When you are looking for an internship, do you immediately glance over the job description and quietly in your head read, “grunt work?” Well, I did. I knew that if I applied for my first internship, I should just anticipate going on plenty of coffee runs and doing things that had little to nothing to do with the field I was interested in. Once I walked into UPshow, seeing that it was a laid-back start-up company with a social media mural on disply right when you walk into the office and white picnic tables instead of real tables, I realized that I might be wrong about my assumption.

The day I was hired, I was given the title, “Client Success Manager.” Such a prestigious label for a freshly hired intern! With only 25 people working for UPshow, I just assumed they didn’t already have that position filled so I gladly took the fancy title. The first few weeks at UPshow, I was given the tasks of creating spotlights and surveys for our clients. The spotlights are for their televisions in their bars that highlight certain events they host, such as Trivia Night or Happy Hour. I would go and creep around on the specific bar or restaurants’ social media pages to find out what events they are not utilizing for our spotlight feature. Then I would create the spotlight and apply it to their televisions right from my laptop in the office.

After a short while, I was told to “scrap that” and start doing something else. I showed a slight interest in learning data analytics, so my boss wanted me to get started right away! I was given all the tools to figure out the data for each client and how they are doing each day, week, month, and year with our product. I now create leaderboards and case studies for certain clients that we want to, “tell the best story” to in order to keep them as a regular client. These are clients that want to see how UPshow is benefitting them. A leaderboard is for a client that has multiple locations or branches, and I create a presentation with each of their data analytics. A case study is for singular clients that want to see their data in terms of the past 3 months and 6 months, as well as overall data. Basically, all this data is showing our clients that we can get them more customers into their venues, and this will lend itself to increasing their sales.

What I have taken from this internship is that a start-up is a lot of work. Each individual working for UPshow wears multiple hats. Everyone needs to be skilled in how to manage roughly each aspect of the company. Each of us should know how to create social media content, create accounts, package and ship boxes, data analytics, customer service, and of course, knowing how to use the product. I have learned about the more creative side to marketing, where I had to create spotlights on Canva. I also had to learn the more numbers focused portion of marketing with all the data analytics. I have even learned about some tools that businesses use in order to keep their company running, such as, Sales Force. This internship has helped me understand marketing a little better, and how it encompasses many different aspects of sales.

Signature Branding is a high-end merchandising solutions company for artists, musicians and music festivals. They focus on delivering product that has high quality material and visual art that captures the client’s vision, while offering better revenue generation opportunities for the clients. They carry a competitive advantage from creating product from low cost strategies but consistently delivering the best possible solutions. The company believes that when fans have better merchandise from artists, more sincere and long term relationships are built with the artists.

As social media marketing intern at Signature Branding I have the responsibility to create original posts on all social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, analyze the engagement and sales that correlate with posts that I create promoting the product.

Additionally, I audit social media pages for clients, competitor’s companies, festivals, artists and musicians that the company would like to work with in the future. I interact on those pages and share the page’s content to create engagement. One of the most important day-to-day tasks for the social media marketing intern is to keep up with current trends, lineup releases, new art, and new songs from musicians. When everything can be connected, it is easier to tag the pages in a post drawing more attention from outsiders and people who do not “Like” Signature Brandings page, but like pages that Signature Branding has interacted with.

This post was on Signature Brandings page, it shared another company’s article off their Facebook page that discussed a music festival and musicians that Signature Branding would like to work with in the future. On Signature Branding’s post I was able to tag that music festival and artist from the article, and connect them to our current client’s music festival where the same artist played at in 2016, bringing together our current clients and future clients while also still promoting our brand. Being aware of these connections helps Signature Brandings page become more exposed to different audiences within similar demographics. It is a way of online cross-promotion.

