Landing a NYC internship
By Reilly Abshire
To be completely honest, I am still in shock that I can say that I spent the summer before my senior year working in New York. Being able to have that experience not only taught me a lot about the communications industry but also about life in general. My mom and I have taken a trip to New York almost annually since I was in the 2nd grade. Ever since then, I have always dreamt of living there.
I’ve found that there are two types of people: people who absolutely cannot stand the city and the others who have fallen in love with New York so deeply that they even admire the grungy yet iconic charm it has to offer. I always dreamt about living there but thought it was just a figment of my crazy imagination.
During my junior year at Alabama and the beginning of “internship season”, I asked myself “Why the heck not?” and decided to reach far for this dream of mine. With that being said, it did not come easy. I spent countless hours in my favorite professor’s office, tweaking my margins and re-wording my resume, trying to network as effectively as possible on LinkedIn, and researching companies and their clients. Having gone through multiple interviews with zero follow-ups, my patience was wearing thin.
Fortunately, I landed an interview with the fabulous fashion and jewelry PR firm IHPR. After the interview, I felt okay but definitely not sure what was going to come out of it. I will never forget getting the call on December 9th while I was studying for my statistics final. I kept it (somewhat) cool and collected on the phone with IHPR. Immediately after, happy tears came swelling into my eyes while I gushed with joy telling my mom I got the gig.
Landing this internship reminded me to never give up. Through determination and tenacity, I was able to achieve something I never dreamed of. Being able to submerge myself in such a fast-paced market taught me how to adapt to my surroundings.
I learned a million important things this past summer in New York but the greatest lesson was that you are only limited to what you think you can achieve. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Always remember to never give up.