"It's been a long time!"
Busy, busy, busy bee! It feels like forever (really has going on two weeks now). Since my last post, I registered in not one but TWO summer courses >.< Economics and Spanish II.....what was I thinking?!
Although, it feels like I'm doing a lot, I'm really not. The key to any day, task, job, etc...is to know how to manage your time and how to do it well.
I like to think that I am very organized, but when it comes down to actually doing what's on the schedule I tend to stray away. I find myself constantly saying, "I'm finishing Lesson 11 today." I prepare myself, pull out lesson 11, grab my pencil, open Google translate (don't judge.) and have all intentions of doing lesson 11 for that day until..............
....the good ole' Internet sucks me in... :/ ... If I'm not on Twitter, I'm BRIEFLY checking Facebook, flying to Pinterest or collecting ideas on my newest project, HerCampus SFA branch.
I honestly feel like school is in the way... (no this isn't my resignation from school -___-), but for the positions I'm looking to apply for: Social Media Manager, Communication Specialist, or the field of Public Relations, I feel like the experience outside of the classroom is more important than memorizing definitions for a test I'll forget soon as I turn the test in. In no way or form am I saying education is not needed for anyone, but at this point in my school I believe the ratio of classroom to field experience should be 10 to 90.
ANYWHO, As far as the internship goes. Honestly, we (Cassie and I) have both been slacking in the communication department with one another. If it's not one thing it's another within both of our lives, and we're continuing to push meetings and lessons back. No one's to blame in this matter, I take it as a learning experience for both CasMacPR and I.
For virtual internships, I believe they should be two months max of intensive work and experience. With a shorter time period, both the company and intern can benefit greatly due to a structured, tighter work schedule. If you the employer wants to cover 8 + lessons about the pr field to the intern, the shorter time period leaves the intern enough time to retain the information and still have the eagerness to learn more about their field.
Nevertheless, the experience is still rewarding and I'm appreciative for the opportunity.
By the end of the internship, I've set personal goals for myself toward working with capDIVAting ARTistry. I'm planning to revamp the website and fix the minor errors, create a Twitter account for business use, and pitch an event to the media.
Hopefully once summer school is completed (in which I'll have about two weeks before the fall semester starts) I can achieve these goals.
Keep #CreaivelyDreaming!
(and keep me in your prayers, Spanish is killing me!!) :(
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Summer Internship - Week Six
"If you're not assigned a meaningful project, create one!" - @2MovesAhead - Kyshira #InternChat
This week has been hectic for both my Intern supervisor, Cassie, and I. Due to personal issues, it was difficult to match both of our schedules to discuss. So instead of waiting for an assignment, I created one!
I began to research social sites and collect information for makeup artist, capDIVAting ARTistry. I made up a list of make up artist and businesses on Twitter, as well as researched PR methods for Facebook.
Facebook is my WEAKEST aspect of social media due to the fact that I'm just not on the site long enough to effectively network. After my news feed fills with pictures of my classmate's child[ren] or statuses of how "life is hard," I'm ready to get off. Fortunately, I was able to come across great tips on how to become socially active with Facebook to attract viewers to the client's page.
Because capDIVAting ARTisty is centered around such a visual field such as make up, I also researched phone photo apps: Instagram, EveEm, Piictu, and Cinemagr.am and websites such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Blog Spot. These sites are focused on images and most importantly GREAT for networking. For example the new Lime-a-rita's. I STRONGLY dislike them, and I've never had beer before in my life, BUT because all of my followers on Instagram were talking about them so much, I bought a case. Does it matter that I like the drink or not? No, because I bought it. Does it matter that I got back on Instagram and posted a picture and the caption read that I didn't like it? Nope. Most people still want to try out things for themselves so either way, Lime-a-rita's win!
Relating this to capDIVAting ARTistry, if a picture is posted about Danita's artwork and a customer loves/dislike the work and expresses their opinion about it online, it's attracting viewers. We live in a world now where people like to know/see things for themselves. If someone is talking about the picture negatively, others view the picture to make their own assumptions. The beauty about God creating us is that no two people are alike. What might look horrible to others, may be stunningly beautiful to others. Either way, the social sites give people a chance to make that call for themselves.