I also have been getting more involved in photoshoots, collection releases and information about upcoming projects. The more involvement I have in these internal projects, I am able to communicate about these upcoming releases on social media. The more that is communicated about the company on social media platforms, we are able to build more relationships with customers, clients and clients fans. For example, Signature Branding is releasing “collection one” at an event the company organized. The event includes a panel of Chicago natives that work in the streetwear, art, fashion and music industries and will discuss the intersection between music, art and fashion. Leading up to the event, I have created posts that talk about the panelists and focused on individual talents each panelist has, then connected it to their relationship with Signature Branding.

           I enjoy everything I do at Signature Branding. I am interested in the music, fashion and art industry and enjoy exploring new music, artists and festivals. This intern ship is helping me network and broaden my knowledge about music, genres, artists and festivals. I am learning about companies, brands, artists, and musicians all over the United States I have never heard of. I have freedom to engage and interact with companies, musicians, artists and festivals I enjoy while also promoting Signature Brandings products. One thing I love about Signature Branding is the sincerity, determination and creative design behind every product. I have stickers, prints and clothing from Signature Branding that I love, not only do I get to learn about all these people and companies in the industry, I get to promote a product I sincerely love.

The company I work for is MK Zubes. It is an online women’s clothing company that specializes in modest clothing for Muslim women. The company wants to provide these women with fashionable choices for dressing modestly. Though mainly targeted to Muslim women, the clothing is on trend and fashionable and can therefore be worn and appreciated by any woman. The store operates mainly online, but throughout the year puts up booths at fairs and events to
increase sales and grow its customer base.

I am a digital marketing intern. This means that I help with the company’s social media and online presence. I work with the analytics of the social media accounts and website (checking how many page visitors an Instagram post brings in, and if a promotion posted on social media brings in sales). I also help photograph products for social media posts and create graphic images to announce sales and convey the company’s message. Lastly, I help organize the company’s website, and also work to make banner images for the homepage and product images and details.

Most of my work is done remotely. I am given product to photograph by my boss and must send them to her to be approved. She also sends me messages asking to make graphic images to post on social media or resize and edit images to make them into banners. I have access to the back end of the site, allowing me to see what Instagram posts work to bring in customers to the site. I meet with my boss once a week to plan out the weeks marketing plan and to make sure we are on the same page and are on track. My boss often uses this time to tell me what work of mine she likes and doesn’t like, allowing me to make changes and improve.

The company is small, only including 15 employees in total. Though many employees live in the Chicago area, some live in other parts of the country and therefore most communication is done online. Once a week, the marketing team holds a Google hangout so that we can all talk about the projects we are working on and what needs to be done. Communication with other teams is typically done through Slack. The small size of the company makes communicating much easier than if this were a company with many employees.

This internship has been a great experience for me overall. I have come to find that I want to peruse a more creative aspect of marketing. This internship allows me to do just that. I have the opportunity to work with both analytics and design, which is an experience I do not think I would get at another company. Furthermore, I am interested in fashion and style so I enjoy working for a clothing company.

Another main reason why I like working for this company and why I have had such a positive experience is because I work for and with wonderful people. I work with powerful, hardworking women who are consistently inspiring me and empowering me to work harder every day.

While in the office, I search for different marketing events that we can display a booth at. I have to make sure that the events are affordable, realistic for us, and will be heavily populated. Negotiating booth pricing is also an important task, since our marketing budget is extremely low. Once my marketing events are booked, I go and attend these events with the goal of obtaining contact information from interested leads. After the marketing events, I call all of the leads and try to book them for our free assessment. Along with marketing events, I attend various amounts of Networking Events to try and build relationships with businesses. Once there is a relationship, I book a meeting to try and sell our Corporate Wellness Programs to their company.

I have learned a lot working here. I have learned how to create email campaigns, and how to tell which are successful or not. I have learned and became extremely comfortable with networking, and using networking to expand our business. My telemarketing skills have also improved with the high number of phone calls I conduct each week. Most of all, I have learned that “Success isn’t given, It’s Earned”. Working here and starting up a brand new company has taught me how difficult it is just to break even every month. I have taken into consideration how strategic you must be to earn business, and most importantly, retain business. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be able to lead a marketing team, and to learn the process of starting up a brand new company.

