My name is Sachi Aguillio, and I am a senior Strategic and Corporate Communication major. Outside of my School of Communication courses, I have studied in the Argyros School of Business and Economics and Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences as a Business Administration and Sociology Double Minor. My ultimate goal is to launch a career in Public Relations and Marketing. Following a range of previous PR & marketing internships throughout my time at Chapman, I decided to take my foundation of public relations knowledge into the personal PR and entertainment world with an internship with Shelter PR.

With offices located in Los Angeles and New York City, Shelter PR is in close proximity to exciting business and clients of the entertainment industry.

Through Chapman University’s extremely supportive network of alumni, I was able to find this opportunity.  In Dr. Andi Weber’s Senior Seminar course, we discussed the power of networking and the benefits of an informational interview. I utilized this to connect with a former Chapman graduate, Meagan Donovan ‘19, who was an intern for Shelter PR and went on to be a full-time employee with the company.  Meagan met with me over Interterm to discuss the PR industry, Shelter’s work, and her experiences from their internship program. Following our meeting, she connected me with Shelter PR’s Internship Supervisor and Jr. Publicist, Marina Stoye, for an interview. 

My internship experience with Shelter PR was nothing close to any internship I had done before, but it was definitely one of the most insightful and exciting experiences of my undergraduate education.  Entertainment has always been a passion of mine, and with Shelter’s focus on film and television talent, I couldn’t wait to get involved in this exciting environment.

The firm has a very tight-knit organizational culture between their Talent PR Team and Film & TV Team in the Los Angeles office, as well as between the LA and New York offices. I quickly learned that communication in the world of entertainment needed to be extremely efficient while still being strategically framed. Publicists, coordinators, and even myself as an intern were all balancing multiple projects at once while fielding communication from client representation, studios, and other industry contacts.

Some of my favorite projects I worked on included contacting media outlets for screenings of new Netflix movies, developing a new charity campaign created to raise funds for COVID-19 relief, and working with my intern class to develop pitches for targeting a new show towards a college-aged demographic. The last of these projects was to be presented to NBC by our Film & Television department. 

Some of the press outlets we service for clients.

One obstacle no one saw coming this semester was the pandemic that has ultimately affected all our lives. The move from working in the office to a remote internship was uncharted territory for everyone, but Shelter PR and our supervisors made sure we still got the most out of our internship program. In fact, the connectedness I felt with members of the company only increased through every Zoom conference and by members of both the NY and LA offices keeping me in the loop and working with me on projects that may have never even happened if operations were left the same. I got the opportunity for a lot of virtual collaboration with the other LA intern who worked on opposite days than myself, as well as the NY intern, and members of the entire NY  Team. This is something that interns normally never get the chance to experience and it proved very insightful for me as I was exposed to working with PR professionals from a wide range of backgrounds and areas of study. 

My Spring 2020 internship was the most rewarding experience and I had so much fun! To anyone who is interested in finding an internship, I recommend reaching out to other members of the Chapman community who are involved in that industry. Even if it’s just to create or foster a new connection in that field; you never know where those connections might lead you. One of my favorite things about the Chapman community and its alumni network is every member’s enthusiasm to create connections and help others succeed.