(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships.)
NEW YORK — Not all the lights of Broadway are aglow when Penn State student Sydney Waldner goes to her company’s Times Square office in the morning, but the energy of the theater and tourist district remains palpable almost anytime, and Waldner thrives on that feeling.
She’s completing an internship this summer with Marathon Digital, a digital marketing and social media agency that works with several high-profile Broadway shows as clients, including “Hadestown,” “Hamilton” and “The Outsiders.”
Waldner, a rising senior majoring in advertising/public relations with a minor in digital media trends and analytics, works at the company’s offices two days a week, with another day remote. She’s part of a team that largely focuses on content management — making sure the social media channels for each show are current, and true to their individual personas and voices. Waldner’s duties also include analyzing content success and creating and pitching ideas to clients.
Show producers work closely with those content managers, who have creative freedom to communicate and engage with their audiences in ways that drive interaction and ticket sales. Waldner said the internship provides an opportunity to put what she’s learned in her Penn State classes into practice.
Plus, she enjoys the theater (having seen more than a dozen shows on Broadway) and has performance in her genes.
Her mother danced on Broadway and Waldner is a member of the Penn State Lionettes Dance Team. She has an internship with the Center for Performing Arts at Penn State that will continue next fall and she will serve as vice president of the Penn State student chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America during the 2025-26 academic year.
“Entertainment is exactly where I want to be,” Waldner said. “Mom has always been a dancer, on Broadway and with different touring shows, and now she’s a dance teacher. I played music growing up. Plus, I have the Lionettes. When I discovered entertainment PR, I was interested because it would be a way for me to be in the entertainment space without being a performer.”
Marathon Digital was founded by a Penn State alumnus, Mike Karns, who earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from the University and has built a career as a Broadway producer and entrepreneur. Waldner discovered the company during her sophomore year at the Success in the City job and internship fair that the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications conducts each year in New York City.
This summer she’s working on a team that includes Jacob Malizio, who earned bachelor’s degrees from Penn State in advertising/public relations and theatre studies in 2024. He completed an internship with Marathon Digital before joining the company in a full-time role, and his entertainment/public relations experience includes roles with Happy Valley Improv and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.
“You really have to be a go-getter in these kinds of roles, and that’s Sydney,” Malizio said. “She understands what we’re trying to do. Plus, she’s always asking for more to do. She’s curious and clearly wants to do well.”
Waldner, from Woodbury, New York, considered several college options and was looking to continue her dance career — all of which ultimately led her to Penn State. She knew of the University and town because she had family members who lived in State College when she was growing up. Her family visited regularly, especially for the Central PA 4th Fest in July.
She has been able to thrive at Penn State. Along with classes and connections, her Lionettes experiences have opened the door to trips for football games, commercial shoots for NBC and national competitions. Plus, she said her classes have provided a strong foundation for internships and what she hopes will be career success.
“I’ve had nothing but amazing experiences at Penn State. I’ve loved all my professors in the Bellisario College, and I love all the opportunities available to us and all the people I’ve met,” Waldner said. “There were times of adjustment for me early in college, just like everybody probably, but I’m really happy I ended up where I did.”