My time at Time Inc.
Looking at my calendar these days blows my mind. Somehow it’s August again, and soon enough I’ll be back home. No, not home home, but my home away from home — the place I’ve spent a lot more time at than home-home in the last two years. But this year is different than the last couple have been. Instead of legitimately wondering where the time went between pining for Vandy (a mere thirty hours after leaving) and packing my bags to head back again, I can tell you exactly what I’ve been up to. For the past two months I was living in New York and working every day, which means I had my very first experience as a pseudo adult! I went to bed before 1am (!!!), I made my own breakfasts instead of hobbling half-asleep to Grins, I had daily schedules that I actually adhered to… clearly all very new experiences for me. BUT, when it comes to doing new things this summer, those were just the beginning. The real new stuff happened from 9-5 (well, 10-6 — best job ever, I know), so, as promised, I’ll share some more about my time at Time.
As an intern at Real Simple I interviewed sources, researched for upcoming pieces, put together sample articles, written for the website and the magazine (!!!) and so, so, so much more. I feel like I’ve gotten to experience so many different aspects of working in editorial, and I’ve also had the to meet so many cool people! Between the events Time Inc. planned, Vandy on Madison Avenue meetings with different media professionals, and getting to sit down with all the senior editors at Real Simple at a special roundtable just for interns, I feel like I suddenly understand so much more about the industry I want to go into, which is a huge takeaway when you consider that I went in knowing virtually nothing.
My experience at Vandy overall has been amazing so far and I wouldn’t trade it or change a thing, but going from working in media on campus to a professional publication with worldwide readership is a big jump, and its really helped me solidify my ideas about what I’d like to do once I’m done with school. I think, for the most part, my friends and classmates who did other internships this summer felt similarly. Internship programs in general are very different from classrooms, but in my experience, I’ve found them to be the perfect complements to each other. Leaving my internship was surprisingly a lot more sad than I imagined, but going back to Vandy with a plate piled high already (The Hustler, Inside ‘Dores, Music Group, Kappa, CLASS) means that there are only good things in store!