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June 24, 2009
Upper East Side
I'm sooo tired! The other intern and I did a walking tour of the Upper East Side today to get a better picture of the "luxury lifestyle". From work at 33rd and Fifth, we walked up Fifth Avenue to the St. Regis and the Pierre hotels, then to the Frick and the Met, then to the Mark, the Surrey, the Carlyle and the Whitney, then all the way back home. I checked, between walking to work and walking around, it was about 8.5 miles! It was interesting to see the different takes on what is New York luxury.
Last night was awesome, I spent the night hanging out with Jillyn with great eating and drinking. We got a great dinner at a french cafe, splitting an appetizer of goat cheese with pomegranate syrup (mmm) and entree of couscous, then went to Public for drinks (also mmm) and ended up at a creperie and split two crepes (mmm mmm). Haha it was a great night!
And now I'm exhausted...and haven't even packed for Convention yet! Gah I need to get on this. I can't believe I leave Friday morning! it's going to be a crazy weekend, but hopefully really helpful pi phi-wise.
I have more pictures, but they're going to have to wait.
Posted by jenmmart at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2009
Strat 425 Entry 1
For internship credit, I have to write five journal entries this summer. For the first, I chose to just reflect on the experience so far. I figured I might as well include it here:
In looking for a summer internship, I focused on the service end of marketing while keeping my options open to all types of marketing. I never thought I would end up at a summer internship that’s more about public relations than marketing, but here I am, three weeks into it. On my first day, I knew next to nothing about the PR field and probably the same amount about my firm’s area of expertise, luxury brands. However, this has taught me what feels like an important lesson about not only doing my applying what I know to my job but also working hard to learn as much about your profession and specialization as possible.
My boss, the founder of our company, considers it an integrated marketing/PR firm because we work so closely with our clients to understand their brand strategy and create a purposeful media plan. She analyzes the key assets of our clients and determines the most beneficial and fitting media outlets for directing our pitches. For example, we work with a number of luxury hotels, one of which has a special service in terms of check-in/check-out time. Knowing that, we’re able to describe the benefits of this service to a journalist doing an article about how check-in times are changing at LA-area hotels.
I’ve spent a lot of time so far playing catch up to understand this industry and apply the kind of thinking used by my boss. Not only do I have to know the assets of our clients, I have to know why these assets set them apart from their competition. From there, we have to know which media outlets would be interested in these assets based on whether or not they have a similar message and audience/customer. So the other parts of my time have been spent becoming familiar with many types of media, such as luxury magazines, specialized magazines, columns in newspapers, and online outlets.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the learning aspect, especially coming in with little previous knowledge. But I’ve found that, in the midst of taking everything in, it’s important for me to show why I’m here and what I can still bring to the table. I might not have a background in PR, but my time spent studying business provides a different outlook on their company. For example, my boss wants to look into the realm of social media networks but doesn’t want to jump in blindly. One of my projects is to do research on the best ways to use social media networking for our company and present what approach I think they should take. So I get to use some of the skills I’ve built at Ross and apply it to the business foundation of a PR firm. Being in a field that was previously unfamiliar to me has granted me a great opportunity to learn a lot of new things while forcing me to broaden my ability to apply what I already know.
Posted by jenmmart at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2009
NYCFFF
Last night, Jeff and I went to the New York City Food Film Festival at water taxi beach in queens. I found it randomly through an email subscription to Tasting Table and it turned out pretty fun (besides being freezing cold). They showed about 9 films that were about film in one way or another - either funny, serious, topical or whatnot. One was all about mutton, one about cranberries, one about thanksgiving, etc. They gave away bbq mutton and a wild rice with mushrooms and craisins throughout the showings. It seemed a little sketch at the beginning but I had fun sitting on a beach and hanging out. Not to mention it was an amazing view of the Manhattan skyline!
