Internships provide college students with many tools that allow them to thrive professionally once they graduate college. Not only do they allow students to gain experience in the workforce, but they also provide avenues to build connections with people in their desired field and figure out what kind of environment they want to work in after they graduate. Having the opportunity to be a sales and marketing intern with BBR helped me do just that.
As a Public Relations major at Louisiana State University, I sought out an internship with an agency this summer to figure out exactly what direction I wanted to go in once I graduate. With a PR degree there are many different directions you can take. If it was not for internship opportunities, I would have never realized that I enjoy working in marketing.
After my summer internship at BBR, I thought it may be helpful to provide insight to future interns, outline some key things I learned along the way and give them a few tips that may help in their own journey as well.
1. BBR has an extremely well structured system.
During my first week as an intern, I was given the orientation of a lifetime. By the end of my first week I knew exactly how BBR ran and what each person was in charge of. This was super beneficial to me because every marketing agency runs differently. I really enjoyed getting to know exactly how everything runs and the process of working with a client. Being in sales and marketing, I really focused on working with BBR’s brand alone and less with their specific clients. Therefore, I really liked that even though I did not do much client work (as BBR was my “client”), I still had a good idea of what was going on in the office.
Tip #1: Come to orientation ready to learn! A lot of information may be thrown your way, but it was all so interesting and beneficial to me throughout my sales and marketing internship.
2. BBR is an extremely supportive environment.
Something I had never seen as an intern before was how openly supportive the BBR team is. Every Monday meeting they leave time at the end for team members to shout out other team members for their hard work — these are called “Bravehearts.” Sometimes people work on assignments that only one or two people ever see them work on, so it was super uplifting to watch people get highlighted for their hard work that others did not see while living out BBR’s core values.
Tip #2: Make sure your schedule allows you to attend Monday morning meetings.
3. BBR gives you a lot of flexibility and creative freedom.
When joining BBR, I was not expecting to be given assignments where I would be allowed to highlight my own creative abilities. For example, I wrote copy for social media posts and also wrote a few blog posts (besides this one, haha). And to be completely transparent, this TERRIFIED me. Being around so many creative people who seem so much smarter and wiser than me, I was so afraid they would look at my work and think it was bad. Especially since as an intern you want all of your work to be perfect, it was extremely hard for me to push past that perfectionist in me and just allow myself to let my creativity flow. But once I was able to push past that breaking point, I really feel like I was able to learn and gain feedback that I would take with me once my internship was over.
Tip #3: Be confident in your creative capabilities. In most environments (and especially at BBR), they want to see what you can do and their feedback will be nothing but helpful.
4. BBR loves giving back to the community.
I was lucky enough to lend a hand during BBR’s annual Hygiene for Humanity project. This is a month-long drive they put on every year for the Stella Maris Center. This year, they partnered with Rouse’s to set up donation bins in addition to an Amazon storefront where people could donate hygiene products like shampoo and deodorant. It was truly special getting to see a company care so much about giving back, and I am very grateful I got to experience this drive with them to support Catholic Charities.
Tip #4: If you don’t get a chance to participate in a summer internship, ask your supervisor about this project because it is truly a super unique part of BBR. Perhaps you could consider a different way to give back to the community, too?
5. BBR likes to make work fun!
Something I found really special about BBR was their Unplugged hour. This was an hour every Friday dedicated to team building with programming ranging from birthday parties, to getting to know the newest employees, and so much more. BBR truly values working together as a team and that is shown through Unplugged. Plus it was something fun to look forward to every Friday!
Tip #5: Try to attend at least one Unplugged event as an intern. It is super fun to watch how close the team is and how it positively affects their work together.
There are so many other lessons I learned at BBR and tips I could give future interns, but these five were the ones that will really stick with me as I wrap up my sales and marketing internship and head back to LSU.
My final tip is if you get the opportunity to intern with BBR Creative, TAKE IT! You will not regret it.
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