Last Week Ahead? Five Things You Must Do

Oh, it's the moment you've been dreading. Weeks of fumbling and learning the ropes, days spent getting to know and be inspired by all those around you, and just as you feel completely adjusted, your calendar says time's up. You're about done. It's heartbreaking, it's something you've been trying not to think too much about — it's just too sad — but you can't avoid it much longer. Once 6 p.m. comes around and you go, it'll be for the last time.

The end of an internship is always tricky emotionally, but it doesn't have to be good-bye forever. As you prepare for your last weeks, a couple of ideas to help tie those ends neatly — and keep the door open for the future.

1) Be sure to get coffee with your editors. Get feedback on your performance. Let them know if there's anything you'd still like to do your last week. Ask about opportunities post-internship — can you freelance write for them? Is there any way you can stay involved with the publication? This conversation with your editor is your chance to learn what's beyond your last day and make your last week the best it can be. Don't forget too to let your editor know too your impressions of your experience: it'll help him or her continue to build out the program for your successors!

2) Have thank you notes ready. Buy nice stationary and be prepared to write: handwritten thank you notes are a must that last day. Be sincere and genuine in what you write. Type out a draft of what you want to say before you write it on the card — having the words planned minimizes mistakes.

3) Connect with your fellow interns on Facebook if you haven't already. Try to build out those relationships if you have a chance because you never know where in the industry your colleagues will end up. Networking is more than just adding editors on LinkedIn: it's realizing everyone you meet is interconnected. Stay in touch with your gang and bond if you have a chance. Plan an intern dinner or happy hour to say good-bye in style. It's more than just contacts you're after; internships are about making and maintaining friendships, too!

4) Get the HR contact if you're at a bigger company. Ask your editor for an HR contact and email them, attaching your resume and expressing your interest in the company. You may not be looking for jobs now, but there's no harm in asking for a meeting or information about future internship and employment opportunities at your organization.

5) Give it your best until the very end. Don't use your last week to coast — rather, step up your game. Leave your editors with a great impression of you by adding a little extra effort to everything you do. Wear a smile, have fun and don't forget to say thanks at the end. Take a moment and pat yourself on the back once you finish: you've aced this internship, and you have every right to be proud.

Keep up your great work, Cafme, and best of luck as the summer winds down. Be on the lookout for information about our fall events on Twitter, Facebook and our regular blog. We can't wait to meet with you all and hear about your summers in person!

Continue shining, everyone!

It [Was] Good to be an Intern at Seventeen!

At Seventeen magazine, I have made so many irreplaceable memories and as I wrap up my internship here, I wanted to leave y'all with one of my favorites!

This past Tuesday, Seventeen partnered with American Eagle's "Live Your Life" campaign to sponsor an event in Times Square. Being the celeb-obsessed intern that I am, I was naturally selected to assist our editor-in-chief, Ann Shoket, who would be signing issues next to Pretty Little Liars' Shay Mitchell. 

Approaching the giant tents, I looked for the line of eager fans waiting to meet Shay. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of girls waited eagerly in the hot sun holding handmade posters of their teen idol. The first 25 would have the opportunity to take a picture with Shay and be entered to be a part of American Eagle's new campaign. The remainder of the fans would have the opportunity to have the most recent issue of Seventeen signed by its very own cover girl and editor-in-chief!

Entering the signing tent, where Shay and Ann would sit, I received my American Eagle staff pass. And as hundreds of girls came through, I realized how special Shay really was to so many fans. She greeted each and every person with a smile and a kind word — she even gave hugs to some of her fans! 

As the day continued, and it got hotter, Shay did not complain once but instead continued to greet each of her fans with the same enthusiasm as the first. Her positive attitude and energetic spirit made me into an even bigger fan and as the event came to an end, I had to get a picture with her:

Meeting Shay and seeing what a wonderful influence she is on teenage girls made me realize how important role models can be and why Seventeen has such value. Finishing my internship on such a great note, I am happy to say that I enjoyed each and every moment! 

Thanks to the staff for teaching me so much, being so welcoming and providing me so many opportunities! Here's to hoping we meet again!

XOXO, 

Sydney 

Wrapping Up My Summer at Carolina Woman

It's hard to believe Thursday is the last day of my internship at Carolina Woman magazine. This summer has really flown by! This week has been deadline week for the August, so it hasn't been the quietest exit. But overall, I would say my internship at Carolina Woman was a great experience and I learned a lot of (unexpected) things.