I got really excited about work yesterday because I'm starting to work on my bigger project of the summer, a project about social media networking (i.e. twitter, facebook) and how we might utilize it here. I used the kresge resources to look up journal and newspaper articles on the topic and found a ton, so I put them into a word document that I can read on my flight down to Texas next weekend. Then I'm going to write a report and create a presentation about it; my goal is to really wow them with what I can do. Since my strongest point here is business rather than luxury, I want to show that off and show what I can do. Also, I want to set myself apart from other interns who have been here. I'm really excited and I want to do a great job!
Yesterday I also interviewed the first pi phi who might take over as an intern in the fall. She was really nice and it was great talking to her...that's the thing about finding pi phis, you already have so much in common experience-wise that it gives you a foundation for talking about a lot of other things and comparing your chapters. We talked for an hour and she also gave me the info for her chapter's president who is also going to Convention. I emailed her to see if we could meet beforehand and I hope that works out. It's like networking but starting small because I already know something about them.
10 am. Time to start work!
Posted by jenmmart at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2009
The Surrey and Connecticut
As my family has been told, this week hasn't seemed that exciting to me so I didn't have much to write about. Friday was a break from the norm however, so I'll describe my hard-hat tour of our client, The Surrey Hotel. The hotel is one of the newest luxury hotels set to open on the Upper East Side and we took a tour of it mid-construction to get a better understanding of what assets it'll have and how it will look. We saw a fully designed model room and toured the presidential and penthouse suites (completely bareboned). The descriptions from the COO of the hotel group were great and painted a picture of how it would all look eventually and what vibe would be given off in every room. The most interesting part was our breakfast meeting after with the marketing team...we talked about things that were so far beyond my thinking! It makes me realize how much I have to learn about luxury brands, but I'm really excited to take on more as I go.
On the note of learning, I went out for drinks with my boss and supervisor and had such a great time talking with them! We talked about their work experience and how they got to where they are today; who were their mentors, what were their best lessons, where they see the company going and growing. Talking about the business aspect instead of the luxury aspect gave me room to actually contribute instead of just listening and learning. We talked about future projects I could possibly take on, such as helping discuss the future business directions for the company - exciting!!
This weekend, I went to visit Liz in Connecticut since there didn't seem to be much going on here (is there ever actually nothing going on in new york?) I had such a great time, and I'm jealous of the tight-knit group of interns that work for GE. And the fact that she makes bank. But really, it's the friendships that are so awesome and I wish I worked with more people my own age. Everyone was really nice and inclusive so I had an easy time hanging out with them for the night. Liz and I were talking about her coming to visit me next weekend (yes yes please) and possibly me going to visit her again later in the summer, when it feels better to actually go to the beach. The small town feel of her city was nice and a good break from how hectic new york feels, but when I came out of the subway tonight and broke into my get-out-of-my-way stride, it felt good to be back. So I guess I still don't know where I belong...
I'll try to be better with updating this week so my parents have more to read :) I also took pictures of grand central station when I left to visit Liz, so I'll upload them soon, too! I miss everyone!!
Posted by jenmmart at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2009
Photos So Far
Rubin Hall
Times Square
The view from Jeff's roof before watching fireworks
Me modeling the Lauren Merkin bag for the Zero Tolerance Benefit
Zero Tolerance Benefit
Jeff Leatham floral arrangements
Jeff Leatham's Giving Tree
Red carpet for Sanctuary for Families
At the media check in table
My desk space
View from our office (59th floor, Empire State Building)
New York Public Library
Inside
Inside
Inside
Inside
Washington Square Park Street Performers
My side of the dorm room
Walk in closet
Our bathroom
Posted by jenmmart at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
Everyone either has a partner or a dog
I feel like the lone ranger of New York when I walk around. Everyone I see is either with their friend/partner or their dog. My friends are either working, busy, gone, or studying. So my Sunday morning/afternoon was spent treking all over the city exploring, and after four hours of walking, I'm pretty tired. Actually, I just checked on MapMyRun.com, and I walked about 6.5 miles. I guess that almost makes up for waking at 11:30 and not working out this week.