Sites such as Pinterest excite such craft nerds, and DIY (Do - It - Yourself) project freaks like myself! :) Since I've joined the Pinterest family, I've been painting my nails trying to get it like "the picture with the American flag for 4th of July." I became Bob the Builder creating storage shelves and using pattern duct tape on everything! lol ...Pinterest also shows you the different possibilities that can be done with makeup. I want some of the makeup looks so desperately, but I simply just don't know how to do them. With pictures like these to spark the imagination of others and show them what all can be done, makeup artist such as capDIVAting ARTistry can demonstrate pictures showing the same look, then post how to contact the artist to get the look.
The Internet, when used effectively, can be a great advantage to new artist and businesses wanting to alert the public of their craft.
-Creatively Dream
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Week Five - Virtual Internship
SO, Here I am researching Twitter for people/hastags/businesses dealing with MakeUp and Beauty, when Twitter decides to shut down! So dependent on this amazing networking site, I was stuck on how to continue! Unfamiliar with the MakeUp and Beauty field, I'm totally lost on how to get the bulk of my research done, other than placing MakeUp and Beauty in a search engine and hope I get lucky!
Luckily, this is one of the many reasons, Iwanted Needed to do an internship, so I could get questions and problems like these answered and solved!
This week's assignment was to create a vision board for the next three years of my life. The key to this assignment is to make it as detailed as possible, after all it's the plan for YOUR life. My board begins with the fall of my senior year (pause. Insert Mini Senior Year Celebration Here! Axe 'Em Jacks!).
The board specifies what my GPA will be at the end of the semester, as well as, jobs and organizations I plan to participate in during the Fall semester. During this time, I designated what days I will dedicate to my client and what exactly would be done during those days.
The board continues with Christmas break and the beginning of my job search. Perfect time to introduce myself to companies, and make them aware of my graduation status in May. Another break the board goes into detail with is Spring Break. My goal, even before the vision board was constructed, was to have a job offer the week after Spring Break. Farfetched? Not at all! A few of my classmates were in class at the BEGINNING of the Spring semesters with job offers, so believing that all things are possible, I will be sitting in class mid March with employers knowing my name, graduation status, and capability of getting the job done!
I am familiar with many of the websites to find communication jobs, particularly in the Dallas/Houston area of Texas, such as, Hoojobs, PRSA, HigheredJobs, and Indeed to name a few. Along with these websites I listed apartments in the surrounding area at a reasonable amount. There's nothing like finding the perfect job, them wanting you to start ASAP, and you don't have a clue of where you're going to stay.
On the vision board, I also discuss the future of Creatively Dream, my Freelancing PR company, as well as, the future interactions with capDIVAting ARTistry.
Overall, the vision board was a great idea! As soon as I finish adding all the details to the PowerPoint, I'll put it on an actual board for visual display to keep my "eye on the prize."
I have to admit, I had seriously doubts about making a career out of the public relations field, but with the guidance of this internship, I feel confident in my future!
Side note:
I will definitely be interacting in the#InternPro Chat Next Monday at 9pm. This weeks topic: Parents: Friend or Foe in Your Job Search! It's sure to be an interesting discussion!
Can't wait to blog about this discussion!
-Creatively Dream
Luckily, this is one of the many reasons, I
This week's assignment was to create a vision board for the next three years of my life. The key to this assignment is to make it as detailed as possible, after all it's the plan for YOUR life. My board begins with the fall of my senior year (pause. Insert Mini Senior Year Celebration Here! Axe 'Em Jacks!).
The board specifies what my GPA will be at the end of the semester, as well as, jobs and organizations I plan to participate in during the Fall semester. During this time, I designated what days I will dedicate to my client and what exactly would be done during those days.