I hold the title of marketing assistant at RIPT Apparel. Once upon a time, over a year and three months ago, I was hired as a marketing intern. After three months of work I interviewed to become a marketing assistant. While it didn’t come with a pay raise, it did come with added responsibilities and no end-date to my time at RIPT. My day-to-day activities at RIPT have ranged widely during my time at the company. I’ve been involved in photo shoots, written blog posts, designed marketing graphics, performed search engine optimization, and worked at conventions running our marketing booth among other things.

But what do I do on a daily basis these days? Well, for one I schedule marketing graphics on social media platforms. We release new designs every day so it’s important that every social media platform is posting about them at midnight when they’re released. Onlypult, Viraltag, Hootsuite, and Facebook are all platforms used in scheduling social media content. I also create social media content, whether that involves taking product shots or creating engagement posts. On top of that, I track and analyze key metrics across platforms to see how well they’re performing. I hold giveaways on Instagram to increase engagement and followers. I’m also involved in email marketing. I use a platform called Klaviyo to build and schedule emails. This is a very important part of our selling process, as email generates around 40% of the company’s revenue. I have to choose which segments receive the emails and I also A/B test emails to find the best open rates.

The company is very small, less than 20 total employees, but it makes it feel like you’re a part of a family. They’re all super friendly and easy to talk to, and multiple people bring their dogs into work. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the day is seeing my boss’s dog, Nellie. She’s an adorable golden retriever who wants nothing more than to be your best friend and get pets. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can never give Nellie enough pets. But in all seriousness, I’ve learned a lot there. Not only about social media scheduling, email marketing, or blog writing, but about personal responsibility, time management, self confidence, and getting things done on schedule. If something is late, there’s no extension at RIPT Apparel, and it teaches you to stay on top of your work so nothing slips through the cracks. All in all, it’s been a fantastic experience and I strongly recommend working here, particularly if you’re looking for a friendly yet educational environment where you can push yourself while having a support network to help you grow.

This summer I am interning at Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. I am working in the Modular and Category Development department in consumables, specifically the laundry care group. Here at Walmart I have two projects this summer. My first project is to help with the assortment discipline process. My second project, the one I will be presenting at the end of the summer looks at how to get consumers to add value to their basket by buying a variety of products in the laundry care group.

I come into work every day Monday- Friday from 8am-5pm. We have multiple buildings here at Walmart but I work primarily at the home office. I will also travel between the Mohawk building (a conference center), and the Layout center, which has products on modulars for our department to work with. I come into work and take a look at what meetings I have that day and what still needs to get done with my project.

I sit in a pod with 4 other people: Norm, who is the buyer for the laundry group and Kim, who is the replenishment manager. Then there’s Juan, who works on Keith’s team and does the mods for laundry. Lastly, there’s Jerome who is the buyer for dish soaps and sponges.

Working on these projects consists of multiple things. I work with a lot of data, primarily from a market research company called Nielsen, as well as working with the category team at Sun Laundry Corporation. Their category team has helped me with data, charts, and graphs. My project looks at consumer data of buying behaviors of laundry and looking at what the barriers are to cross purchasing in the 7 steps of laundry.

I then have lunch at the cafeteria in the home office with some of the other interns that I met. At the beginning of the program, we had a two day orientation and that is where I was able to make a group of friends working in all different departments here at Walmart. After lunch I usually either continue to work on my projects or I attend meetings. There are a couple different kinds of meetings I usually attend. I have meetings with my mentor, Martha, who works in the Marketing building doing market research. Walmart gives everyone of their interns a mentor and manager, so every 3 weeks I meet with her and touch base about how I’m doing and how my projects are coming along. I also attend biweekly meetings with the VP of our department, Corey, and his entire team.

The main meetings that I attend are assortment discipline meetings. Assortment discipline is a series of workshops that help the buyer know the most information about his category. These workshops include a kickoff meeting, customer behavior tree, and clustering. These meetings look at consumer insights data to help our buyers make the best decisions when buying products looking at customer loyalty.

