Week 3: I Work At Hollister

Kelly went to Paris for the weekend so I went into the Manhattan office all week. The first day there, I was the awkwardest of awkward turtles. I had only been there once with Kelly, so flying solo was freaking me out. I was afraid to ask where the bathroom was or ask for a lunch break. I couldn't figure out how to buzz someone in so I accidentally turned the intercom on about 7 times. And it was one of those days where no one gave me any projects. I asked about 5 people if I could help with anything and then they just handed me boxes for FedEx. But I was so bored that I was happy to run an errand and stop pretending to be answering e-mails when really I was just messaging people to seem busy.

Then the next day, I came in and they immediately had me haul an entire closet of jeans into another room. Then they sorted through the samples, and threw them into piles, which I had to fold. And they sorted again, and I folded again. I took inventory of them. And then I packed them up, and hauled the keepers back into the closet (which required more folding.) So minus being drenched in cologne and hidden in plastic ferns, I'm working at a Hollister.

Thankfully 3 more interns showed up and they had nothing to do, so they helped me pack them up. Working in the office got 1,000 times better once I wasn't the only intern. Now I have people to get lunch with and talk to, and sometimes they help me out with projects, which is soooo productive. And the other interns are so sweet. One of them is so cool and we eat together everyday, but I don't know her name and it's too weird to ask after a week of working and lunching together.

The last thing I did this week was Stila Cosmetics inventory. Basically there is a whole closet of drawers filled with every type of Stila makeup in every shade. It's basically heaven in there. Ladies, you know what I'm talkin about. They had me organize and take inventory of it all...not so much heaven anymore. It was fun at first, but because I'm detail oriented, I had to make sure every box faced the same way and alphabetize the shades. I was in this closet for about 6 hours straight. I felt like I was in time out, like someone said, "Bad intern, organize til you can be a good girl!" But my boss told me to test out some makeup, so I ended going home with a little bag full of lipstick and all that fun stuff. I'm feeling super blessed that my boss doubles as my sister's best friend from high school, so she's definitely taking me under her wing!

But even though inventory is tedious, we need to send product for gifting or editorials so it's important that the closet is fully stocked. And my boss, Kelly, invited my sister and I to her house in the Hamptons for the weekend! So after a busy week in the city, maxin and relaxing with cocktails by the pool is not a bad way to end the week.

Here's some pics of my commute, stay-cation, and the office!

Week 2: I'm a Big Kid Now

I've never worked a day in my life. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to get up everyday and walk to work in the busiest city in America, not get lost, and then work til 5. I feel like a real adult in the workforce and I'm diggin it. But this is not your typical 9-5 job.

This week, a designer came in to my boss's at home office and we sat around the table talking about his preview event coming up in June. I'll be honest and say that I didn't say a word. I just sat there, smiling and nodding my head.

And after he left, I spent the rest of the day updating information in Excel spreadsheets. This is how it's been almost everyday: something really rad and something very "intern-esque." Sometimes I do that typical intern stuff like organizing magazines and calling to set up a hotel room, but don't get me wrong, this is no Devil Wears Prada set up. My boss, Kelly, is a gem of a lady and I'm learning a lot about PR, so I'm happy to put my OCD to good use and sort some mags.

But here's an example of an actual project I did. So, Kelly had an event in Paris next week for Deborah Lippmann Nails and she was freaking out that no one was going to come. I mean, what's worse than throwing a rager for one? So she had me investigate upscale, trendy Parisian bloggers to invite. And these girls are socialites so they help elevate the brand if they put the event on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (By the way, we should all drop out of U of M and be bloggers because these girls get paid and get so much free swag just for blogging.) So I spent all day trying to guess if someone is cool in French. Personally, I think everything sounds cooler in French. But after a long day of hunting down contact info for these ladies, they actually came to the event! That felt really cool to know that the event didn't stop on the lame train because I did the hard work to get these girls to come.

So I love my job. If Excel were a person, I'd punch them in the face, but other than that, I really love my job.

 Here are some pics of this week's desk aka the kitchen table!

And coming home to this little monkey makes long Mondays on Excel so much better. And that concludes week 2! 

More Meetings!

