Intern Diaries: Bri R.

I am currently a junior in college at Drew University in New Jersey. Initially, I wasn’t sure what field I wanted to pursue but eventually found myself drawn to the field of media and communication. If you are also interested in this field I will warn you there are a lot more avenues than you might think. Growing up in Vermont I found myself wanting to be near the city that I had seen so often in movies and on television. I started following JMG Public Relations on Instagram during the spring of my sophomore year. I found myself looking more into the company and into public relations.

I saw that there were internship opportunities available and could not wait to apply and work with the members of this company. During my interview I was asked why I wanted to be a public relations intern. I simply explained that I had never tried public relations before but wanted to learn all that I could. A good interview tip I learned is to be completely honest regarding your experience. If you have little experience in a certain field be honest in your interview and explain how much you want to learn. I am beyond grateful that JMGPR took me on.

Before I knew it my internship at JMG Public Relations had started. I had an absolutely amazing mentor—Frances Subervi—who has taught me all that I know about public relations. A typical day would start at 10 and end at 5. I would begin the day with a call from Frances and she would assign me tasks to do during the day. Let’s just say in the beginning it took me a lot longer to complete tasks because I was learning. After a few weeks of slowly adjusting and working on new projects, I had a meeting with Frances to talk about how things were going. This meeting is very memorable for me because I always want to put my best effort into everything I do but I knew that I had to work my way up. I started by creating media lists, I did this for a couple of weeks. Then I moved on to do mockup summaries for clients, followed by writing pitches and then final pitching. I loved learning like this because I was learning all the steps that went into sending out a pitch and I was getting faster at the projects assigned to me. I am so grateful that Frances was so patient with me and showed me all the tricks that she has learned throughout her career. In the end I was actually given the opportunity to teach other interns how to send out pitches. As Frances reminds me, the best way to learn is through teaching.

Something that has been so cool to see is how important it is to think outside the box! During my internship I got to work with many different clients and we are always trying to find new creative ways to pitch their brand. I love finding new ways of looking at things and public relations definitely gives me the opportunity to do that.

JMGPR helped me to engage with different clients but also partnered with a nonprofit organization called Knock Knock Give A Sock. This was so fun because everyone can partner with this non-profit that is based in NYC that helps donate socks to those who need it most. Community service and charitable giving has always been a big part of my life so I felt a personal connection to this project.

During my time at JMGPR I also started a sector of a nonprofit where I teach kids with special needs how to dance. I have been doing this for many months now and was just recognized for my work by receiving the Presidential Award for Volunteer Service.

I started with blank pages in a notebook and now have them filled with so many key things that I learned while interning at JMGPR. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity and am so excited to continue to explore the field of media and communications. I am currently working on photography and film to try and share the world's stories. I will continue to put in practice all that JMGPR has taught me because I know it will take me far. I thank everyone that has helped support me on this journey.