Thursday, July 03, 2008

Lovin LS Life


I’m going to be honest with you. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life before this week. I applied for this internship for several reasons. Number one, I had just completed my first semester of reporting classes and I found out I despised it. Needless to say the reporting sequence of my journalism major flew out the window. I found myself in a dilemma. I love journalism, but I hated reporting. So, I reasoned that I would try a PR internship and see if I might enjoy it. Then, if I liked it, I could focus the rest of my classes on advertising and PR and have a better idea of what I will do when I graduate.

Number two, my dad wanted me to come home, plain and simple. Though he won’t admit it, he was trying his hardest to subtly guide me toward a really cool internship in Cleveland, Ohio as opposed to a regular internship in Denver, Colorado. I’m pretty glad I came home.

So, obviously, I got this internship, and I was actually really excited. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I had never taken a PR, advertising or marketing class before in my life. I read some books to make me feel better and more prepared. And I loved them. One of them, Lovemarks, by Kevin Roberts, is now one of my all-time favorites books. (Probably a good sign that I might be headed in the right career direction.)

But then, the other day at work, I got super excited. Like I said before, I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do, but I do have more than a few ideas, mostly unrelated, in mind. In the career planning session with Teri that Dan mentioned, I realized what I am really passionate about: media and culture. It was like a huge WABAM! right in the forehead. Knowing this will save me years of wasting my time at a job that I won’t like. Thank you, Teri.

Then, my day got even more exciting. I was told to introduce myself to the people that work over in connection planning because I had expressed interest in media research. So I sidled on over to the other side of the agency, introduced myself and offered to help with projects that the connection planning team works on. They were more than happy to give me work.

I absolutely love this internship because I can write press releases and I can research target audiences for a client’s new advertising campaign. I am not in any way pigeonholed to only doing what my title says I do. The people at Liggett Stashower want me to get the full experience; they want me to find what it is I really love to do.

Liggett Stashower employees are also passionate about their work and that passion is slowly seeping into my own veins. Who would have thought that each week I would get more and more excited to come to work? I must be on to something…

Ashley H.

Program Management Intern

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