For most of the day this week, I worked wit the development team. I helped with more research and was able to sit in on another development meeting. Again, this was very important and interesting to me. I was able to hear more about where the development team was going with the show and how each person on the team was able to contribute to the brainstorm and work toward creating a show that the network would approve of. I really want to make sure I can sit in on another one of these meetings. It was great to see how each person had their own ideas and had their own styles of contribution.

Another day, I worked on organization of master tapes and DVDs. It was my task to make sure that the master tapes and DVDs of past seasons were entered into a word document and it was clear what was in each box. While this was basic data entry, I found it interesting and important. Archiving shows is something that must be taken seriously and I wanted to make sure I knew what each timecode meant and what each abbreviation and how to properly organize each tape and each DVD. A task that seemed menial at first became more interesting the more I looked into it. I hope that I can learn more about the technical side of things at my internship. 

Week 2!

As the second week came around I started by mostly continuing my work from last week ie unpacking new shipments and updating the inventory, doing pick ups in places like Soho and Brooklyn, and continuing to make sure the social media outlets were updated. Another project I got to assist on was updating the storyboards we keep in the office. My employer had sent me a file with designers and images of their products that we believe to be are “up and coming”. I printed them out and individually pinned them to a cork board. Below is the final product.

My biggest project for this week was figuring out Editorialist could optimize on-site images to aid both users and search engines. Essentially, how we could make our company one of the first links to appear when you search for something on Google. On-site optimization helps rank better in Google Image Search and helps gain additional impressions/views. What I did was go through the websites inventory and change each filename we use to save the images on the site. Using descriptive keywords in the filename helped identify to search engines what the image is about as well as provide clues about the content of the image. After I was don’t changing each filename, I actually went back to Google and found that Editorialist was now a leading site when searching for certain products. This was really interesting to me to learn how a company can better present themselves in the cyber market.

First Day at Pediatric Mood and Anxiety Disorders Lab, New York City

Yesterday was my first day as an intern with the Pediatric Mood and Anxiety Disorders laboratory, a lab affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital. This lab studies children with various impairing psychiatric disorders, which range from Depression to Tourette’s Syndrome. When I arrived, my mentor, who is a post-doctorate student, greeted me and suggested that I spend time reading over some of the lab’s recent publications, as she was trying to catch up from the long weekend. I logged into the spare computer in her office and proceeded to do so, unaware that her office was next to the office of the director who leads research on tics. (Tics are sudden, uncontrollable, repetitive movements.) Unfortunately, the cases that this woman sees are quite severe, so I was startled when I heard loud bangs on the wall next to me. The screaming that accompanied the loud bangs on the door made for an interesting work environment. She smiled at me and said you get used to it.

Moments later, the lab coordinator, Amy, came in and told Dr. Henderson that the control for their scan today had cancelled. In many internships, the summer interns get stuck doing paperwork, running for coffee, or logging data. In neuroimaging labs, we are the controls, thus we are the ones who get gel pipetted in their hair for an EEG or lie in an fMRI scanner for hours. They looked at me and asked if I would be interested in getting scanned. I smiled and said absolutely. I was scheduled for an MRS (Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) scan at 2:30pm. As nerdy as it sounds, I was so excited.

When I arrived, I had to change into scrubs and take off any metal that would disrupt the scanner. I met the technicians would monitor the scan and looked at the huge machine through the glass window. They took me in and asked me to lie down on the table. They gave me ear plugs, the inner ear headphones, and then what looked like beats headphones for an outer ear set of headphones. Double protection from the loud noises the scanner makes. They also gave me a button to squeeze if at any time I wished to stop the scan. Before they slid me into the scanner, they placed what looked like a cage over my face. It had a mirror across from my eyes, which allowed me to see the upside-down television mounted on the wall behind me that now was right-side-up. To be honest, I expected to be more frightened than I was when I slid into the scanner. It wasn't as small as people made it out to be. I paid careful attention to the noises the machine made to be able to explain it to patients later. After an hour and forty-five minutes, I came out of the scanner. It was an exciting first day not only because I had my first MRS scan but because it is clear that this lab looks to give me hands-on experience with the neuroimaging technology. Beyond my MRS scan, the director of the lab assured me that I will likely have the opportunity to collaborate with her on a publication. I am feeling very optimistic about this experience, and I look forward to the next seven weeks. 

