Being an intern...

At the end of November 2011 I completed my year-long internship at marcusbrewster. As part of our third year requirements for our experential learning, we were required to apply to a few companies for possible internships. One of my choices was marcusbrewster as I had previously helped out with their fund-raising book sales in aid of Western Cape NGO, Wola Nani.

Once I was offered the job after two nerve-wracking interviews, I found myself questioning whether I had made the right choice to work there for the next year. The intern the year before had told me what a bad experience she had had there and warned me not to take it! This put me off a bit as I had heard first-hand that it was not a good experience to work there. Albeit, I decided to go with my gut feeling and take the position, knowing that each experience is different to each and every one, and also that it is what you make out of a situation that determines the outcome.

Being an intern is no easy task. I did everything from pitching news stories to media, to washing dishes in the office! There were many tasks I detested doing such as collecting the post, product drops to media, compiling coverage reports, taking minutes at meetings and hundreds of thousands of media clippings on a daily basis. All manotonous admin tasks that no-one really likes doing.

On the other hand, there were so many other exciting opportunities that I was involved in. I attended the 2011 PRISM Awards, built relationships with the media, hosted journalists to dinners, re-launched PLAYBOY South Africa magazine and The Spa at The Twelve Apostles Hotel, and launched South Africa's first eco-cemetery, Legacy Parks. I was involved in and got the opportunity to work on so many different accounts, and overall, gained so much experience that I'm sure I would never have gained elsewhere.

I met such amazing people that I worked with, which even brought me to tears on my last day there. All the hard work paid off in the end and I definitely would not change anything about my experience there.