The board continues with Christmas break and the beginning of my job search. Perfect time to introduce myself to companies, and make them aware of my graduation status in May. Another break the board goes into detail with is Spring Break. My goal, even before the vision board was constructed, was to have a job offer the week after Spring Break. Farfetched? Not at all! A few of my classmates were in class at the BEGINNING of the Spring semesters with job offers, so believing that all things are possible, I will be sitting in class mid March with employers knowing my name, graduation status, and capability of getting the job done!
I am familiar with many of the websites to find communication jobs, particularly in the Dallas/Houston area of Texas, such as, Hoojobs, PRSA, HigheredJobs, and Indeed to name a few. Along with these websites I listed apartments in the surrounding area at a reasonable amount. There's nothing like finding the perfect job, them wanting you to start ASAP, and you don't have a clue of where you're going to stay.
On the vision board, I also discuss the future of Creatively Dream, my Freelancing PR company, as well as, the future interactions with capDIVAting ARTistry.
Overall, the vision board was a great idea! As soon as I finish adding all the details to the PowerPoint, I'll put it on an actual board for visual display to keep my "eye on the prize."
I have to admit, I had seriously doubts about making a career out of the public relations field, but with the guidance of this internship, I feel confident in my future!
Side note:
I will definitely be interacting in the
Can't wait to blog about this discussion!
-Creatively Dream
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Week Four - Virtual Internship!
Week Four!? Wow time flies...
I participated in the weekly #internpro chat this past Monday discussing the topic of, "Balance Your Internship and Your Summer Vacation!” I am so fortunate to tune in this week on this topic, because like many of the other chat participants juggling school/work/internships, I'm burnt out!
Attempting to balance out working 8-5, scheduling events for christian youth group, The TURNAROUND, putting together a writing staff for HerCampus SFA Branch, and the internship, I'm just as busy or busier than I was during school!
The very first question of this chat was how do you prevent from getting burned out. The responses were good, but two that stuck out to me most were to designate a day to calm down and recollect. Since Sunday is "the day of rest" anyway, I requested that our Sunday evenings meetings with CasMacPR be moved to Monday and the rest of the "duties" I tend to can be picked up Monday as well. This gives me a day to do Nothing. Of course, I'm never known to do anything, but the idea is that I don't have a specific deadline to get something done that day. The other thing that stood out was to dedicate an hour of your day to concentrate on you. After I get off at 5, I go home to send out more emails and research more topics from the time I get in til the time I pass out. Reserving an hour out of my day will help me to recollect my thoughts as well as help get rid of this "Freshman (Junior) 15" I picked up on my first year of school away from home!! ;)
The chat continued with tips of how to manage time properly and how to reach out to others. Most importantly, a quote from Tom Bolt, HR professional, @TomBolt stuck out to me most:
This past week, press kits were discussed with CasMacPR. I am familiar with the press kit process thanks to Raven Robinson and PR2Politics. My only problem with this task was that I really didn't know anything about my client. I knew what the public knew about her as far as what's on the website and social sites, but I've yet to set up a meeting with the client. That's one of the downsides to virtual internships. Because this is not a 9-5 office internship, it is harder to schedule Skype calls and appointments to meet up with people. The process is very flexible, and very ideal for those who are just doing this one virtual internship, but for others who have multiple commitments it may get a little frustrating and tiring to adjust to at times.
All and all, this is a learning experience, not only about the field of PR, but my future and my priority list in life. :)
-Creatively Dream
I participated in the weekly #internpro chat this past Monday discussing the topic of, "Balance Your Internship and Your Summer Vacation!” I am so fortunate to tune in this week on this topic, because like many of the other chat participants juggling school/work/internships, I'm burnt out!
Attempting to balance out working 8-5, scheduling events for christian youth group, The TURNAROUND, putting together a writing staff for HerCampus SFA Branch, and the internship, I'm just as busy or busier than I was during school!
