My name is Abigail Cohen, and I am a rising junior majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Music Business. This summer, I had the opportunity to intern for the startup company Ckord, a music app dedicated to helping people find live music near them. 

After a previous internship opportunity fell through at the last minute, I scrambled to find something because many application deadlines had passed. Luckily, I asked around my town and found someone looking for a summer intern at CKord.

My internship was mostly remote, and I began the first week of June with a kick-off call with my supervisor. From there, I was assigned tasks and multiple projects to assist with Ckord’s needs– including music industry research, article revision, and analyzing their social media. My first project was to pick a topic of my choice related to the music industry for Ckord’s blog, which is now published on their website.

A snapshot of the promotional video I made for Blaque Dynamite.

One of my favorite projects, however, was creating a promotional video for an artist featured on the app (Blaque Dynamite). I went to the venue and took videos throughout the concert, and I even met the artist at the end of the show. From there, I put my favorite videos together over a voice-over to be posted on Ckord’s social accounts. This was a very rewarding experience as I felt accomplished and knew then that I was a beneficial asset to the team. Considering Ckord is a startup company with very limited staff, their social media and marketing accounts are also limited.  

Hence, through this internship, I truly valued my communication skills from my studies, as working with limited staff in different time zones proved very difficult. The SEO specialist I spoke to on multiple occasions was in Serbia on every Zoom call, so I used the intercultural communication skills I learned upon taking Intercultural Communication at the School of Communication. I had to speak with different kinds of people throughout this internship, both verbally and in writing, so many of my communication classes, like Interpersonal Communication and Theories of Persuasion, were extremely useful.

My internship at Ckord proved very beneficial to my career as it exposed me to what working in the music industry is like– fast-paced and constantly changing. Although my position was mostly remote, it induced me to strengthen my organizational and analytical skills to make sure my work was completed on time.

My advice for other students who might be interested in this field or this company is to do as much as you can with your time. Simply put, there are always things to learn and new people to meet. Network with anyone you can; you never know where that may lead you.