After moving to New York City a few short months ago, I have become painfully aware that I have an accent. I always considered myself to have a typical way of speaking, void of any distinctive regional twang. However, as New Yorkers have kindly pointed out I have an “Upstate New York” accent. What is an Upstate New York accent, you might ask? That is a very good question. I have no idea. Apparently, it’s something to do with the way I pronounce words like bagel, dog, or the name of my hometown Syracuse (for the record it’s pronounced Sara-cuse, not Sira-cuse).

I thought New Yorkers were the ones with the accents. When I lived in the Midwest people with western accents would ask me how a person from New York didn’t have an accent. Now that I live here, when I talk to people they say, “Where are you from, because you can’t be from around here.” And they are never surprised when I tell them I hail from good ol’ Upstate New York. They reply, “That makes sense. I can tell by the way you talk.”

I’ve always wanted an accent. When I lived in Australia a few years ago, I secretly hoped I would start to sound like an Australian. Sadly, that didn’t pan out. I guess beggars can’t be choosers, so I’m learning to embrace my Upstate New York accent, whatever that might be.

Let’s talk about: life, post-college. It’s been 18 months, and I still get teary-eyed whenever I see Facebook posts about going to football games or seeing the sunny and warm weather forecasts for November – yes, that’s right, it’s currently sunny with a high of 75° in Tucson, Arizona, while we are all bundled up in New York City schlepping around an umbrella, never knowing when the skies might open up.

I still make Top Ramen for dinner some nights, and definitely still venture out for errands in UA-branded sweatpants and sweatshirts, thinking it’s acceptable outerwear. However, both of these things are not OK. But, I can’t help it; I’m still in denial that I’ll never be back in Tucson walking around campus with friends, gathering around the TV on Monday nights for ABC’s The Bachelor, going to our favorite bars, or even pulling all-nighters in the library. OK, maybe I don’t miss the all-nighters so much. It almost feels surreal that I was even there for four years. Even though I’m completely settled into life in New York City, when it’s mid-December and I’m not on Winter Break, or Spring Break in March… it hits me (18 months later): I’m a real living, breathing, tax-paying grown-up.

Of course, some days I’m glad to be on my own without having to worry about studying for exams, or awkwardly running into people you’d rather not see on campus. I wouldn’t trade those four years for anything, and I definitely couldn’t be happier that I ended up in New York City. I think sometimes it’s good to reflect on the past to appreciate the journey of getting to where you are today. I believe everything happens for a reason, everything from where we went to school to why you chose to walk a different way to work this morning, and I’m so happy that all those steps lead me to where I am today.

Oh, and I love MWW Group!

When I found out that I was going to be an associate at MWW Group, I was extremely excited.  My out-of-work lifestyle, which I had originally dubbed “fun-employment,” proved to be “not-so-fun-employment” after a week and I was anxious to start anew. At the same time, I was excited to have the opportunity to work in a PR agency and put my hard earned college knowledge to work.

Having had internships in the past, I did not know what to expect of my role at MWW. If my past was any indicator, I imagined I would be taking coffee orders and doing post office runs – both of which I must say I excel at, however, this was not the case.

I found that at MWW, an associate is just as important as any other employee. I have been given assignments of value and have finally had the opportunity to prove my strengths in the PR field. In the month that I have been here I have had the opportunity to work on pitches, media lists, and various other important assignments, which is far in excess of the responsibilities I have had in any of my other work experiences. I was able to get media coverage for our client, Ming Wang, in both a daily newspaper as well as a local radio station.  At MWW I feel like an integral member of the team.

This experience so far has confirmed that I love public relations and that applying to MWW Group was the best decision I could have made.

My internship at MWW Group was my first experience working in the corporate world, and in an office setting.  I had just finished my freshman year of college and wanted to do something productive with my summer, so I figured that I might as well get familiar with the opportunities that are associated with my Communication Studies/Public Relations major.  From never having an internship before, I thought my responsibilities would be limited to filing papers, printing, and running errands, but when I interviewed with MWW, I learned that this internship would introduce me to real PR work situations.  Hearing this was intimidating at first because I had no prior experience in the communications field, let alone working in a corporate office setting, but then I realized MWW was the perfect stepping stone towards my career goals.

