Position: Intern Coordinator/Marketing Intern, co-manager of the intern blog
School: The College of Wooster, Class of 2014
An Unforgettable Experience
Wow—what can I say? This summer at FlashStarts has been unlike any other experience I’ve ever had before, and I absolutely loved every minute of my internship here. It’s hard to believe that this summer is coming to a close, and I will be back in Wooster in a couple short weeks and will be starting my senior year. However, now I know what I want to do after I graduate in May—all thanks to my wonderful internship at FlashStarts this summer.
How could I not apply for this?
I won’t lie, at first when I was looking for an internship, I was focused on broadcast journalism internships and only that. It was always my dream to be a news anchor, producer or writer for a big production company. After applying for many internships and not being so lucky, I decided to broaden my search to include public relations and marketing, thinking I could (and would) be good in those fields if I tried (my Dad had always told me to try marketing and I always ignored him—I guess he was right in the end).
After searching for marketing internships with companies that were interesting to me, I came across FlashStarts and saw that they needed a marketing/social/research intern. I read about the company, the kind of marketing skills I would be learning, and did I mention it was also paid? Yes—a paid internship. Not only was that appealing, but the fact that I would be able to channel my communications background into something new excited me.
To be honest, I really didn’t know much about accelerators, startups or anything about business. However, the idea of being a part of a team and gaining real meaningful experience caught my attention. How could I not apply for this? I was pleasantly surprised with the quick response I got from Jodi after applying, and was on my way for an interview at the Penthouse Suite in the Keith Building.
Side note: Our offices are beautiful. We are on the top floor of the Keith Building and our view is incredible!
The only scary part is walking through this hallway—I promise it gets less scary as the summer goes on.
After meeting Jen, Jodi, and Charles, and seeing how passionate and excited they were about FlashStarts and the startup community, I knew I wanted to work here and challenge myself by doing something new. Thankfully I got offered an internship! Everything they told me about the internship was even better than I imagined.
Value I Gained From Learning
It’s hard to sum up all of the great things about this internship. Working here makes me feel like I am actually an asset to the teams. The work that I do means something, and the teams use it to grow their companies. I’m not doing tasks and jobs just to keep busy. I’ve been able to learn so much here that I could have learned in a marketing class, but the actual experience really taught me how to apply it in real situations. In a way, I feel like I learned more here this summer than I would have in a marketing class. I was given tasks that I have no idea how to do, and I was able to figure it out and learn from it.
It’s an awesome experience to be given a task, figure out how to do it, create a product and see how successful and helpful it is to the teams. Working here has made me feel very valuable and has taught me real-world skills that I will need in the future.
Not to mention, I was able to make this blog—how fun is that?
A Downside: Saying Goodbye
Not only is the experience incredibly valuable, but the office environment is fun too! Working with the entrepreneurs (many of whom are young) and all of the other interns makes coming to work easy! The laid back environment and the youthful feel of the office makes FlashStarts such a great place to work at. Many of the people I have met here this summer will be lifelong friends, and saying goodbye to them will be hard.
My Pivot
After being here this summer, I am pivoting my old dream of being in broadcasting into something that incorporates all of the things I am passionate about: communications, public relations and now marketing. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do after graduation, but I now know that it will incorporate marketing. I am so grateful that I was able to work here this summer and am so thankful that this internship opened my eyes to the exciting world of marketing.
All in all, this has been the best experience I could have ever asked for (seriously). I have learned tons, both personally and professionally, met some wonderful people, and I wish the summer didn’t have to end!