The very first question of this chat was how do you prevent from getting burned out. The responses were good, but two that stuck out to me most were to designate a day to calm down and recollect. Since Sunday is "the day of rest" anyway, I requested that our Sunday evenings meetings with CasMacPR be moved to Monday and the rest of the "duties" I tend to can be picked up Monday as well. This gives me a day to do Nothing. Of course, I'm never known to do anything, but the idea is that I don't have a specific deadline to get something done that day. The other thing that stood out was to dedicate an hour of your day to concentrate on you. After I get off at 5, I go home to send out more emails and research more topics from the time I get in til the time I pass out. Reserving an hour out of my day will help me to recollect my thoughts as well as help get rid of this "Freshman (Junior) 15" I picked up on my first year of school away from home!! ;)
The chat continued with tips of how to manage time properly and how to reach out to others. Most importantly, a quote from Tom Bolt, HR professional, @TomBolt stuck out to me most:
"Make time for fun during summer, but you should be making life priorities. What is important right now?"What is important right now? Many of my classmates come back home from the summer and want to "make memories" consistently saying it's our last year of school we should do something. I don't agree with the statement, college years are the best years of your life. True, I can get away with "spur of the moment" actions while in school and do things "professionals" aren't suppose to do, but at the same time I don't think these years are going to be the "peak" of my life. I honestly think my sister is living The Life. She graduated from East Texas Baptist University last spring, found a teaching job, moved out, and is on her own. I don't think you can get any better than living your life without having the NEED to depend on someone. This takes me back to the original thought, what is important right now? In order to get to The Life I need to work hard, just as she did, to get to where I want to go. Of course, we're in two different fields and it's a totally different process when branching out in the Communications/PR field, but the concept is the same. Do what you have to do, to do what you want to do. Of course, I'm not going to spend my summer working working working, but my priorities are with school, internship and networking and everything else comes after.
This past week, press kits were discussed with CasMacPR. I am familiar with the press kit process thanks to Raven Robinson and PR2Politics. My only problem with this task was that I really didn't know anything about my client. I knew what the public knew about her as far as what's on the website and social sites, but I've yet to set up a meeting with the client. That's one of the downsides to virtual internships. Because this is not a 9-5 office internship, it is harder to schedule Skype calls and appointments to meet up with people. The process is very flexible, and very ideal for those who are just doing this one virtual internship, but for others who have multiple commitments it may get a little frustrating and tiring to adjust to at times.
All and all, this is a learning experience, not only about the field of PR, but my future and my priority list in life. :)
-Creatively Dream
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Virtual Internship - Week Three
The PR Field and virtual internships go hand and hand. With the internship being virtual, the time to place conference calls and Skype meetings are unpredictable. Anything could happen with either party to where the meetings can get behind schedule or can not happen at all, but I believe it's up to the intern to make it work.
The scheduling difficulty makes the intern decide if this is truly what they want to do, not only with working with the company, but with joining the public relation field period. When dealing with clients, they should know you'll be available to them 24/7. Whether it may be the client going through a crisis, or a magazine calling to set up an interview with a client, you must be ready. In the internship case, the intern must be flexible toward working with the company. I am fortunate enough to have a summer job from 8 to 5, making most of my evenings free to do my internship duties. I couldn't image trying to work a retail job not knowing what I was working from week to week and having to deal with scheduling time for the internship, but again that's the same with the PR field as well.
With that being said, I am debating whether or not I'm totally committed to this field. Of course I love it now, especially after going over more crisis scenarios with Cassie of CasMacPR (my internship), but this is speaking in my status right now: I'm a single, senior in college with no children or responsibility other than myself. Ideally, in my opinion, this profession is not "family friendly." I can't picture myself being deep into the PR field and planning a wedding or having a child. This is a ways from now (Lord willing on the baby part), but at the same time this is something to think about.
This week we went over crisis management, and I felt as if I was better prepared for the scenarios this time. The first week learning with crisis management was a bit much, unsure of what to do in certain cases. With the tools Cassie has taught me, I feel that I am better prepared to deal with the situations that may occur.