My first day interning at MWW, I was nervous at first, but was comforted by everyone’s kindness and willingness to answer any questions I had.  In addition, there was another intern who I was working with who was extremely helpful in showing me how things worked that I could relate to.  Immediately, the MWW team began mentoring me on the art of writing a sharp pitch, monitoring news trends, and putting together media lists.  In addition, I worked alongside another intern. Through constant collaboration, we were able to learn and build off of each other’s strengths.  It wasn’t long before I understood what the success of a team means, and I enjoyed the work I was doing.

What I took from this experience at MWW was to never shy away from asking questions because you are not expected to know and understand everything right away; an internship is a learning process meant to help you develop skills.   Furthermore, I learned the importance of the social media and became a lot more aware and interested in news happening all over the country.   I thoroughly enjoyed writing pitches and brainstorming ideas to pitch reporters, and working with such kind, hardworking, and intelligent team.  Doing this internship gave me a better idea of what I can do in my next three years in college to further myself in the communications field of study, as well as career pathways.

Over the past few weeks, I must have looked at almost every “mommy blog” in existence. Never heard of them? Neither had I. To prepare for BlogHer ‘11, I was tasked with checking these mommy blogs to see who was attending the conference this year. BlogHer is the largest conference in the country for female bloggers, bringing together over 3,000 women from around the country to network and attend information sessions on every blogging topic imaginable.

I have to admit, I occasionally became distracted looking at these blogs. Who could resist the hilarious story of a blogger who bought a five foot tall wire chicken, named it Beyonce, and left it on her front step to surprise her husband? Or who would skip over the blog dedicated solely to amazing panini recipes, complete with mouthwatering pictures?

As a college student, I have yet to truly dive into the blogosphere. I created a simple blog to document my semester abroad for my family at home but it was nothing like these blogs I have recently been perusing. However, I have come to realize that blogging is not just for the avid technology users- there are blogs covering every hobby, habit, and interest out there. Blogs can sometimes invite over-sharing, but often the quality information that comes out of blogs can inspire or assist others. After this experience, I have started to use blogs as a source for information, advice and humor, and I have also learned not to discount blogs as a source of news.

I’m back in action here with the MWW Dialogue Digital group. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship experience last summer, and was so excited to return for more. It was really great to get involved with projects on my first day as if I had never left. While the department has made significant changes since the last time I was here, I still see many of the same faces around the office.

At the beginning of this summer, I was given an additional weekly task.  During the Dialogue Digital weekly status meetings, I give a presentation about new technologies, new applications, and case studies with old technologies that I find interesting or beneficial to our team. It is my job to update the team on up and coming technologies so we can be innovative and involved with the ever-changing world of online media. Throughout the week, I compile articles from various technology blogs including Mashable and Techcrunch, as well as recommendations from team members who have heard about technologies and want to share them with the team. From this opportunity, I feel that I taught my team quite a bit, and I also have learned a lot about technologies and their utilization.

I feel that I have learned a lot about social media over the past two years. In my last blog post, I emphasized my learnings on specific platforms and broadened my knowledge base since then through creating more content, sitting in on brainstorming sessions, prepping presentations for Social Media 101, and even just from sitting in the office and engaging in conversations with my colleagues.

Given the opportunity to return to MWW Group for a second summer internship was a chance I could not pass up. My experience here last summer was something that I wanted to build on and use as a starting point to achieve my future goals in PR. My time at MWW these past three months only solidified my ambition to go further in this field of work.

This summer I was given a chance to develop my experiences from last year as well as work in different aspects of PR. Earlier this summer, I was able to experience a team event in which myself and other interns invaded Rockefeller Center for a client promotion. The event showed me a side to PR I had not yet been accustomed to, and was one of the more memorable experiences of the summer. At the office I was lucky enough to work within the Nikon department, one of MWW’s top clients. The assistance of account coordinators Matt Kopacz and Devin Davis made working with this account enjoyable. Being able to share relatable experiences as well as helping to guide me through new ones, Matt and Devin were both great influences on me this summer.

I wouldn’t be able to recap this summer properly without mentioning the intern project. I was fortunate enough this summer to be paired with great teammates who all worked extremely hard to put forth great work. Although we had some road bumps along the way, it showed me why I enjoy being able to work in PR. Our abilities to be as creative as we could and come together as a team allowed for not only a great final product, but for parts of our project to be used for the actual client pitch.

While my college graduation quickly approaches in December, I find myself more confident than ever in my abilities to be successful beyond school. I think my main word throughout this entry was experience, and thanks to my time at MWW, I’ll be able to carry that word with me wherever I go.

