Young Alumni Spotlight: Stephanie Abrams ‘06
Author: Gabrielle Stadlen
Stephanie Abrams ‘06 has taken her Cornell degree to the world of social media. Her education began as a Hotelie, where she studied Sales and Marketing. After graduation, she went on to the corporate world for several years before making a drastic and risky career change.
“The longer I worked for corporate America, the more I craved autonomy and developed a stronger desire to be in total control of my professional destiny,” she explained.
Abrams was one of the first users of Facebook when it was launched during her sophomore year at school and ever since that she was intrigued by the growth and influence of social media. After helping a few entrepreneurial friends promote their brands with social media during her free time, she began to see that there was a developing market for companies that provided these services. Where everyone else saw a simple fad, she saw a future.
With courage and determination, Abrams co-founded her first social media marketing agency with her partner Courtney Spritzer. A few years later, Socialfly, is now managing 25 brands and continues to soar with success.
“A traditional route isn’t the only way to get something.” Abrams says, “You can shake things up and think WAY outside of the box and still find success.”
If you need proof that this is true, just look at the brand Abrams and Spritzer created for themselves from the ground up that incorporates their creativity, professionalism, and keen marketing and PR skills.
Socialfly’s latest project exemplifies their unique marketing skills. They were looking for a way to promote Socialfly as a creative agency, and Abrams brainstormed the perfect tool for exposure. Over the summer they wrote, choreographed, and shot a parody music video called #DoTheSelfie to the hit song “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea.
Abrams attributes much of her success to her time here at Cornell, where she first began to embrace the start-up culture that encouraged her to start Socialfly from the ground up. She even got a taste of the entrepreneurial spirit on campus herself; back in 2005, she helped conceptualize and launch the first ever Relay For Life. What started as a small initiative now continues to grow and still maintains a presence on our campus. She hopes Socialfly will have a similar long-lasting and positive impact.
Abrams’ career path should set an example for all students here at Cornell to work hard and take risks in order to find success.
