This semester, I completed my Communication Studies internship as a Social Media Marketing Intern at La Meno Jewelry. I started working in-office at their MainPlace Mall location in February, and my internship became remote by mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This internship helped me gain valuable experience in many facets of social media marketing, including content creation, photography, influencer marketing, and research.

This is the photo I took that became their most-liked post on Instagram.

One of the best moments at my internship was on my last day when I reached out to one of my supervisors to thank her for her support throughout my internship program, and she replied letting me know that one of the photos I had taken was the most liked post on their Instagram account. One of my goals starting this internship was to create content to increase engagement for La Meno, so it felt really great to know I had succeeded in my goal and benefited the company.

The biggest revelation I had during my internship was that I really enjoy working in social media marketing. I have had an interest in social media marketing – especially on Instagram and in the fashion industry – for a long time and suspected that it would be a job I could enjoy and feel satisfied in. This internship showed me that I have a natural talent for content creation and that working in social media marketing is definitely something I should consider for future jobs.

My coursework in the School of Communication prepared me to communicate clearly and professionally with my supervisors. While all my classes aided me in this, I felt it was very valuable that I took Business and Professional Communication prior to this internship. I also felt prepared for the marketing aspect of the job through courses I have taken such as Marketing Through the Communicator’s Lens.

After my internship became remote, my job centered around research-based tasks such as finding influencers and companies for potential collaborations, and searching for posts that La Meno could repost onto their feed like this one from Instagram artist @sarashakeel.

The biggest challenge I faced during this internship was the transition from in-person to online due to the pandemic. It was very easy for me to get in the mindset of doing work for social media and for La Meno when I had a physical office to go into, and I was there in-person with my co-workers. It was difficult to stay focused and establish healthy work-life boundaries at first when I transitioned to working at home. Eventually, I adjusted to working from home. I feel confident that after graduating this summer, I can be successful working in an entry-level remote job.

My first primary learning objective was to gain experience in creating content. I gained experience creating content mostly in the first few weeks of my internship while it was in-person. I feel confident that I have enough experience to carry into future jobs. My second primary learning objective was to gain knowledge of effective social media marketing strategies, and I feel that I was able to accomplish this goal.

This internship helped me learn everything I was hoping to about social media marketing. I feel confident that I can carry my skills of content creation and other parts of social media marketing into future social media marketing jobs.

I would advise Chapman Students entering an internship to choose something that interests them and view the internship as an opportunity to learn whether that interest could be a satisfying career path for them. It is also a great opportunity for learning skills, networking, and building your resume before graduation.