I also participated in a few Twitter chats as well through my "professional PR Twitter account" @CreativeDream_ . Creatively Dream (Twitter wouldnt let me add the -ly to my user name) is inspired by my best friend in high school. We had dreams of going to New York, her to pursue a career in Broadway, and I to pursue a career as a magazine editor. BIG Dreams! lol We would constantly write out plans of how to get to NY, what we would do when we got there, how we were going to make it, but most importantly we always wrote "Dream Big" at the end of the plans we were making. I am a creative person and love to express myself, and with the PR field I believe thats an important asset to bring to the table. The two together "Creatively Dream." I am currently working on a website which would be geared toward the PR field as well as (my second love) Event Planning.
I would like to make Creatively Dream my own company one day, but for now it's my personal project.
I'm Skyping with one of my clients for the summer, capDIVAting ARTistry, and quite excited to see her expectations of what she would like for me to do with her craft in the make-up artist industry.
Until next time!
-CreativelyDream
The scheduling difficulty makes the intern decide if this is truly what they want to do, not only with working with the company, but with joining the public relation field period. When dealing with clients, they should know you'll be available to them 24/7. Whether it may be the client going through a crisis, or a magazine calling to set up an interview with a client, you must be ready. In the internship case, the intern must be flexible toward working with the company. I am fortunate enough to have a summer job from 8 to 5, making most of my evenings free to do my internship duties. I couldn't image trying to work a retail job not knowing what I was working from week to week and having to deal with scheduling time for the internship, but again that's the same with the PR field as well.
With that being said, I am debating whether or not I'm totally committed to this field. Of course I love it now, especially after going over more crisis scenarios with Cassie of CasMacPR (my internship), but this is speaking in my status right now: I'm a single, senior in college with no children or responsibility other than myself. Ideally, in my opinion, this profession is not "family friendly." I can't picture myself being deep into the PR field and planning a wedding or having a child. This is a ways from now (Lord willing on the baby part), but at the same time this is something to think about.
This week we went over crisis management, and I felt as if I was better prepared for the scenarios this time. The first week learning with crisis management was a bit much, unsure of what to do in certain cases. With the tools Cassie has taught me, I feel that I am better prepared to deal with the situations that may occur.
I also participated in a few Twitter chats as well through my "professional PR Twitter account" @CreativeDream_ . Creatively Dream (Twitter wouldnt let me add the -ly to my user name) is inspired by my best friend in high school. We had dreams of going to New York, her to pursue a career in Broadway, and I to pursue a career as a magazine editor. BIG Dreams! lol We would constantly write out plans of how to get to NY, what we would do when we got there, how we were going to make it, but most importantly we always wrote "Dream Big" at the end of the plans we were making. I am a creative person and love to express myself, and with the PR field I believe thats an important asset to bring to the table. The two together "Creatively Dream." I am currently working on a website which would be geared toward the PR field as well as (my second love) Event Planning.
I would like to make Creatively Dream my own company one day, but for now it's my personal project.
I'm Skyping with one of my clients for the summer, capDIVAting ARTistry, and quite excited to see her expectations of what she would like for me to do with her craft in the make-up artist industry.
Until next time!
-CreativelyDream
Monday, May 28, 2012
Week Two Virtual Internship!
Crisis Management!
So, I was put to the test this week by going over scenarios in which crisis management was to be put into play with my virtual internship through skype (remember the firm CasMacPR is in Tennessee and I'm in Texas)!
I thought I handled the situation pretty well, but I'm so grateful Cassie brought this very important situation up first! With PR2Politics we pretty much talked about how to deal with clients, attracting them and catering to their needs. Although Raven (founder of PR2Politics) believes in Crisis Management, we didn't spend as much time as Cassie is spending with CasMacPR.
Within that three hour Skype call, I learned so much and realized I have so much to learn about the crisis management part of PR.
My assignment this week was to come up with a crisis management plan for the clients I am dealing with for the first half of the internship. I't's quite difficult especially since I can't sit down and talk with the clients, and I halfway don't know how to fully complete the plan, but it's a huge learning experience and I'm going to embrace every moment of it.
Unfortunately, I didn't get as much as I wanted to accomplish this three day Memorial Weekend, meaning I have to hit it extremely hard tomorrow, but I'm up for the task.
I so determined to put a dent in the Public Relations field after I'm done with it and with the help of PR2Politics and CasMacPR I'm on my way there!
