PR Intern Diaries: Leahi x 2

Good morning! It is FREEZING here in NYC today. NY, let's get your shit together before I head to the beach to work for 4 days. I'd like to maybe sit outside? I can't believe I am wearing my winter running leggings with a sweatshirt and sneakers right now. Clearly ranting because it's August and this is my FAVORITE season ever. 

Anyway, as promised, here are two blog posts from Leahi. She's talking working from home and her first month at Lynette Nicole PR! 

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1. It has been a interesting and very busy couple of weeks here at LNPR. With the Fancy Food Show in full swing, we were all separated for the time being and had to work remotely. This was a challenge especially not working from home before. We started with a conference call at 9 AM to go over what needed to be done for that day. We reviewed the importance of staying on top of all our memos and being sure to fill them out with accuracy. We were online all day and in constant communication.

The best way to be effective while working from home is to set up like we usually would in the office. Find a desk, get out everything we need, refrain from checking sites like Facebook, and keep the email and instant messaging browser open. It is a lot harder to do this in a public place as distractions are multiplied and intensified. Thankfully, I had my dorm room to myself. I put on some music and sat at my desk and got to work. Its best to treat it like a normal work day and actually could be more effective because you can hone in and focus.

It was a great learning week here at LNPR and I look forward to the next week!

2. Hi again! This month has been quite an experience. It has been a learning curve for sure and I have really been tossed into the mix of things. I have learned that staying on my toes is vital to this job. It is all about getting things done but also with great quality. I have been able to hone my skills a bit and learn how to do things the right way and with efficiency.

My favorite tasks would have to be more on the creative side. I love researching item for grab bags and things for events. It lets me be more creative and use my imagination even more. One of my least favorite tasks would be trying to find emails online when they aren’t on the database we use. It gets really frustrating when editors and influences move around and emails can be lost.

In the next month I just hope to learn some more transferable skills for work after I leave. Learning a lot of the things I have, have helped me hone down some skills that are necessary for other jobs as well. Ultimately, I just want to learn as much as possible! After all, this is my last year in school and I just want to learn as much as possible before entering the real world.

That’s all for now!

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XO,

Lynette

 

PR Intern Diaries: Jenna x 2

Happy Monday! I just got back from a long working weekend in Boston so I could celebrate my cousins wedding and go bridesmaid dress shopping with one of my bests! We're playing catch up on blog posts so today and tomorrow will be double the posts. Here's Jenna talking working from home and hitting her 2 month mark.

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1. Last week working at LNPR was different than usual. Lynette had to go to Chicago for the opening of XO Marshmallow’s Cafe and also had to attend Fancy Food in Manhattan. This meant I was working from home, a first for me as an intern. Since we don’t work in a traditional office environment, working at home wasn’t too different, but there were a few things I needed to do in order to successfully make it through my day. 

It was really important for me to find a quiet place to do my work so I could remain focused on the tasks at hand. My first day working from home it was a little difficult, as my house was being shown, and I ended having to travel to a few different cafes to try and find one with WiFi that wasn't too loud or busy. As someone who is easily distracted, working in a cafe was a little more difficult for me than working in an apartment or house, but it’s a skill I need to work on as PR practitioners are always on the go and don’t always have ideal places to work. 

Something else I needed to do in order to successfully make it through my day was to make sure I stayed in contact with Lynette. It was a little difficult and there were a few miscommunications, but by my second day working at home I think I got it figured out. Again, this is another really important skill I’m going to have to master in order to be successful in PR. It’s a lot easier to communicate when you’re in the same room as someone, but in the busy world of PR that isn’t always going to be the case. 

2. I can’t believe that two months has already passed in my internship! This summer has really been flying by. This month I’ve really learned to take my time with what I’m working on. I’ve learned to triple, even quadruple, check my work, as tiny mistakes are hard to catch. I’ve also learned to not be afraid to ask questions, it’s better to get clarification than to do something wrong. 

