Reflecting On My Internship Experience

           Tomorrow is the last day of my internship at Dana Dramov Consulting. I am more than excited that this day has come. I regret this to say that although I went into this internship with excitement, an open mind, and high hopes, I am finishing it off with bitter feelings. This is not a company I would like to work for in the future. In fact, this company is currently struggling. I regret to have spent such a miserable three months during this internship. I spent the majority of the first two months running personal errands that were both time consuming and mentally and physically challenging. It was not until the last month that I wrote an email to my supervisor requesting to do tasks related to the industry that I was actually given time to do more reasonable things.
          There are a total of three employees at this company. Aside from their inability to provide adequate mentorship to me, and their lack of respect towards their interns, another reason why I would never want to work for this company is for the lack of excitement they portray as publicists. When learning about PR and Marketing campaigns, I learned about exciting projects and events agencies organize. However, for the past three months that I have been interning at Dana Dramov Consulting, I have not witnessed any great projects, client collaborations, events, or anything of that nature. Public relations and marketing are two of the few industries that provide opportunity for creativity. However, the energy and work that I saw from this company seemed to be rather dull and tedious. I did not learn anything here that I otherwise couldn't have just by searching through Google. As for what I do want to do in the future goes, I definitely would love to pursue a career in marketing, but I am almost positive I want it to be in the beauty, rather than the fashion industry.
           The most important thing I've learned in this internship is that when you feel you need your voice to be heard, then let it be heard. At first, I was very intimidated and fearful of speaking up and letting my supervisor know how I felt and what was bothering me. I later realized that if I don't speak up, then I will never get asked what I want or what I need. I am a very social, friendly and approachable person. Rarely do I ever come across someone that I cannot get along with. If I do meet someone who I cannot communicate with, I tend to keep my distance and avoid any stress or dilemmas. However, having to commit three days a week for three months to a place with people who were very difficult to approach taught me to grow tougher skin, face and deal with the conflicts.
            Unfortunately, I was not able to network at all during this internship. Although I made many trips to magazine publications for dropping off and picking up samples, I did not meet anyone because these trips were always to the messenger centers of those buildings. In the office, I did not have contact with the clients. When clients, stylists, bloggers or editors came to the showroom, I was never introduced to them because my supervisor said that I am only an intern and too junior to be introduced to anyone. I did not have an opportunity or ability to meet people or establish any connections.
            I definitely would not recommend this internship to another student at QC. If you want to intern for a fashion pr/marketing company, do a lot of research and find several places to apply. I strongly recommend interning at a company bigger than one with only three employees. I assume the size of the company was also a contributing factor for my miserable experience. On a positive note, I now know New York City like the back of my hand thanks to the countless trips I made these past few months!