In this blog entry, I want to reflect on my internship experience that I had so far. For the past few weeks, I have been getting to know the dynamic at the office and learning what some of my tasks would be here. So far, it has been an interesting journey, since I have never been associated with this industry, which is modeling business, before. I am always excited to learn something new and getting a fulfilling experience is my goal. I think that during my internship, my public speaking skills would definitely improve and I will be more open to communicate with others, since later in life I would have to talk to my bosses, colleagues and people around me and be more direct, express my point of view, ask questions openly, so that I could be successful in all that I do. I will also make new connections with people that work in this industry, that might be useful later. In my opinion, it is always important to keep in touch with people, keep those connections and have that support. Also, I think that my management skills will get better, since I was able to manage the office by myself, when the supervisor had to leave for a while. I was able to meet the interviewees and provide help they needed before their appointed time. I have been working with Photoshop and fixed some photo shoot images that will be used in the composite cards. The main purpose of doing this, is to enhance the lighting, remove bruises, work with contrast and to improve the overall quality of the picture. This experience has been very enjoyable to me and I hope that I will get to work in other areas of Digital Arts world.

Throughout my internship, I’ve had many issues with communication. As mentioned before every week we have a conference call, however, up until last week those weren’t happening so I was sort of guessing with what I should be doing. Attempts at reaching out were never answered, and with a new semester, we had to pick a new weekly call time. After finally getting that all figured out I was assigned another task! The last project I worked on was the 12 days of Christmas campaign that they did (I’ve attached a few of my favorite designs below). Most recently, I’ve been asked to make a worksheet template for their event they have coming up. Additionally, I was assigned to research binders. I was a little confused by that assignment, but they need a binder to put the worksheets in and they wanted a sustainable option since that’s what their company is all about. So this week I’ve been delving into the world of sustainable binders. Surprisingly, there are a lot more options than I originally believed there would be. So until next week, I will be researching different options of sustainable binders and compiling them into an excel form for Heather (my boss) to review.  So if you’re ever in need of anything sustainable you might be shocked by the countless options you have available at your fingertips.

Today, Febuary 4^th, I completed my second week at the Museum of Art DeLand. This week I was doing a lot of social media work. I was mainly making captions for some of the upcoming exhibitions for the museum. These shows include Sentinels by Robert Thiele, Retrospective by Grace Hartigan, and a body of work by film photographer Gary Monroe. I also made four social media posts and a flier for the upcoming Harlem Renaissance Film Series. The film series will be showing Against The Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Romare Bearden: Visual Jazz, Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Betye & Alison Saar. I got to meet a few more people who work in/with the museum. My routine was pretty normal this week. My more regular everyday activities include social media work and slight website upkeep, also graphic design and photography for the museum. My assignments for the next upcoming week include writing two press releases to promote the opening of some upcoming shows and their opening receptions. I will draft them and send them to my supervisor for any revisions. My supervisor also has planned for me to attend the museums Advertising meeting this Wednesday which is pretty exciting. I am excited to sit-in and watch how the board manages their marketing. Then after the meeting we will be doing some things over at the museums down town gallery.

This week I had to come in for my internship only once, but I doubled my hours, so I worked two days in one. My supervisor did not have any appointments in the morning that day, so most of the time I was just helping her and we worked together. Some of my tasks were to help her with Instagram and reply to different clients she works with, I also got to work with the images for the composite cards and constructed a portfolio of one of the older model’s pictures. I got to manage agency’s social media platforms. As always, I was using email to contact different people and answer any questions they might have had. This time, the business was not that busy, so I did not get to participate that much. My supervisor and I have discussed for me to help her with the website for the business, but I am still learning about how her business works and I am only in the beginning of my Web Design class. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I would have a better knowledge of how I can assist her with that. I will also have an opportunity to design her applications and maybe I will even get a chance to create a logo or some kind of inspiring posters that she could use or put around her office for new interviewees to see. So far, my workload has not been so rigorous, but it is only the beginning! I am excited to move forward and learn new skills and tips from my courses that I could apply to this internship.