This summer I’ve been learning a lot. I’ve been working primarily in the laundry group but have had interactions with buyers, associate buyers, and merchandising specialists in other consumables as well. I work with Nielsen data and different excel data sheets that show consumer trends on buying laundry products. I’ve also learned a lot of time management. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and things move fast in the office. There are new products coming every day from the suppliers and because we rely so much on the consumers, Walmart has to be adaptable to what they want and what they are purchasing.

Walmart has given me the opportunity to work directly in the field that I would like to pursue after college, category management with consumer packaged goods. I have absorbed a lot of information that I will bring to my next position whether it be another role at Walmart, a retailer, or a consumer packaged goods company.

My name is Melanie Andres and I am currently a business development intern at ZappySales, an online retailer that sells a broad range of products including sporting goods, furniture, cosmetics, bedding, electronics, clothing, jewelry, and furniture. ZappySales was started four years ago by Igal Rubinshtien, alum of DePaul. Being a young company, it is fairly small. With a team of less than 20 people, many would think that ZappySales is minor, but once you look a little closer, you’d see that this is a company that is growing exponentially and is bursting at its seams. I think what I love most about this company is that they take on intern after intern, showing that they are open to young talent and the new ideas that come with them.

Since this was my first internship, I had no idea what to expect. I honestly thought that I would walk into something that would resemble Mad Men. I was wrong, but in many ways I’m glad that I was.

The ZappySales office is located right across the street from the Sears

Tower. So right after my classes finish around 1pm, I take a short walk from the DePaul loop campus to the ZappySales office. The ZappySales office is rented out from Level, a company that owns seven floors of the building to a lot of start-ups and small businesses. Once I get to our floor, I am greeted by Dana, the front desk person for Level.

By the time I get to the office suite, Igal Rubinshtein and Andrew Porter, the CEO and the Director of Sales and Marketing, are already hard at work tending to their daily activities. Andrew usually briefs me on what tasks need to get done that day. My first task is usually taking care of backorders and emailing customers if there has been a delay in getting their item shipped out. After that, it has become my responsibility to facilitate relationships with wholesalers, so I usually get on the phone, make some calls, send some emails, and follow up with those that I have already gotten a conversation going with. The goal of these conversations is to ultimately find wholesalers that have products we can feature on our websites and marketplaces. Once we have come to an agreement with these wholesalers, the information is then given to the IT department to upload onto the websites. After that, I usually help out with the result of completing the backorder emails: the customer service emails asking for tracking numbers and cancellations. It’s something that I have recently been introduced to, and I’m getting the hang of it.

At the end of the work day, usually 5pm, I make my way back to the lobby, say goodbye to Dana, and make my way to the bus home.

Although it isn’t the glitz that Mad Men portrays, I now have a better understanding of what marketing is. Sales have become a big part of what I do every day, and it is something that I have found that I have a knack for. Having this sort of experience is valuable to me because by being exposed to different areas of marketing, it’s helping me steer myself towards something I’d love to do after graduating. The work may be demanding and fast paced, but seeing the results of facilitating relationships and being a part of a developing business make it more than worthwhile. And as this internship ends, I am happy to say that I have accepted a full time position with the company starting in June right after finals.

6:00am alarm buzzes in my ear. I crack one eye open to see nothing but a light nightglow from the window. The sun hasn’t even risen yet and I am up- SNOOZE.

