Peters Township grad finishes in top 25 in national sales competition
Natalea Hillen has a busy schedule as a junior at Point Park University.
She is president of the Honors Student Organization, contributor to U-View, the university’s student-run TV station, manager of social media for Point Park’s Rowland School of Business, a Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC) Executive Board member and a member of the Point Park track team.
Plus, the 2020 graduate of Peters Township High School found time to be named speed sell regional champion and a top 25 finisher in the national RNMKRS (Rainmakers) Virtual Sales Competition. She also won the 2022 America250PA’s Direct Effect Innovation Challenge in the fall of 2021.
The broadcast journalism major who is minoring in marketing and sales also is a model and could be seen on four billboards around Pittsburgh last year.
How does she do it all?
“I am a very organized person,” Hillen said. “I write down every single thing I have to do for the day and the week to make sure I have the time to do everything. I definitely have had some conflicts throughout the last year, but I feel I’ve made the right decisions to make sure I am doing everything I’m supposed to do and getting good grades while being an active and involved student at Point Park.”
Hillen, 21, said participation in the RNMKRS Virtual Sales Competition was required as part of her professional selling class. In the speed sell portion, the competitor develops a 90-second elevator pitch. She chose as a storyline her goal to increase participation in the Honors Student Organization, which also is striving to improve the group.
“I guess my score was in the top 1.2%,” she said. “It was really awesome to see that. This prepared me for the real world so if I do see an employer in person I do have something prepared to say to them to market myself and my skills.”
Hillen’s goal is to work in sports or entertainment broadcasting, a love she cultivated as a student at Peters Township. She was awarded the Myron Cope Scholarship, named after the legendary former Pittsburgh sportscaster, for the 2022-23 school year.