The end of the week at work was interesting because not only did I get to attend an event, I also followed up on it and tried to get media coverage. One of my pitches about Bethenny Frankel was actually used on a website (http://www.blacktiemagazine.com/society_2009_june/The_14th_Annual_Zero_Tolerance_Benefit.htm), although I guess you don't get credit when you write a pitch and someone else publishes it? Hmm... Another website, fashionista.com, said that they'd be interested in covering my pitch about the Montage Beverly Hills (our client) loaning out PUCCI sunglasses to their guests while they're at the pool. Also cool. This Friday, we're going on a hardhat tour of one of our newest clients, the Surrey Hotel, on the upper east side. I like having this kind of hands on relationship with the businesses we work with.
Washington Square Park has become one of my favorite places to go, partially because it's so close to my dorm and partially because there are always street performers in the corners or center of the park. Yesterday there were two guys performing with puppets on one side, a group of people jamming in a corner, and a group of people doing acrobatics. It's a good way to spend an afternoon/evening.
Posted by jenmmart at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2009
Zero Tolerance Benefit
Last night was the big Zero Tolerance benefit put on by Sanctuary for Families, New York's largest nonprofit dedicated to helping domestic violence victims and their families. There were over 1,000 people there for dinner alone and more got to come for the after party with DJ Grandmaster Flash. Parasol does the PR for Sanctuary for Families, so we had a media check in at the front door and got to people watch for a few hours. It's interesting that you get such a mix of people coming to charity benefits. My goal of the night was to get a picture with New Jersey Devil/always in my heart Red Wing Brendan Shanahan, but he either didn't come or got there before I did. Two of the "Real Housewives of New York City" were there, though. Bethenny Frankel, I had known about and I had to take awkward pictures of for Parasol...the other walked in with the look of "you should know me". So we googled her and, yes, she's vaguely famous. The rest of the night was really nice, listening to speakers from the charity and testimonies from people who've been helped/saved. Also, Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers is absolutely beautiful and had some great patio views across the river to New Jersey.
Today at work, we're looking to follow up with the media coverage of last night. We took some pictures that we want to send out to different outlets and get coverage of the celebrities and therefore of the event/charity. Andrea is away on business and Nicole is out of the office, I believe working on a pitch for our client, FIG restaurant Santa Barbara. My task is to write one media pitch for the coverage of Bethenny Frankel, one for the Lauren Merkin tote bags given out last night, and one for the Montage Beverly Hills. Umm. Thank you, google, for explaining how to write a PR pitch. Fake it until you make it, right?
I still haven't uploaded pictures. Sorry, Dad.
Back to work!
Posted by jenmmart at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2009
Mice
I'm uncomfortably sure that there are mice in the walls next to my bed. My roommate heard them yesterday afternoon and I hear a lot of noise now. A LOT. Next to where my head goes when I sleep. Next to a door that is poorly nailed up that used to connect my room with the one next door. They're going to come out and eat my face in the middle of the night, I know it.
Posted by jenmmart at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
First Day of Work
My titles could use some more creativity.
So, thanks to my early thinking and question-asking, I managed to not look like a complete fool trying to get past security and to the elevators at the Empire State Building. It turns out, as long as your bag doesn't blow up and you're not packing (I'm probably going to get arrested right now), you just walk through and go wherever you want in the building. I had to keep popping my ears (no joke) going up to the 59th floor, but the view from my office is phenomenal! I have a table in the office of the woman who is directly above me, which is kind of cramped but she's cool so it won't matter. She's young and talkative, plus we're getting another intern in about a week.
I did a mix of worthwhile and busy work today, but I definitely think my assignments will get more complex as the weeks go on. I'm excited to really get something out of my summer instead of having to make up bullet points for a resume.
In an attempt to print pictures, I walked around a lot in my new heels today, which adds to the 1.2 miles each way to work, plus walking to pick up my ID, times yesterday...equals I'm exhausted. The end.
Pictures to come later. Hopefully.
Posted by jenmmart at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)