Caitlin Shneider

My brain on... Imaging

1) Environment/ Initial Impressions at GAGOSIAN GALLERY, Beverly Hills

As I entered the beautiful, white open gallery space on my first day, I was excited to start working. The space currently exhibits massive and colorful photograms by photographer, Thomas Ruff . I was greeted at the front desk, and noticed  security guards around the space. The receptionist introduced me to everyone around the gallery, about 25 people. My first day happened to be the an extremely frantic, as everyone was moving and rearranging their offices. Assisting them in this process helped me remember many people’s names. I work 3 days a week, yet, I do not have a specific person I work for. Therefore, it is really up to me to speak up and ask around if anyone needs help with anything. Sometimes I am bombarded with multiple things to do such as, rearranging books, creating artist binders and addressing envelopes, while over times I sit around at my desk with nothing to do. Some of the work is really exciting, the other day we had a Saks Fifth Avenue fashion show in the gallery which was really fun. It is important though to not get phased by the VIP clients or celebrities, as they are very involved. There is one other intern, we each share a desk and have our own email account to chat with people around the office. I have noticed that all of the employees call each other by their first names.  For the most part, people come and go as they please and seem to be quietly working on their own things. We mostly communicate through imessaging through our Gagosian emails. The head directors and salesmen have their own assistants through which they can be contacted. I have noticed that most people start off as assistants and receptionists at the front desk. This way they are familiar with the way the gallery operates on a deeper level, as everyone knows everyone on a first name basis throughout all of the international locations. The gallery is open to the public, yet certain shows get more attention than others. Many times there are private showings to VIP clients who are more seriously interested in buying and viewing a certain piece in the viewing room rather than just looking around as one would in a museum. The workplace is serious but many people stop and chat to joke around on occasion with one another. There is some diversity, more women than men, with ages ranging from  mid-twenties to late-forties. The salesmen wear pants and button downs, with no ties, and the rest are more casual. The women are not too dressy or too casual, since it is a creative space, they express themselves more freely. This coming week our Ruff show is closing and we are preparing for our next show, Albert Ohelen, which I am really excited for. 

First Day At HollywoodLife!

Today I completed my first day interning at HollywoodLife by Bonnie Fuller. I arrived to the office, which is located in New York City near Times Square. Walking to my office was not a far walk from Grand Central, which I greatly appreciated because I am commuting into the city.

Once my boss arrived to the office, I was immediately put to work. I figured I would be making coffee, stapling papers and being of assistance to whoever needed help; however, that was exactly the opposite of the work I performed on my first day! I greatly appreciated that. My boss, Katrina, who is a very lovely lady told me to sit next to the other interns who were currently writing a story for the website. I was told to take notes on how to use the websites blogging system and how to ultimately create a finalized blog page. I learned how to embed videos, photographs, create polls etc. At first it was very overwhelming trying to learn how to use our systems program called WordPress; however, I eventually mastered the basics and was able to write three stories for Katrina by the end of the day. Two of them actually went up on the website which I was super proud about!

Below are the blogs I created on my first day at HollywoodLife which were actually published to the website. Check them out if you're interested!

Hollywood Life Blog 1
Hollywood Life Blog 2- Day 1.

Below is just a screen-shot one of my blogs that were posted onto the website today. I was extremely excited to see what I wrote be put up online and have my name at the end of the article. It was a very gratifying feeling!

I am very excited to return back to work tomorrow and look forward to all that I will learn here interning at HollywoodLife.

-Morgan McCarthy

First Week at Katz Direct

This week I began my internship at Katz Media Group, a company that controls advertisement placement for the television channels they own.  To be honest, prior to my interview a few weeks ago, I was very unfamiliar with an office environment. Neither of my parents have office jobs so my only exposure to cubicles was images on television.

During my interview it was explained to me that the organization of the cubicles as well as their unusually low dividers was intentional. They are set up in a way conducive to interaction between co-workers therefore facilitating communication and allowing questions to be answered and group projects to be completed.

