My name is Nicole Fuller and I am about to enter my second year as a student at Chapman University. I am a Strategic and Corporate Communication major who is set to graduate in 2023 and have recently added a Public Relations minor to my studies. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to participate in an online internship for CrowdSurf, a music industry-based digital marketing and public relations company that works with artists such as Loren Gray, Why Don’t We, and the Backstreet Boys. I was lucky enough to receive such an opportunity through networking. When I look back on it, this “networking” never felt like networking at all; I was simply meeting new people with similar interests as me and admiring their advice and, eventually, was lucky enough to be offered a position with one of them.

Since I was young, the music industry has always intrigued me, specifically the “behind-the-scenes” work of it all, which is why CrowdSurf was the perfect starting point for me. The communication courses I took during my first year at Chapman may have been introductory courses, but they provided me an advantage at this internship. I had learned a lot about the basics of building a brand at Chapman, which was a necessary piece of knowledge throughout my internship. I had to find social media outlets that would align with the brand the artist was building, meaning I needed a thorough understanding of how to decipher the goals and messages of one outlet from another. 

At times, my job at CrowdSurf became a bit tedious considering I had to send pitch email after pitch email, but the experience was extremely rewarding whenever I was able to secure an interview or a promotion for an artist. My greatest accomplishment was writing a press release and obtaining an interview for a newer, less popular musician with a well-known magazine. I knew that this was possible due to my eye-catching emails and effective pitching strategies, which I learned over the last two months at CrowdSurf. 

Another rewarding aspect of this internship was working with such big names in the industry. Working as the part time publicist for musicians such as Loren Gray was amazing considering these are the kinds of artists I hope to work more closely with in the future. I also had the opportunity to be on a Zoom call with Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr, who offered the employees of CrowdSurf insight on the Black Lives Matter movement in the entertainment industry. 

I am so grateful for my insightful experience at CrowdSurf and I look forward to keeping up with their work. I would be more than willing to work with them again in the future.