By Amanda-Joy Febles
I cannot believe it. Here I am on July 26th sitting at my spiffy glass desk, with only one day to go. I have officially survived my first college internship at the age of 20. As I sit here reminiscing on the many adventures I have had in the past two and a half months here at Spotlight Communications, I cannot help but laugh at myself a little.
I remember my first day as if it were yesterday. I barely got any sleep the night before since I was panicking that I would not be able to coordinate the RIPTA, MBTA, and Silver Line schedules. Ever wonder why public transportation is ridiculously early or incredibly late? And what is up with the mouthful of acronyms, anyway? Needless to say, I made it work, even though it consisted of me wandering around Boston perplexedly staring at my phone GPS (Tourist much?). I arrived at the office before Tomeeka and awkwardly awaited my new boss. I remember blankly thumbing through this super intellectual book I brought for lunch that day, hoping I would look poised and mature. Radical changes in Buddhism and the economy were apparently not doing a good job of relaxing me at 8:30 AM. It wasn’t long before Tomeeka arrived and showed me how to let myself in, which proved useful with the unreliable transportation system I would be using all summer.
I can recall answering yes to everything, jotting down notes, and trying really hard to retain all the information Tomeeka was throwing at me. “Here is the fridge. There is the bathroom key. These are the lights. You have a new email address. Let’s go to Starbucks.” Wait. Did she just mention Starbucks?! It was at this exact moment that the sky opened and a beam of light came shining down on my new boss. My heavy breathing ceased a little, I gave my fingernails a break, and started being myself. For the rest of the day, Tomeeka and I got to know each other, way cooler than water cooler chat.
As I sat down at my desk for my first official work day, I felt confident I was ready to show Tomeeka my best work and ready to access all the tools I had developed to prepare for this experience. My first piece of writing entailed a large amount of research, combining sources, paraphrasing, and solidifying a ton of information ranging from how to use Facebook to learning the business advantage of Foursquare. At first, I did not know where to start, but I planned a route of attack and began the good ol’ cross out list for this entry. I worked my way through each section of the piece, trying not to lose the business perspective at any point. When it was done, after a couple of days of tedious reading and writing, I had completed what was sure to be my first masterpiece. WRONG. Tomeeka returned the article to me with what looked like red defeat marks all over. “When did Microsoft Word get all of these editorial features?” I remember thinking. “It’s too much like a brochure. Not appropriate for the newsletter.” Ouch. This paper had to lose some weight. So I began editing: cutting things out, paraphrasing, and substituting.
It was an exciting and new experience to be working so closely with someone. Tomeeka provided me with all of these pointers on keeping the online consumer in mind, business language, and simplistic, catchy writing. It was awesome, I tried to absorb as much knowledge from her as I possibly could. Improvement was the ultimate goal. Two drafts later + Tomeeka’s final edits = My first masterpiece. Nothing could stop me now.
As the weeks progressed, I did too. I learned how to use WordPress, CMS, which stands for Content Management System (acronyms are a corporate thing, apparently) and started managing all of our social media aggregators and pages. Everyday was filled with a new work adventure. My first press release on Wednesday, first conference call on Monday. It was really happening. I am a PR Intern. All those seminars on networking, note taking, and women owned businesses were becoming my reality. Perhaps this is when I became a little dorky, and started fully enjoying Buddhism and the economy in the wee morning hours.
My passion for writing and public relations was highlighted for me when my first press release was published. I was ecstatic, and definitely cashed in my bragging points for a few days. I remember speaking with a friend who was denied the opportunity to write a press release at her internship, solely because she had not written one before. It was then that I realized how lucky I was to be working at Spotlight. I was nurtured to grow, develop, and gain the necessary tools in order to succeed in this business. Yet again, I was reminded I had the best boss ever. It dawned on me that Tomeeka and I had to operate as a team in order to produce efficient outcomes. She needed my input and edits just as much as I needed hers. She gave me constructive criticism that was forward and easy to understand. I appreciated her honesty and her willingness to treat me as a peer. I began to speak up when I thought something needed to be changed or reworded. It felt good to be respected and well received by someone I admired.
With each day, my work required less and less drafts, less editing, and less criticism. I was getting better at my position, and loving every minute of it. Updating tweets, sending emails, writing eBlasts, data entry, sending and writing pitches, generating contact lists, keeping abreast on social media news, brainstorming new company ideas, managing and writing for the company website, and keeping the consumer in mind all became second nature to me. Of course there were tougher days, longer days, and stressful days, but I was never met with words of discouragement. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Following a tough day, Tomeeka led me to my new mantra: “Everything must always be “Client Ready,” and re-energized me with some upbeat Sirius radio.
As you can see, Spotlight has been an incredible journey for me. I now leave this experience as a better writer, a polished professional, and with a new mentor. Here I come world!
Did I mention that I never had to fetch coffee? I did once, and it was completely voluntary! Looks like my next internship has some serious competition.