  

I have been given my own desk equipped with a computer and storage draws that is located in a circular cubicle that I share with two paid employees.  One of them, having started as an intern as well, has been very helpful guiding me through the processes and introducing me to other employers. Thus far, everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful towards me.

The office environment seems very positive and interactive. There is a diverse range of employers regarding race, ethnicity, and gender, though that does not seem to hinder any exchanges between individuals. Those with management positions have their own offices, surrounding cubicles, but they all keep their doors open and are very wiling to answer questions or provide guidance.

I look forward to becoming better accustomed to this type of enviroment and better acquainted with the people I work with. 

First Day at the DNC!

Hello Everybody!

So today I had my first day at my internship with the Democratic National Committee. Their headquarters are on the hill, off the Capitol South metro stop (thank god it was not that confusing and super close to foggy bottom where I am staying!).

First walking in was a bit intimidating since there is a bunch of security, but all of us interns (there are 48 of us) were brought into a conference room and we went through orientation for most of the day. We heard some great people speak like DNC CEO Amy Dacy. There are a interns from all over the country and some from different parts of the world. There is a big community aspect to this program which I love. They are scheduling tours for all of the interns to take together, as well as brown bag lunches so we can all bond.

The 48 of us are pretty much sprawled out over many different departments, with the Political Department having the most interns. Me, I am in the Marketing Department. We are in a cozy corner of the building by the Finance and Digital Departments (two polar opposites with one being very put together and the latter being more of the hipster persuasion).

The first thing me and the two other marketing interns noticed when we got to our department, was that the ladies of the marketing department (no guys in site) love to throw potlucks. Think of Michael Scott with his grill at The Office.

Looks like we will be dealing with a ton of fundraising initiatives. While it won't be high profile fundraising with high price tags, it is going to be more focused on what everyday people donate. We even sat in on a briefing today about a fundraising initiative being launched to help people have their donations be processed automatically.

I am excited to see how the rest of the week goes, tomorrow I am told we will be helping to take inventory of the Democratic merchandise that is going to be utilized on a new platform (more pictures to follow!).

Starting the Job

While I am still getting accustomed to my commute to Ann Arbor, I am also getting used to my new workplace. As a blogging and social media intern at a clothing store called Merit, I was curious to discover my expectations for the summer job. Although I received an employee manual that outlined all of my duties and expectations, I still went into the job with a few questions. One in particular--what do I wear? As an intern at a clothing store, did I have to wear the company's clothing? After my first group meeting all of my questions were answered. As all of us interns sat around the table and got to know each other, I learned that it was a very open and creative environment. Although some people did wear the Merit brand, you didn't have to. Mostly everyone is in casual dress which represents the laid-back atmosphere of the store.

Putting up posters around campus to advertise the store!

One of my favorite things about my internship is the diversity in my coworkers. With multiple different races and backgrounds, there are many different viewpoints. We can all easily communicate with each other, as well as our bosses, whom give us a lot of freedom in our work. 

An aspect of the job that I did not expect was collaborating with other businesses and store owners. Because of this, I have done work in Detroit, as well as in Ann Arbor. I am very glad to have that experience, met new people there, and learned more about the city of Detroit. 

"The Social Club" in Detroit is the location for our pop-up shop, where I interviewed the owner for a blog post.

I am excited to see what else is in store! 

First week in Baltimore

It’s midnight on Monday night and I’m sitting at the small desk in the room I’ve subleased, writing this blog. It feels like all I’ve done for the first week of my internship is write, which is great, because it’s a journalism internship and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. 

Like most newsrooms, and sports desks in particular, the place where I’m working is largely composed of middle-aged, white men. The internship coordinator told me to dress “business casual,” which I took as khakis and a button-down shirt. I’ve seen people in suits and people in a polo shirt and jeans, so that seems to be a happy medium. Fortunately, the weather hasn’t gotten to the point where I’m desperate to be wearing shorts and a T-shirt. 

I spent the first three days in the newsroom, where I bounced from free desk to free desk because I apparently wasn’t assigned one for the summer. That was initially a frustration, but it forced me to interact with different people each day and network. I bet they even looked me up on LinkedIn.

