Week Five

After having been MIA due to bronchitis last week, I returned to my internship to find that they had waited for me to return in order to continue on the project I had been a part of. This made me feel very proud because it showed that I was in fact part of the team and that my presence made a difference. This was an unexpected feeling because when I began the internship I mistakenly believed as if they were doing my university a favor by allowing me to be there. As if my presence was almost an inconvenience for them because I'd slow them down. Obviously, I was mistaken and coming back to them having waited for me was appreciated it.

This week my duties involved  going through a PowerPoint and making it "sexier" (that was the word Erica used when she asked for my help).  She wanted me to make her presentation more modern and appealing. I went through every slide and changed the type of animation (the kind she had was too crazy and distracting). I also switched up the color scheme to make it more uniform throughout as well as spruced up the pictures. This took a little longer than I was anticipating but I was able to deliver by the time I had to get back to campus.  Erica approved and sent it on to her client for perusing.

My other duty this week involved doing more background research on specific examples where established brands launched a new product successfully. I was to research different types of brands/products where/when this occurred as well as their strategy in launching such a successful product, i.e. was it their social media presence, the mystery around it, the revolutionary concept, etc. This was a very difficult search because it was very specific and I was not able to find exactly everything that my boss wanted. I did find relatable things and that is what I turned in. My supervisor was pleased and she actually used some of the examples I found in the previously mentioned PowerPoint presentation on the subject.

It was really cool to see my hard work tangibly be used. In other internships, an intern is simply a pet who goes places for errands that the rest of the office doesn't want to do. Here, I have an actual place and what I am asked to do is useful for them professionally. This is the best part about my internship thus far. I love that I can not only learn but also participate in the inter-workings of the office and brand.

From the weeks to come I expect to continue to be involved in little projects that ultimately get consolidated into their programs.