I
spent most of my time talking with Jessica D’Argenio Waller; she works for
Girls Life magazine. This is a magazine that is home based in Baltimore. Their
main audience is “tweens”, girls between the ages of nine and 15. This magazine
features advice columns, articles, horoscopes, feature stories on celebrities
and fashion columns. Mrs. Waller and I spent most of our time talking about the
opportunities that Girls Life offers to students within my same major. She
explained that each semester and during the summer they offer about five internships
to students in surrounding schools. She named Towson, Morgan, University of
Maryland, UMBC and a few other Maryland schools. They offer internships in the
departments of Editorial writing, Online, Fashion/ Beauty, Advertising,
Marketing, Events, Video, and Public Relations. Mrs. Waller also explained how
some interns are offered full time positions at the end of their internship.
This
option was the most interesting to me out of the three companies I talked with.
I would love to get into the more fashion aspect of PR and or the event
planning part. I feel as if this would be a good place for me as well as
something that I would really enjoy. She gave me her contact information and
explained to me when the best time would be for me to apply for an internship,
which I will defiantly be doing for this coming fall semester.
Another
part of the event that was very helpful for me was the panel discussion. It was
a good learning experience to hear these professionals talk about how they got
started within the Mass Communication field and what we could do to make our
selves the best candidates for internships. What I felt was the best answer one
of the professionals gave was that they look for the most genuine people.
Someone could have the credentials and a 4.0 GPA, but not any kind of heart or
experience with people. They look for personable dedicated people to enhance
their company.
Going
to this networking fair has secured in my mind that a job within the Mass
Communications field is the perfect one for me. I hope to either plan events
for a company or possibly work on the creative aspect of adverting. Talking to
Mrs. Waller and the representatives from the other companies has made me more
excited to start looking for an internship for the coming fall. I was nervous
before hand and did not really know what companies were looking for. This fair
also helped me learn the kind of work I would be doing as an intern or for my
profession.