The next four days were at the ballpark for the Baltimore Orioles’ four-game home series.

Best office I could’ve ever asked for. I even get my meals reimbursed.

Tomorrow begins week two. My worry is that the Orioles are on the road for a 10-game, 11-day road trip, and I’m not sure what they’ll have me doing (if anything) until they return. I also don’t really have a set schedule, which is fine because I don’t have other responsibilities right now, but it’s something I’m not entirely used to. 

Smithsonian Update: What I'm Actually Doing!

This is where the magic happens.

Hello again! In this post I can now explain more specifically what sort of work I am doing in D.C.

As I mentioned in my first post, I am interning in the entomology department of the National Museum of Natural History. This department has lab space on multiple floors. The different insect groups are sort of on different floors with flies having a floor, beetles having a floor, etc. I am on the floor with nearly everyone working with wasps.

What is amazing about these labs is that there is just as much space, if not more, devoted to storing insects than to the actual lab space and offices for studying insects. Each floor has a row of enormous cabinets filled with drawers and drawers of insects. There are probably millions of specimens in the Smithsonian's insect collection, which is quite impressive if you ask me.

Welcome to The Twilight Zone

Working on the wasp floor is a total of somewhere around 30 interns, a mix of undergraduate and graduate students. In general terms there are two types of projects that students help with. Some students work on imaging or drawing insect specimens. (Some sample images are shown hanging in the hallway below.) It takes a great deal of work and time to take and edit the pictures, but it is very important work.

the entomologist's art gallery

The second half of the interns, the half that I am in, is a group of us sorting and mounting, databasing, and identifying insect specimens. When I was interning in this lab over spring break I helped sort vials of wasps into different groups, pulling out the wasps my adviser wanted, and then mounting them onto pins. What I have been working on so far this summer is databasing wasps.

What I do is take a drawer full of already mounted wasps. Each specimen has some sort of label on them explaining where and when they were collected, who collected them, and sometimes more. I type all of the information available for each specimen into an Excel sheet. I also place a small barcode label on each specimen and this number additionally goes into the Excel sheet, matched up with all of their other information.

What this creates is a file of all the data for a large group of related specimens. Then my adviser can make a map of where all of these specimens were collected and further study them.

Something I enjoy about this kind of work is that at the end of the day you can look at your drawer and sometimes see over one hundred specimens all labeled and lined up, and there is an Excel sheet packed full of information. In the field of entomology hundreds and eventually thousands are typical numbers so you always feel extremely productive.

Until next time!
-Morgan

2nd Week at FNM!

My second week at Food Network Magazine was as exciting as the first! Every time family and friends ask me about what I've been up to at my internship, they're impressed with how much hands-on experience and one-on-one mentoring I'm receiving, which makes me realize even more how lucky I am to have such a worthwhile internship!

My mentoring process began as soon as I walked in the door my first day. My boss, Sara, has naturally become a mentor for me. Each morning, she leaves little notes on my desk or an email of projects to get started on and tasks to complete. These tasks aren't things I was expecting to do, like grabbing coffee or filing. Instead, Sara and her colleagues are trusting me with work that they would normally do themselves. I create presentations to be pitched to advertiser clients, research restaurants and activities in Chicago to entertain clients, and do research on how FNM's marketing campaigns are being executed.

Sara is young, and has only been at Hearst for 6 months. However, what is so impressive about her is that in her short time at FNM, she's already created programs and tools to make what was already happening at FNM even more efficient. She is independent, responsible, and completes assignments before they have even been formally assigned to her, and that are executed in more detail that would have even been asked of her.

On Wednesday, I got to sit in on my first team meeting. The FNM sales team is composed of 5 very sharp women. I have the most in common with Sara, as she is not that much older than me, but having the opportunity to talk with the other sales reps has been invaluable as well. They are genuinely interested in what I want to get out of my internship to help me determine what is most important to me in deciding what kind of career path to follow. I can't wait to learn more from my team!

A little perk!

Pretty view right outside my office!

Week 2!