1) Bigger isn't always better
Even though Carolina Woman is not a large, national magazine, I believe I learned a lot there that will help me in the future. Through this particular internship, I was able to be extremely hands-on with the publication, an experience I don't think I would be able to have at the national level. I contributed to each aspect of the publication including creating content, making graphic design decisions, editing and proofs, and perhaps most importantly, staff and traffic management. While this sometimes meant a lot of responsibility, I believe it will definitely help me in the long run.

I would encourage other journalism students to look outside the "big names" and intern at smaller publications. It really helps to see each aspect of what goes into a magazine and at the local level, you can really get an up-close look.

2) Teamwork means a lot in the magazine industry
You can't put together a publication by yourself or with one or two other people. Working at Carolina Woman not only showed me how much goes into a publication but how each individual staff member can contribute. More importantly, it was great to see what it was like to work in an environment where other people not only needed your contribution but depended on it so that they could do their own part.

I would encourage other students to make sure they are putting their best work out there in a timely fashion while interning. This leaves a great impression not only with management, but also gives you the self-satisfaction of making a meaningful contribution.

Additionally, you don't get to choose the people you work with. I met some great people while interning, but needless to say, you can't be everyone's best friend. This internship taught me a lot about working with people whose personalities, work ethic and characteristics might not click as well with yours. In "the real world," I know I will have to work with individuals who might challenge my patience, and this internship helped prepare me for that aspect of the future. At the end of the day, a magazine staff is a team with one common goal, and you all need to work together.

3) Take away what you love — and what you don't
Not every internship will be a "dream" internship leading you down the path to you your dream job. You may have not even liked your internship that much. I would encourage other journalism students to intern as much as possible and consider the aspects that you liked and didn't like while continuing in the industry. Did you like the way management distributed tasks? Did you like writing more, or did you find yourself loving design a lot more than you expected?

While interning at Carolina Woman, I learned a lot about what I want in a future work environment and what aspects are important that I wouldn't have realized otherwise.

Again, I had a great time interning at Carolina Woman, and I learned a lot from this experience. Have a great rest of the summer, CAFME!

Being at AC360 When Anderson Cooper Came Out

I was checking my Twitter timeline on the train to NYC when all of a sudden a Gawker tweet changed my whole day.

"Anderson Cooper is gay now," it said. At first, I thought it was another rumor — after all, he'd never addressed his sexuality before. Then I read it: an eloquent email from the man himself.

I was amazed! I understood his reluctance to address his sexuality because as a journalist, objectivity is of the highest importance, but I was proud. My boss was brave.

He wasn't in the office that day. Actually, he wouldn't be in for the rest of that week. He was in Botswana covering a story for 60 Minutes. So I knew there was no chance we'd address his email on the show.

It was an interesting day at work that day, mostly because I was shadowing our digital producer, Ella, who manages the show's web presence, and I was on Twitter duty. By the show's 8 p.m. airtime, Anderson Cooper had been a trending topic for 10 hours.

The tweets ranged from support from celebrities, fans and show staff to tweets that insisted that the world already knew about his sexuality.

When AC came back, he came to the show's editorial meeting and asked the staff if they had any questions: none except from one of our senior producers. Would he address it on the show? He said no. He said he had said everything he had to say.

It was cool to see the public react to a message from someone I work with every day!

The Perks of Being an Intern

So. You’re an intern. You’ve been badged, labeled, introduced by this loaded name, yadda yadda yadda, but what does this really mean?

To some, this is equivalent saying you’re at the bottom of the food chain. You’re the fish the shark eats. No, scratch that, you’re the little fish the big fish eats that the shark eats. No, scratch that, you’re the algae the little fish eats that the big fish eats that the shark eats. 

You get the point. 

You’ll be ordered around by these I-think-I-am-slash-I-actually-am-better-than-you “superiors” (ahem, tyrants). Do as they say. File their paperwork. Fetch their morning chai tea lattes from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (but whatever you do, don’t spit in it). 

However, on the flip side, being an intern can be a good thing. It’s empowering. And in fact, it’s the best thing. I’m going to take the glass-is-half-full route and tell you exactly why. (Disclaimer: some of these things may pertain specifically to my internship, but you get the gist.)

1. You’re allowed to make mistakes.
You can screw up the first … second … and maybe third time. (Much more than that, though, and you’ll earn yourself a bad rep and responsibility of all the timeless, irrelevant and un-breaking news stories.) Do you realize how liberating this is?

Just think — HEY, you’re allowed to make mistakes. You’re only potty training.

2. You can take exploit company resources and not feel guilty about doing so.
This is my absolute favorite part. For example, I found out on my first day that as an intern, I’m “required” to attend a taping of The Soup and Chelsea Lately.

