Marley Seabern

My name is Marley Seabern, and I am a sophomore Communication Studies major with a minor in Creative and Cultural Industries. This Spring semester, I was honored with the opportunity to intern at a public relations firm called mml pr, based in Los Angeles and New York. Due to Covid-19, I did this internship from the comfort of my apartment in Orange, California. Despite not meeting my team members and fellow interns in person, this was one of the most impactful and memorable experiences I’ve had.

I finished a majority of my required communication classes by my fall semester of sophomore year; therefore, I decided to complete my internship the Spring semester of my sophomore year. I met with a program advisor, Dr. Arleen Bejerano, who soon became my internship advisor, and I began to look for internships. Merritt Loughran, president and founder of mml pr, is a dear friend of my mom’s. When I was much younger, she explained to me what public relations is, and I immediately knew it was something I was interested in. Therefore, I reached out to Merritt, submitted my resume, did multiple interviews, and secured the internship.

I worked nine to five every Tuesday and Thursday. I worked in a team that consisted of two interns, including myself, the mml pr vice president Kelly Sullivan, account supervisor Isobel Macondray, and accounts assistants, Brogan Wessell and Manny Valdez. Our clients consisted of beauty brands Colleen Rothschild, Dermalogica, Mary Kay, and NYX. Every morning I would log into a business communication platform called Slack to ask Brogan for my first task of the day. Here is what my days typically consisted of:

  • Media Monitoring
  • Vetting influencers
  • Vetting editors/writers
  • Clipping articles
  • Reading pitches and providing feedback
  • Creating mailers
  • Creative Brainstorming

My communication courses were very beneficial throughout my internship. I have taken Business and Professional Communication and Interviewing and Focus Groups, which was beneficial during the interview process. Someone recently reached out to me because she was applying for an internship at mml pr and asked for advice for the interview. I was able to help her with my knowledge from these courses and my personal experience. I have also taken Group Communication, which helped me immensely because I worked with a team throughout the internship. Public Speaking benefited me during the Intern Welcome meeting, a brainstorming call, and the Intern Farewell meeting. I was asked to do research on a Vitamin C Day campaign and provide my feedback, and my Research Methods course was instrumental during this task. Lastly, I took Mass Communication simultaneously with my internship; this was very exciting because when guest speakers who worked in public relations or marketing spoke to our class, I understood what they were talking about and I could also relate to the information. While all of those are specific examples, I’d also like to touch on why Communication Studies benefitted me as a whole. As Communication Studies majors, we are encouraged to ask questions, write efficient emails, and obtain excellent communication skills. Throughout the internship, I could feel each of these skills growing. I have genuinely never loved my major more.

My greatest takeaway from this experience is that I never knew how many factors come into play in public relations. There are so many important aspects such as editors, influencers, clients, magazines, etc. I would never have understood this if I hadn’t experienced it myself. Another takeaway is from a brainstorming call for a Colleen Rothschild product. I had so much fun participating in the creative aspect of public relations. This impacted the way I thought for the remainder of the internship. While clipping articles, I found myself brainstorming mailing ideas just for fun. Lastly, a huge thing I learned is that a healthy work environment makes the work much more enjoyable. My team encouraged me to always ask questions; they were patient when I didn’t understand something, they were invested in my well-being, and they were overall amazing people to talk to you. Loving my work and the people I was working for made the experience unforgettable. I am forever grateful for the things I have learned and the people I have met during my internship at mml pr.