Hey Guys,

During the second week of my internship I worked three days. First, I went to a bar appearance for NASH FM at a bar called the Nutty Irishman. It was quite interesting because it was a country bar that had lots of professional line dancing. It was awesome to meet people who listened to our station and visibly see the support. The second day was a very busy office day. I spent a few hours making phone calls to contest winners about how they can claim their prizes. We also have Winners Declaration Forms that every winner needs to send back, so I called a bunch of winners asking them to fill it out. When I called a few people, they had no idea that they had won anything from the online contest so it was great to hear how excited people were when I told them that they had won tickets! I also had to pack bags of giveaways for the PLJ Summer Kick Off at Point Pleasant that was on Friday morning. Then, on Friday morning, I had the privilege of working at Good Morning America's concert series because we had given away tickets to our listeners for it. My job was to be at Central Park at 5:30am in order to meet our winners and give them their VIP passes to see Lady Antebellum. The best part was that I was allowed to stay for the concert, and had to take pictures to show that our radio station was present at the concert. It was my first event that I had to handle on my own, but it was a very good experience. I only work one day this coming week because a few new interns are starting, but I look forward to it!
Jillian

First Week at Venture Outdoors

I could feel my stomach tying itself in a knot as I sat in the rickety light-rail train from the suburbs to downtown Pittsburgh. Twenty-seven minutes later and I had stepped off at my train stop, which lies next to the river. I survived the train ride without any fainting or throwing up, so I'd consider that a good start. For the next 15 minutes, I strutted down the dusty road in shoes that were a size too small until I came across two large brick buildings called "Riverside Corporate Center." Awesome. Except I was an hour early. After wasting 50 minutes walking around the industrial streets, I finally decided that I should head up to the office.

                                                   

I took the elevator up and was met with a large green wall, decorated with a kayak, a bicycle, hiking boots, and rope. Having a pretty good idea that I was in the right place, I rang the doorbell and was greeted by one of the staff. I quickly realized that my pencil skirt, nice tank top blouse, and cardigan were probably too formal, as most people were dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Note taken.

Fortunately, I arrived right before the full-office meeting started.  I got to hear about some of Venture Outdoor's overarching projects. Venture Outdoors is a non-profit organization that seeks to reconnect the people of Pittsburgh to the great outdoors. They run the city's kayaking program, have multiple bike riding and hiking programs, and also put on fun events such as "Happy Hour Paddle" and "Tyke Hikes."

After the meeting, my mentor graciously took me out to lunch. After lunch, we returned to the office where I started out on my first task: submitting Venture Outdoor events into online calendars that can help tourists find local activities to do. My second day was similar, as I spent all of my time inputting events into the online calendars. While it was tedious work (mostly copying and pasting and filling out the same form 50 times), it was important work. By making Venture Outdoors more visible on online tourist sites, people will hopefully be more likely to attend the awesome events that Venture Outdoors organizes.

Overall, it was a nice and easy start to the internship. I am excited to see what the rest of the summer holds!

My First Week!

Editorialist is a premier online magazine and boutique featuring luxury accessories and fine jewelry. It launched in February of 2013 and is therefore extremely new, consisting of only about 6 or so employees.  At first, I was pretty nervous to begin my internship because I have never been a part of a fashion company or involved in its production. All I was told during my interview is that by the end of my time at Editorialist I would learn the operations of a Fashion Magazine.

Upon arriving I was immediately immersed into the busy workings of the office. All the employees work desk to desk, screaming questions and requests at each other. I personally find it to be a very welcoming and exciting environment. My first task was to find items on the website where the photograph for the piece is not quite to scale. I then made an excel sheet with the item, designer, price and description of what is wrong and what should be fixed. I spent the rest of the day doing inventory of all the jewelry and shoes on site, marking the quantity and size of each. We then updated this information on the back-end to fix any discrepancies with the website. On my second day, I got to watch a mini photo-shoot happen right in the office for a Memorial Day Sale e-mail blast which was pretty cool. Below is a picture of this shoot.

After I finally finished the shoe inventory, myself along with the two other interns built shelves to reorganize the middle of the office, making it easier to access when an order has been placed. Below is a picture of the before and after.

            At the end of my first week I’m both exhausted ad excited to see what’s next. I know that they have a million things happening on any given day and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.