By: Sarah Gentilucci
Lab3 Marketing Intern
The past two months have been incredible. I’ve been on the roller coaster ride of my life, which may not be a good comparison considering I’ve never actually been on a roller coaster but that’s a different story. My very first day as an intern (June 3rd to be exact) was the first day that Lab3 Marketing started. To be able to experience a new business starting from literally the first day is something that not many other interns can say they have done. I consider myself lucky. The ladies of Lab3 Marketing have been nothing but supportive and have honestly given me the best internship I could have asked for. It’s great to have mentors who take their time to stop and ask or e-mail to check up on me. Making sure I’m still comfortable or if I have any questions at all about anything that we are working on; or even if I have any questions about the marketing and business world in general. I’ve seen companies that we manage take a complete 360 in the branding and marketing concepts. Like today actually.
Today I updated all social media pages for one of our clients to their newest branding and logo images. To see the finished product on each new page after refreshing the page and see it go from what it used to be to this new, fresh, clean, inviting, and improved page was very rewarding for Lab3. After I had all of the new images loaded from their profile picture, to their background picture, and their new slogan I turned my screen towards Loran and was able to see a sense of excitement come off her face. It’s a long process and when you are able to show your new look off to people its even more rewarding for the marketer and the business owner.
I’ve been able to have the full experience here. I’ve gone to meetings, participated in creative sessions with the whole team, done research, written blogs, written newsletters, planned out posts for clients, made suggestions, saw a 360 turn for a company, saw all the tiny, tiny, tiny details that other people wouldn’t know about that really matters in the end. I’m getting a little emotional here thinking about it. Not just because I’ve been able to meet people that have really impacted my life and that I look up to. But because on a personal level this has been an achievement in my life. It’s been even more rewarding because my mentors have been so encouraging. Like at lunch today…
Lisa, Loran and I went out to lunch for my last day and they both asked me “is there any other kind of advice that you want for your last year of school or after graduation”? I of course like any other terrified senior year college student asked about applying to jobs and how to make a good impression or what else I can do to really jump start the process. They both gave me advice honest advice, one that I will share and the rest I will keep to myself…(it’s okay to be selfish sometimes, right? It’s a part of life). One piece of advice that I’m willing to give us is to be yourself especially in the marketing industry (yeah, I know you’ve heard it before, but hear me out).
I’ve been given advice before by other people about writing cover letters; where they took my cover letter and literally ripped it apart and took out everything that represents the person that I am. They told me “nobody cares about those details they just want to see your skills”. Well, despite being pissed about the fact they killed my pride and the work of my cover letter that took me days to perfect, I was also annoyed. I was annoyed because my cover letter looked just like every other one of my friends who were trying to apply to marketing internships. How was I supposed to stick out with a generic and boring cover letter that’s supposed to make employers want to look on to my resume?
That is exactly what Lisa and Loran told me…you’re not going to stick out. If you’re really trying to get into the marketing and advertising industry it’s all about personality. You’re supposed to be creative, quirky and weird. That’s why I didn’t listen to the person who edited my cover letter and I kept it just the way I had it. It worked right? I was able to get an internship. The personality that I showed was the same personality that I brought with me and I was met by even bigger personalities here at Lab3! You can’t be a good marketer or business owner if you don’t stand out! I know this advice might be something that people hear on the regular but after this summer I realize that it’s really important. Most people end up telling a business or company what they think they want to hear instead of be like “Yo, this is me and this is what I can bring to your company; it’s different and fun.” Of course you’d be more detailed…and not as loud, but you get my point.
Working in this office has especially taught me that; personality. I know I’ve said it before in my other blogs; this same thing over and over again, here it is one more time. The personalities in this office are awesome, and fire crack-ly, and energetic, and definitely a little sassy- just what a marketer should be. Not just their personality but also their attention to detail, which might have been another piece of advice they gave me at lunch; pay attention to detail it’s important.
Now, I know this blog post hasn’t been like my previous humorous ones. It’s been a little bit more on the pensive, holy crap my life is about to start in a year and I have to think about real world things, and emotional. But that’s because if I really think about everything I’ve done at Lab3 Marketing and the experience, I feel a little bit more prepared to take that leap…okay, maybe not leap. I think that made my heart stop…to take that next step…into the start of my career. I feel way more prepared and aware of what is expected of me as an employee than I did at the start of this summer.
To wrap up this long blog, I’ll close by saying I’m going to miss the 7 ½ ladies in this office (the ½ being Collins, Corina’s adorable baby girl!). Every single one of them has helped me along this summer, and they have all taught me something. But don’t worry; I’ll be back to bother them all! Maybe even a guest blog here and there!!
It’s been real, Peace, Ciao, Adios…
Sarah Gentilucci
The First Lab3 Marketing Intern
(I had the throw the ‘first one’ in there just for good measures!) 😉