Fast forward 3 or 4 snoozes and I am racing against  the clock to get ready for the Clybourn Metra outbound train at 7:21 to Mt. Prospect. The uber drops me off at the train and I board, for what seems like, my second home- the train. Now, I enjoy this part of the morning, for I am not alone on this reverse commute. Just to give a little background, I work at Bosch Power Tool Corporation, specifically the headquarters in North America, which ultimately has 500+ employees in 7 different business units. So, on this reverse commute to Mt. Prospect, I see my fellow 17 brave commuters. A morning chitchat on the train is a must and 8 stops later, we all get off the train to then board the Bosch Commuter Bus with Carlos. Now, I only get to spend approximately 16 minutes with Carlos a day (train to Bosch, and round trip back to train after the workday is over) but he always puts a smile on my face. “Gooooooooood Morning fellow Bosch employees” brightens my day in the morning and “Areeeeeee we ready to go home everyone?” in the afternoon makes me feel taken care of. 8 minutes later, we arrive  to Bosch’s front doors, we walk down a 400 ft. hallway, I say farewell to my fellow commuters until our 4:21 bus back to the train, I go up one flight of stairs, I round the corner, say “Good Morning” to the Measuring Tools (MT) team and I make it to my cubicle by 8:00am. But my cubicle doesn’t really look like a cubicle- more like mix between a file/ storage cabinet.  But first, coffee. (Valid side note: I am beyond blessed to be one of the only business units (Measuring Tools) to have our own coffee set up so we can always have it at hand.) 2 creams, and 3 sugars later, I am back at my so-called “desk.”

Half of my desk is full of shipments and orders, and the other half is buried under paper work. First, I open up my computer, login to Outlook and check my meetings and such for the day. As I am a part time intern now (I was full time during the summer) I spend most of my time following through with the projects I have already started and keeping all promotions organized. I have worked on two big projects during the summer, one that stacks up the promotion side of my desk, which was Sell to Sail. The other was A+ pages for Amazon which was buried with all the paperwork on the other half of my desk.  I usually liked to make sure all of my shipments were out on time so I start with the Sell to Sail project every morning. The Sell to Sale project is an internal 1-year (started in January 2015) project for MT where whoever in the field sells the most, will win a free cruise in April 2016. This project is split between 3 business units (Accessories, MT, and Brand) so many meetings are set up through out the week to make sure all loose ends are met. I have personally created the “messages in a bottle” (reminders) about the contest. In addition, within those bottles where little “map messages” that I created with brand to give the guys in the field a little boost of confidence. (As the project continues to the end of internship (December), I am excited to see how it all falls into place.)

Roughly 4 hours of meetings, shipments, and mailroom visits, lunch finally arrives. Now, at Bosch, at exactly12:00pm the building is dinning in the cafeteria or en route to their lunch destination.  I usually grab a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria for two reasons. One is because Bosch subsidizes their cost of food for a cheaper more convenient (in the building) bite to eat. The second is because I don’t have a car. (But I mainly eat there because of the first point.)

The clock strikes 1:00pm and everyone is back in their cubicles grinding away at their work. By now, I am transitioning on to the other side of my desk, which is the current A+ page project. This is another project I started as a summer intern and am continuing to use and update until the end of internship. Bosch’s A+ pages are located on Amazon and they are meant to be a little profile of the products we sell. I was trained in how to update these pages but they are meant to be user friendly and easy place to understand how the products work, what the products kit includes and compare other products Bosch has. (A simplified version of) the process goes like this:

1. Locate product manager’s specifications on MDP (Media Data Pool)
2. Find pictures/ description of product
3. Download information on computer
4. Login/ copy and paste all info on to Amazon
5. Get approved by Amazon

Then, repeat for EVERY Bosch product on Amazon, so one can see how this can be a lengthy project. There are two aspects that I really enjoy about this project. The first reason is that I get access all data on products, which gives ample opportunities to really understand the products at hand. The second reason is, and possibly my absolute favorite part, that my work is on Amazon!

Fast forward roughly 3 hours of research, Amazon, and downloads and 4:00pm rolls around. Everyday, before I head out, my manager and I have a quick wrap up chat for the day. Wrap up with manager? Check.  Now, for the commute back to Chicago.

Per usual, Carlos greets the 18 of us with his “Areeeeeee we ready to go home everyone?” We all grin happily, give a little sigh of exhaustion as he starts up the engine for us to make the 4:21 train to Chicago.