The Life of an Intern

I would like to start off by introducing myself; my name is Ashleigh Gigliozzi. I know what you are thinking, how do you even pronounce that last name. That’s why after 23 years of wrong pronunciations, I am willing and open to answer to anything you can pronounce. More importantly, I am a student at Seneca College in the Creative Advertising Program and I am currently conducting my internship at BlueSky Communications Inc.

You may be thinking to yourself, what is the life of an intern like? Well, it’s amazing and for anyone who is finishing their college or university diploma or degree, I highly recommend researching various companies that you are interested in working at and fire off those emails asking if they need any interns.

I started my internship at BlueSky at the beginning of March and have not looked back since. First and foremost, they have a wonderful group of people, who are very smart, patient and helpful individuals. I have learned so much from them about the wonderful world of public relations and marketing and it has only been a few weeks. Each day that I come in, I get excited about the new things they are going to teach me and have me work on. My teachers always told me that when you get out into the real world, that you learn more in two weeks that you would in two years in the program. They definitely speak the truth. Hands on experience in a real agency teaches you more than you could ever imagine!

Over the last few weeks, I have learned various public relations tools and tactics, including writing and placing event postings on various websites to increase awareness of events. I have also been involved in writing media alerts, which will be sent out to media outlets to introduce to them and remind them about upcoming events. Have you checked out our website yet? Well you definitely should, as I have been writing captions and updating the website with our clients’ most recent media coverage. I have also been creating MRP (media rating points) results tables, which are given to our clients so they are able to see their return on investment of their public relations campaigns. Another task I have been given is to compile a list of blogs that are relevant to various clients, in hopes that the bloggers will write about our clients on their websites. I have also been given the opportunity to critique various print ads and logos and provide constructive criticism for the clients. I have been fortunate enough to learn and execute all these tasks in just a matter of a few weeks.

In the weeks to come, I will be learning more about writing press releases, and pitches to a wide variety of media outlets, as well as putting together year-end reports for various clients. I am excited about what the BlueSky team has in store for me! I feel that everyday I come to work I am learning and absorbing new information, strengthening my writing skills, and developing my public relations expertise. Stay tuned and I will update you in a few weeks about the latest news on life as an intern!

A black tie affair

For the past two months we've been working on a black tie benefit gala. The big night was February 27, 2010 and the fundraising gala was for The University of the West Indies with proceeds benefiting the school's scholarship program. We were responsible for media relations and the response was great. This was the inaugural event in Toronto and the excitement was felt as soon as you entered the ballroom. Well-known musician, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte was an honouree - and a huge draw - but unfortunately a snow storm in New York prevented him from attending. A camera crew was quickly pulled together and Mr. Belafonte sent greetings to the guests via video. There was also a special message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu all the way from South Africa.

From the Mercedes-Benz that was auctioned off to the fabulous Caribbean music that was performed it was a wonderful night.