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!