…..UHHHHHH. Do you understand how loaded this “requirement” is? Especially to me? Chelsea Handler is my IDOL. I kid you not. I am the least star-struck person maybe to exist (anticlimactic, I know, to be living in Los Angeles) with the exception to Ms. Handler and her fabulous midget friend, Chuy. And I get to meet the dynamic duo tomorrow, sitting VIP in the first row for her 2 p.m. taping. (I know, I know, tough life.)

Additionally, on an every-other-daily basis, Pinkberry or Joan’s on Third or Fonuts (fake donuts, get it?) set up camp in the office and I’m “required” to attend an E! Online social. 

Furthermore, if I were to ever stumble upon a movie premiere (ha, like this would ever unintentionally happen), I would be “required” to cover the event — stalk the stars of the red carpet, pester the shit out of Hollywood’s latest heroes — as a reporter representing E!

It’s safe to say I haven’t really been able to complain about my intern “requirements.”

3. You’re still in college.
This makes everyone jealous. (Especially Madison or Rob, recently graduated 20-somethings, sitting at the cubes next to you.) 

Your hard work has paid off: You have earned an incredible opportunity at an incredible news or magazine publication. Yes, you’re working long hours and many, many weeks, but just think: you are still in college. (Pending you make it alive and well out of your internship), you will have gained a multitude of skills, get to put it on your resume and resume the routine of college life: sleeping, attending 15 hours of class per week, sleeping, partying, sleeping, hanging with friends, repeat. 

4. You have a set start and end date.
Meaning … if you absolutely hate the living shit out of your job — well, suck it up. You’ve only got a few more weeks. As the (wo)man, the myth and the legend, otherwise known as my wise Aunt Sue, once told me, “This, too, shall pass.” Your job has an expiration date. You are not slaving your life away to support a family; you are not obliged to a 3-year contract; you are simply gaining experience over the course of a few months.

Take, for example, my internship last summer. I worked up to 12-hour days at a high fashion publication, running garment bags of Alexander Wang gowns to and from the Canal Street store — sometimes taking the subway up to 14 times a day — in heat stroke-inducing heat, only eating once a day on my 30-minute (max) lunch break and working in an overcrowded fashion closet where we weren’t even allowed to touch the computers or breathe in the presence of our famous editors. I was a fashion intern. And going into the summer, I thought that was the end all to be all. However, what I quickly learned from my slave labor was that no, I didn’t want to pursue a career in fashion; I wanted to write. It became crystal clear to me only through my experience.

While I hated last summer’s exhausting internship, I learned a hell of a lot about myself. That’s what internships are for. And instead of crying while I was waiting for the subway, I thought; I wrote; and most importantly, I smiled: it was only a summer internship.

Alternatively, if you absolutely love your internship …

5. … and if you really, really crush it, it may just transform into a real job.
How nice would it be to have the security blanket of going into your junior or senior year of college and knowing what your post-grad life entails?

Might be nice …

Personally, I absolutely love my job. I look forward to going into work every day, even if it means driving in the parking lot of crackhead LA commuters for up to an hour each way (to go 14 miles, may I add); even if it means I don’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. each night (to put that into perspective, that is 11 p.m. North Carolina time); and even if it means I don’t have Kaelyn time. Ever.

EVEN if it means I am only an intern. Because, hey, I don’t think being an intern is that bad.

Esquire in Londontown, Part II

So, back to London!

As you’re probably aware, this year is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which means 60 years of reigning glory! That actually is pretty impressive if you think about it: she’s seen [Winston] Churchill and [Margaret] Thatcher to name some of the more iconic British prime ministers. From the American perspective, 60 years is all the presidents from Truman and Ike [Dwight Eisenhower] to our current Obama. The royals are having something of a spike in popularity at the moment. Of course, everyone was already in love with Kate and Will, but with such festivity everywhere, (we’re talking 1,000 boats on the Thames river for the flotilla pageant!), it seems that everything British is brilliant!

The Queen’s party, however, was not the only throw-down in town (forgive me, I do write that slightly satirically), which brings me to my most glamorous moment at Esquire. The work and experience are of course the important things and the most integral, but a little bit of glitz is all right every now and then! This is Londontown in 2012! The whole place is celebrating the Queen/the Olympics/the European Championships – and men’s fashion collections!

In an incredibly fortunate turn, I am here for the week of London Collections: Men. This is a series that sits outside the men’s fashion calendar but grew out of men’s day at London Fashion Week. The collections are primarily British designers, and Esquire being one of the foremost men’s fashion magazines is an important and essential presence. 

So, naturally, they threw a party. 