When originally tasked with creating an entry for the MWW Intern Chronicle, we agreed that we needed to do something a bit more our style – a music video. However, as evidenced by our filming skills, we are by no means Studio material.

Early in our internship at MWW Group, our supervisors royally crowned us “Intern Queens.” This title embodies various characteristics that we both possess and have further developed over the course of the summer.

Intern Queens are passionate, confident, creative and fabulous. They pride themselves on always thinking outside the box, completing top-notch work, and immersing themselves in company culture.

From Ball Park to Gold’s Gym, we have been very fortunate to work alongside the royalty of the industry. Unfortunately, busy schedules and limited time posed as a conflict for filming, but we cannot express our gratitude for those of you who are not featured: Joe Cohen, Lindsey Winkler, Shaun Leavy, and the infamous, unforgettable Logan J. Williams. You have all truly made our experience complete and you will definitely be in the Intern Queen sequel.

Additionally, we would like to thank everyone who helped us put this video together: Kris Alvarez, Giuseppe Barone, Connie Olles, and Douglas Lussier.

Enjoy!

Rachel Feit and Alicia Clarke

Lyrics:
We wake up early
To come to East Rutherford

Now to the 6^th floor
We try not to act absurd

Sit in our big cubes
At M double W, W

The Press Releases
Media lists and
Morning Monitoring
We keep so busy
Now every day at noon time
We get very hungry, starving

Let’s go to Bagel Buffet
No regrets, lots of carbs

Or we can eat downstairs today
You and me, we can share a Panini

You and me
You know were working as Intern Queens
M double W
PR Life
Aim for success and don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back

Client directs, when they’re on TV
Sometimes Zumba or even Sara Lee
Commitment
Aim for success and don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back

Its time sheet Fridays, we go to see Queen Kathi
Devin and Matt, they are the Nikon team
Laura/Amanda, they are the real life queens, real life queens

Let us write your press release, by the end of the day
Or we can pitch media alerts
To the press
We will be relentless

You and me,
You know were working as Intern Queens
M double W
PR Life
Aim for success and don’t ever look back don’t ever look back

I have lived in New York for 2 months now, and through my explorations of the city, as well as my time at MWW, I have come away with a couple lessons about the city and PR.

1. People move quickly, be prepared to keep up

People are constantly speeding down the sidewalks while talking on their phones, listening to their iPods, or even reading their books. New Yorker’s are constant multi-taskers that do not pause for a second. While it can be overwhelming at first to be thrown into the fast paced world PR, it is best to embrace the momentum of MWW, and your co-workers, and run with it.

2. The subway system is confusing; download a map

Just like you are not expected to know your way around the city immediately, no one expects you to have all the answers immediately, so do research then ask questions. Look at a map so you have a general direction where you are going, then ask clarification questions. Looking at the client files and past MWW work is a great way to catch up and learn quickly what expectations are.

3. Bring an umbrella everywhere you go

New York has unannounced downpours all the time, so be prepared. Not every day is filled with sunshine, be ready to have a couple hard days thrown into the mix, in which you make mistakes and learn from them. The point of job experience, whether it is in an internship or full-time career, is that you never stop learning new things and expanding your capabilities.

Above all, have fun! In such a vibrant city and exciting workplace, there is no reason to not love what you do!

It’s not easy being the mayor of MWW Group. There is the satisfaction of having a gold crown icon next to your user name after checking in, as well as the pride of knowing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel after diligently typing the vowels and consonants of MWW Group on a daily basis.

While the turnover for Mayor is high at MWW Group – I’ve seen two come and go in my two month span as a Media Strategies intern-, I’m ready to ride out my mayorship. The day of my crowning, my direct report, Ali Smolens, came to my desk to shake the hand of the newly-crowned MWW Group mayor. An avid Foursquare user herself, we have bonded throughout the summer over the shared quest to become the future Mayor. We shared check-ins at a Museum of Mathematics lecture at Baruch college and in ‘Our Bosses Office’ at daily Usher’s New Look team meetings in Candice Bruders office. As Ali holds the mayorship of Candice’s office, Foursquare users in the NY office may recognize a recently created check-in: the MWW Breakroom. Behold, a lowly intern can theoretically be the purveyor of MWW’s stash of Welches Fruit Snacks and Keurig coffee with a few taps on an iPhone.

Though mayorship does not equate to anything more than a crown icon and increased points at check-ins, one out of many summer goals has been reached. Interning at MWW Group has been a summer of hard work, real results and great memories.