Hi Everyone,

My name is Mimi Carr and I’m currently a senior (ahh!) at Chapman University majoring in Strategic and Corporate Communication with minors in dance and psychology. Throughout my time at Chapman I’ve had the opportunity to take on multiple internships within the marketing and influencer communication industry. This past semester I interned at a small boutique marketing company, Branded Native, and I’m excited to share my experience and takeaways from my time with you all!

Branded Native Website

How Did I Find This Internship?

If you’re a part of the School of Com I’m sure you’ve already heard this but networking, networking, networking. So many people have similar majors and skills, but what has really helped me land so many exciting internships is the relationships I’ve built in my personal and professional life. Branded Native was looking to hire a new intern and asked their current employees for recommendations. A friend of mine and fellow student at Chapman, Haley Knapp, knew I was studying SCC and reached out to see if I would be interested in this position. Because I was able to build strong relationships with students and faculty, I was able to get my foot in the door and land an interview at this marketing agency.

                                                                                                                                                 Responsibilities as a Campaign Manager

Brand Examples

My internship at Branded Native was titled Campaign Manager. This position was acting as a liaison between brands and influencers, specifically on YouTube. A few of my responsibilities included procuring influencer specific opportunities via YouTube and negotiate into paid sponsorships, increase growth and positive reputation of company by building and maintaining a diverse growing network of creators and agencies to utilize for mutual beneficial business opportunities, actively help create talent dashboards for brands to successfully create partnerships with similar target markets, and participate in weekly meetings and brainstorming sessions with our talent management team. I enjoyed working on the agency side of influencer marketing because I had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of brands (see picture to the left for a few!). I appreciated the trust within the Branded Native team because I felt I was given freedom and independence with the tasks and amount of influencers I needed to confirm each week. But, at the same time, our weekly team meetings and easy communication through slack allowed me to feel supported even though this is a fully virtual company.

Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Branded Native helped strengthen my personal and professional skills by encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone and learning to communicate within such a diverse industry. This internship helped give me clarity that I’m interested in leaning more into the PR and editorial aspects of marketing and further confirmed my passion for building relationships and tapping into my creativity. Overall, I gained so much valuable experience from this opportunity that has already helped me feel more confident in interviews and other internships.