The party was in collaboration with Jimmy Choo and Mr Porter, (the men’s edition of net-a-porter.com for all of you fashion enthusiasts. The previous editor of Esquire, Jeremy Langmead, is now in charge Mr Porter). And it was fashionable indeed. The CEO of Hearst came for night off, and Jimmy Choo’s creative directors kicked back. One of Esquire’s recent cover stars, Jon Hamm, was in attendance, as was Florence Welch, actor Benedict Cumberbatch, designer Matthew Williamson, style icon Alexa Chung (who DJed!) and many other beautiful and talented characters who are big in the British scene. The drinks were flowing, the music was dropping, and the hotel was beautiful. 

All of this sounds very glamorous and exciting – and it was, especially for a novice like myself – but there was a huge amount of organization and logistics that came beforehand. The entertainment editor was essentially consumed by the event in the week leading up to it, and he did an incredible job! I was brought on board to address invites and deliver the goody bags and issues that we would give out at the end of the night. I was thrilled to be part of the action, but I certainly had my “Oh crap!” intern moment. On the day of the party, I needed to transport the goody bags, perfume samples and magazines from the offices to the hotel when no couriers were available, a fire and back-to-back traffic obstructed Trafalgar Square, and the driver of the passenger van I arranged instead suffered chronic diarrhea. But it all worked out. 

That, I think, is the essence of what you learn in an internship. It’s fun, creative and exciting, but your work really matters and the people you are working with really care. It’s about making the jump from classroom to office, even if you think you’ll be totally prepared because you’re a Carolina journalism student, right? It’s about embracing the tasks that you weren’t and cannot be prepared for. I know I’ve learned to edit at UNC; I had no idea I was so terrible at answering a phone until I had to suffer a week of tentative, bashful mess-ups while all the important people around me could overhear. Obviously, I got the hang of it (kind of), but the more important thing was that I learned to accept that I was still learning. It doesn’t matter how good a writer or an editor you are. There is so much to learn, and I know that I will spend my first internships and jobs mostly learning, and seeing how far I can extend the skills I have brought from UNC. 

I will say one more thing that I don’t think gets talked about enough at UNC or in CAFME. At Carolina, yes, you are working at a very high, respectable standard. It is competitive, and we are better and more ambitious because of that. But do not make the mistake of acting solely on ambition. Do not intern anywhere or somewhere because "that’s what everyone else is doing," or because it’s a big, recognizable title. Yes, big titles open doors, and they really do operate on a different plane. But go after what you’re really passionate about. I’m really interested in literary and long-form journalism. You might be wondering why I went to a “men’s” magazine and not something more conventional. I went there because Esquire publishes some of the best contemporary writers around and because I don’t actually really read Cosmo and ELLE or Lucky and Glamour. I read the journalists and writers who tend to feature in Esquire, Vanity Fair, GQ, T magazine, The Atlantic. I can honestly say this internship taught me so much and opened up so much that I didn’t know about the area I’m interested in, and that is the point of work experience. You might be good enough to get into a number of high-profile titles, but even if your resume can get you in the door, down the road, to really be an effective and impassioned contributor, you need to really care and really know your stuff.

Small Mags Have Perks: Working at Parenting Magazine

Prepare to be jealous: I ate a lobster at the same restaurant as Kristen Wiig for my internship.

I’m Meghan DeMaria, and I’ll be a senior at UNC this fall. This summer, I’m an editorial intern at Parenting magazine. Parenting is part of the Bonnier Corporation, which also publishes titles like Popular Science, Garden Design and Fly Fishing in Salt Waters. 

I’ve done research for print features and contributed to Parenting.com’s Show and Tell blog, which recaps children’s news for parents. I do tasks like running errands and sorting mail, though there are a lot less of these administrative duties than I anticipated. 

The best part of interning at Parenting is going to PR events. They are a great learning experience and a great way to network – at one event, I found myself sitting next to the new beauty assistant at Teen Vogue! Since she had just been hired, she was almost as new to the process as I was, and it was nice to talk a little without the setting of an interview, even an informational one. 

So far, I’ve been to a toy preview, a presentation by Proctor & Gamble on chemical use in beauty products, a launch party for Palace Resorts and a Burt’s Bees luncheon. I also got to go to an advanced screening of the latest Disney-Pixar movie, Brave, for free. 

The Burt’s Bees luncheon provided the lede for this post – it was at ABC Kitchen, a swanky, eco-friendly café in the Village. They’d prepared a special menu for the event, and one of the options was a full lobster! And yes, Kristen Wiig was sitting at the bar, just a few feet away. 

Everyone at Parenting is so nice and extremely patient. I am excited to finish the summer here and complete my current projects!