My favorite task this month has probably been working on one of our clients, XO Marshmallow. XO Marshmallow recently opened a marshmallow cafe in Roger’s Park, Chicago.  Working on XO Marshmallow has been really fun because they’ve gotten a ton of press and have even gone viral. It was so exciting coming into work to see my piled up with all the new press they got over the weekends. It was also really cool to scroll down my Facebook feed and see a video of them pop up. They had a opening party which was fun to help plan, as I really have started to enjoy event planning and are having a S’mores contest in August which I’ve really enjoyed working on so far. 

My least favorite task has go to be searching for new press in google. I can’t deny that scrolling through a bunch of webpages, a lot of it being spam, gives me a headache. In the remainder of my internship I still want to improve my attention to detail, as it’s not perfect yet and I still feel like I’ve been making quite a few mistakes. I know that it's crucial that all the information we send out to editors is perfect, so hopefully I’ll get there soon. 

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Tomorrow you'll hear from Leahi and I'll be posting a recap soon about ALL of the things I've been up to the past few months. 

Xo,

Lynette

PR Intern Diaries: Jenna

Happy Friday everyone! Our intern Jenna tackled a topic this week that everyone deals with- making mistakes. They are inevitable as we are all human. However, it's how you proceed that makes a difference. Slowing down and paying attention to the task at hand can be helpful, as well as asking questions. One of the biggest ways to avoid silly mistakes is to take tons of notes. I remember when I was an intern, I filled up tons of notebooks and note pads because I wrote down everything someone said!

Here's what Jenna had to say:

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Hey everyone! This week I wanted to write about something I’m pretty good at, making mistakes. This is my first public relations experience ever, so of course I’m not perfect. As someone who considers themselves to be a perfectionist, this is a little hard to deal with, but I’ve begin to come to terms with it. 

I’ve learned that as interns, we’re not meant to be kick ass practitioners right away. We’re really still little babies learning how to walk and talk in the world of PR. We’re also still students, and while we’re here to assist and help out where we can, we’re also mainly here to learn. And of course, everyone says that some of the most valuable learning experience is gained through making mistakes. 

Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned from making mistakes is to double check, then triple check, and even check a fourth time to make sure all the information is correct. I can admit to getting a little sloppy and rushed when feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work I have. I’ve also learned how important it is to listen to criticism. At first, my pitches were a little rough, and understandably so as I’ve never written one before. Now I can really see myself improving and even got my first reply back from and editor today! 

Finally, through all the mistakes I’ve made so far, I’ve learned how to handle making mistakes. It’s impossible to be perfect all of the time, so learning how to overcome and harness the disappointing feeling into usable, beneficial energy will be a really helpful skill. I like to take deep breathes to recenter my mind and help me to keep going. A bubble bath and watching your favorite guilty please movie, Clueless for me, after work never hurts either! 

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XO,

Lynette 

PR Intern Diaries: Leahi

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and are ready to grind for the rest of this short week. I promise a fun update from me is coming soon (including a recap of a new wine company, running recaps and new gear review) but until then, here is another update from Lynette Nicole PR intern Leahi! 
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Happy Thursday! It has been another week at LNPR and it is still as crazy as ever. There has been a lot going on and it has, as I said before, been a huge learning curve. This week I balanced a lot of different things and it has really helped me gain a little more of a grasp as to what is going on.

Early in the week, there was a ton of scheduling to do as well as memo updates, which is a good thing, knowing that our clients are getting some press! Working closely with the companies that I do allows me to see a side that the consumer doesn’t always see. Knowing about all the hard work that goes into these companies makes me appreciate them all the much more!

Later in the week I was able to do some product deliveries which was also fun because I got to make the connect between the company and the outlets that are interested. It really gave a personal touch to what we do. I got to see another side and gain a bigger appreciation for, again, all the hard work that goes into this. Its been a fun week, and I am still really exited for the weeks to come!

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XO,

Lynette