Long time no see.
Here I am, blessing your Monday with an update on how my first day went interning at ELLE Magazine.
Let me start off by saying never go into an internship with a pre-perceived idea with how it will go. Don't go in thinking you'll be working alongside Miranda Priestly's twin, as it is rare that will happen (note I said rare, not that it doesn't ever happen). I arrived at the Hearst headquarters for 11:30am as that what time I was asked to come in by, but the guy who I was in contact with let me know that usual working hours are from 9am-6pm (note 2.0, you will rarely ever leave at the exact time any place you intern at, I left around 6:30pm). When I arrived, I was taken to the area that would become my second home the next 4 weeks; clothes, accessories, shoes EVERYWHERE. I loved it. Like a Christmas gift from me to myself but I'm making myself work 9-10 hour days and not getting paid, yay! In all seriousness though, I loved the atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, I was drained by the end of the day. When I had my lunch break at 4pm, I sat in Cafe Nero and asked myself if I needed this internship or not but at the end of the day, any experience is good experience and I did learn quite a bit by the end of the day that will be useful for my own career plans.
There were other interns who I worked with, some had been there a couple weeks so were already familiar with the tasks to do. For the majority of the day, I spent doing check-ins and returns in the fashion cupboard. This is checking in items that brands or PR companies have sent in that will or could be used by ELLE, and then returning goods back to different brands or PR companies. Seeing bags of Saint Laurent, Dior and Versace coming into the room was a sight-for-sore-eyes. Handling some products to return from the brand Huishan Zhang has fully convinced me that I need some of their pieces in my wardrobe, their attention to detail is impeccable and the quality of their products is incredible.
I was informed the shoot they were preparing for this week is with a very popular female artist who I used to be obsessed with (2008 me is quaking!)... and let me just quickly say I ran around Westminster area to find a specific bra which she will wear in the shoot so thats cool. Thats another thing, interns usually do the running around tasks where they'll need something asap and you'll be asked to get it or take it somewhere. Just today, I had to buy the bra, another intern needed to buy lube and talcum powder on her lunch break (hmm not for what you may think, they will make getting the leather pants on a whole lot easier), and another was asked at 5:51pm to run to a hotel and deliver return goods to someone who'd be gone at 6:00pm. Now that thats said, day 1 of day 20 has been completed!
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| Clothing Items That Have Come In For A Cover Shoot With Taylor Swift |
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| Managing Item Returns |
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| Keeping Magazine Extras That Would Otherwise Be Thrown In The Trash |
All-in-all, no two internships will be the same; one may be the best possible experience you could gain in your field, whilst another may put you off that industry as a whole. You'll never know unless you contact a company or apply to their advertised positions.
Thanks for reading!
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