THE INTERNSHIP- (the whole reason why I was there)

The Internship

Initiative, a large media agency owned by the Inter Public Group, was where I interned. I was a print media intern, which essentially means that I worked with magazines and newspapers in placing advertising and getting added value (e-mail lists, promo parties, etc.) for our purchases.

Some of the companies that were at the media agency and I worked on were CBS/Showtime, Samsonite, Hitachi, Computer Associates, American Standard, Lunesta, Nikon and Victoria's Secret. The internship was so much work, but I received immeasurable experience in business and the inner workings of the advertising industry.

In most internships, there is a considerable amount of filing and bs that occurs on the job. At Initiative, I did some bs work, but I mostly did real work. In fact, the other interns made fun of me because I was always on the phone. They called me the "“face of the internship"” because it seemed like I was always calling and representing the company.

Surreal now, but at the time it was completely normal to call up people from Vogue, W, Time, Business Week or the New York Times. It was kinda crazy to talk to those people like we were total buddies since we would talk about deals every day- but that is just the nature of the business. On my last day at the company, a rep from Money magazine sent me a gift card to Jamba Juice. I received other little gifts like pencil holders from Self magazine and bagels from American Baby magazine. Business is such a strange place where if you have power or are associated to it, you are showered with perks and benefits.

There were 12 interns at the company. Mostly everyone was from the Long Island, Jersey, borough areas, but there were two other girls at the internship that were from the south: another girl from UT and a girl from Missou. People were fascinated with the fact that I was a "southern belle" and had "“proper manners."

It was an amazing experience to spend 40 hours a week confined in a room with other students my age and we discussed everything from the war in Lebanon to sex. I truly feel like I understand more about the Jewish faith, Italian mafia and the wealthy ways of Manhattan.