The service pairs relocating seniors with a move manager who arranges for vetted and professional realtors, moving companies and organizers.
“The move manager is there to educate and advocate for the senior so that they are making good decisions as they move. Seniors as a market are often preyed upon by unscrupulous providers, and with that move manager there the senior can rest assured that someone is looking out for them, making sure they get the best deals and best service,” Longoria adds.
LivNow consolidates all the relocation information in one place: The LivNow app, which like the move manager allows for a convenient single point of contact. “Rather than scurrying around the house looking for a mover’s business card or the realtor’s information, all our clients have to do is go on their mobile platform and all the contact information they need is right there for them,” Longoria explains.
LivNow was connected to the NIU IGNITE! program through Innovation DuPage, a nonprofit that connects startups with resources to help them grow.
“Miriam’s marketing background really made her stand out as a candidate,” Longoria says. “We really needed someone who could get our marketing strategy done for us. It was clear from the start that she was a hard worker. She’s created brochures for us; she helped us prepare for a conference and had a banner made for it; she’s created some of our logos; and she’s put together a video for one of our partners.”
Longoria also reiterated the importance of having access to an intern like Rodriguez-Aguilera. “Her work has been invaluable, and it’s saved us a lot of money as we start operations. Getting someone to create a brochure or logo costs a lot of money when you use an outside provider, and having access to her in-house and on our staff is awesome.”
The experience has also brought a great deal of value to Rodriguez-Aguilera. “My experience with LivNow has helped me hone skills that are critical in my professional development, such as properly communicating, working fully remote, doing data research and content creating. I have implemented these skills into my internship and they are preparing me to go into a job interview and showcase the work I’ve done for LivNow,” she says. “This internship has helped me work outside of my comfort zone. I have never worked with a demographic like the one I currently work for at LivNow and I’ve been able to start a company’s social media channels from scratch. I have learned to work harder, learn more and to not be afraid of the unknown.”
Rodriguez-Aguilera’s impact has been critical in LivNow’s early months, and her help has cleared the way for the startup’s next steps. “We’d love to keep Miriam on board and supporting us further on,” Longoria says. “We’ve done a seed round (securing funding to develop and prototype new products and services) with some investors, and in the next two years our plan is to either do a larger seed round or Series A (funding typically about $1M to $5M to grow the business). We’re bringing on three more employees in the next several months to help further grow the business as well.”