-CreativelyDream
So, I was put to the test this week by going over scenarios in which crisis management was to be put into play with my virtual internship through skype (remember the firm CasMacPR is in Tennessee and I'm in Texas)!
I thought I handled the situation pretty well, but I'm so grateful Cassie brought this very important situation up first! With PR2Politics we pretty much talked about how to deal with clients, attracting them and catering to their needs. Although Raven (founder of PR2Politics) believes in Crisis Management, we didn't spend as much time as Cassie is spending with CasMacPR.
Within that three hour Skype call, I learned so much and realized I have so much to learn about the crisis management part of PR.
My assignment this week was to come up with a crisis management plan for the clients I am dealing with for the first half of the internship. I't's quite difficult especially since I can't sit down and talk with the clients, and I halfway don't know how to fully complete the plan, but it's a huge learning experience and I'm going to embrace every moment of it.
Unfortunately, I didn't get as much as I wanted to accomplish this three day Memorial Weekend, meaning I have to hit it extremely hard tomorrow, but I'm up for the task.
I so determined to put a dent in the Public Relations field after I'm done with it and with the help of PR2Politics and CasMacPR I'm on my way there!
-CreativelyDream
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Week One! Virtual Internship
I accepted and started a virtual internship with CasMacPR in Tennessee on my birthday <3 May 15!
Although this is not my first experience with virtual work, it is my first actual internship with a PR firm. I've worked with Raven Robinson, founder of PR2Politics, a PR firm in New York, earlier this year, but the experience was more of Raven being a mentor and guiding me through each process step by step. Although Cassie McDougal, founder of CasMacPR does the same as far as answering questions and giving clarification, the internship position is in a more formal setting than that of working with PR2Politics.
I work during the day at my summer job from 8am to 4:30pm so most of the work for CasMacPR is done after 6. So far we've had a few teleconferences with the other interns working for the firm just as an introduction to everyone working, an overview of the company and clients the company represents.
There are currently three interns working for this company, one in Tennessee and two virtual, and we are given two clients to work hands on for, then mid summer we are to switch to get the overall experience of working in a different part of the industry.
I was given an upcoming Gospel artist and make up artist… two fields I've had no experience in. I'm so excited to find out the different techniques and procedures for this field.
The only disadvantage so far is setting a skype call or telephone call and it actually start on time. There's so much that could happen since we are so spread out, and it's a lot more difficult to schedule things when I'm not physically in the office.
I hope to gain so much knowledge about a little bit of everything. CasMacPR will be expanding to Dallas, TX soon… I don't want to get my hopes up, but believe me when I tell you I'm working my behind off to stand out in this position!
-Creativelydream!
Although this is not my first experience with virtual work, it is my first actual internship with a PR firm. I've worked with Raven Robinson, founder of PR2Politics, a PR firm in New York, earlier this year, but the experience was more of Raven being a mentor and guiding me through each process step by step. Although Cassie McDougal, founder of CasMacPR does the same as far as answering questions and giving clarification, the internship position is in a more formal setting than that of working with PR2Politics.
I work during the day at my summer job from 8am to 4:30pm so most of the work for CasMacPR is done after 6. So far we've had a few teleconferences with the other interns working for the firm just as an introduction to everyone working, an overview of the company and clients the company represents.
There are currently three interns working for this company, one in Tennessee and two virtual, and we are given two clients to work hands on for, then mid summer we are to switch to get the overall experience of working in a different part of the industry.
I was given an upcoming Gospel artist and make up artist… two fields I've had no experience in. I'm so excited to find out the different techniques and procedures for this field.
The only disadvantage so far is setting a skype call or telephone call and it actually start on time. There's so much that could happen since we are so spread out, and it's a lot more difficult to schedule things when I'm not physically in the office.
I hope to gain so much knowledge about a little bit of everything. CasMacPR will be expanding to Dallas, TX soon… I don't want to get my hopes up, but believe me when I tell you I'm working my behind off to stand out in this position!
-Creativelydream!
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