Develomark's First Cohort Get-Together: Where Our Alumni Are Now

As we approach our fourth cohort, we hit a milestone worth celebrating: the first-ever Develomark Cohort get-together. Organized by Ruan and cohort alum Ava Creto, the event brought members from all three batches — Summer 2025, Winter 2026, and Summer 2026 — together in one room here in Connecticut. There was plenty of catching up, and one clear theme running through the night: our alumni are out there winning.

The best part of the evening was simply hearing from them. One by one, past members shared where they've landed since finishing the program — and we couldn't be happier for them. Here's what they had to say.

Where Are Develomark Cohort Alumni Now?

The Develomark Cohort is a 12-week paid digital marketing internship program in Connecticut built around real client work, daily mentorship, and portfolio-building experience. The goal has always been the same: turn students into skilled, working marketing professionals. At our first get-together, three alumni showed exactly what that looks like.

Sam Church — Web Designer and SEO Specialist at GroClix

Sam joined us in the Winter 2026 cohort, and today he's a web designer and SEO specialist at GroClix. The opportunity came through a referral from Ruan via a mutual connection who owns the company — and the conversation went so well that the potential employers response was, more or less on the spot, "I need to hire you immediately."

"Because of the Develomark training, it just ended up being a perfect fit," Sam told the group. If you want to see the kind of work that got him there, check out his Winter 2026 cohort spotlight.

Olivia riedel — Social Media Manager at Watermark

Olivia was part of our very first cohort in Summer 2025 — an OG, as Ruan puts it. Today she's a social media manager at Watermark, and the role goes well beyond social: her team runs ads and handles web design too, skills she started building during her time at Develomark.

Her favorite detail was the timing. She was referred by a friend right after the program wrapped — "perfect timing," in her words — and landed the role just a week after the cohort ended. She's now been there a full year.

Evan Petelle — Marketing Coordinator at Square9

Also from the Summer 2025 cohort, Evan is now a marketing coordinator at Square9, a software company focused on information management and document processing. His days are filled with HubSpot and Salesforce, lead generation across direct and channel teams, lead tracking, events and trade shows, and content creation and planning.

Evan was honest that the search took time — a networking group, a lot of applications, and a few near-misses along the way. The group appreciated that candor. Not every interview turns into an offer, but persistence pays off, and today every one of these alumni is working in marketing.

Moments like this are why the program exists. Watching students walk in as interns and come back as web designers, social media managers, and marketing coordinators is the whole point — and with our fourth cohort right around the corner, we're just getting started.

Want to be in the room at the next one? Learn what the program looks like in our cohort program overview, then apply online today to join a current or future cohort. The next class of Connecticut marketers starts soon.