From college to impacting culture

Updated May at 12:20 p.m.

A typical first job out of college is at the lower rung of a profession and usually lacks the glamour and glitz of high profile, higher paid positions such as creative director of an advertising agency.

However, Hewlett resident Marisa Bernstein, one year removed from the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in marketing, has found herself on television.

As a group assistant to an account executive team at the Manhattan-based Conversation advertising agency, Bernstein conducts research, helps to assemble client presentations and performs the usual tasks assigned to junior level employees.

Bernstein, Hewlett High School class of 2007, will be seen with her Conversation colleagues on the fourth episode of AMC’s new reality TV show “The Pitch.” The episode originally scheduled for May 14 at 10 p.m. was aired on May 13 at 11 p.m. It can be seen a few times during the week check AMC's schedule for dates and times.

“It’s very exciting to see what reality TV stars deal with on a day-to-day basis,” Bernstein said.

She walked in the door of Conversation’s West 23rd Street offices five months ago. The AMC crew showed up a month into her tenure for nearly two weeks to tape what the agency did to create an advertising campaign for popchips, a top selling line of snacks. Conversation goes head-to-head against another agency, BooneOakley, on the show.

“I was always fascinated with advertising and the psychology behind it,” Bernstein said. “I took a few classes in high school and continued in college. The different techniques and positioning the brand differently is very interesting to me. This is an awesome experience.”

The show, which is promoted as a real-life look at the advertising world — AMC is the network of “Mad Men” a fictional show about men and women in advertising during the 1960s — was the idea of Studio Lambert, an independent television production company based in London and Los Angeles.

“We wanted to showcase the ad world and all its great, unknown heroes that have such an enormous impact on culture,” said Aaron Saidman, the executive producer of “The Pitch.” “And focusing specifically on the high-stakes, high adrenaline nature of the pitch process seemed like a smart move.”