My 22-weeks stint at Her World magazine has come to an end and I have officially graduated from being #internSmi, a hashtag I came up with to remember every moment as an intern.
I remember receiving word of my acceptance and I just couldn't believe it. In fact, right after I went for the interview, I told my mom I probably failed because the English test was mind-blowing and the interviewer didn't seem very impressed with me.
So it took a while for the good news to sink in.
My first day at Her World was mostly protocol: I met the HR officer and she brought me up to level 7, where Her World was. She handed me over to the media coordinator who led me to my seat and introduced me to my supervisor, who in turn introduced me to the team and the other interns. The IT guy came to set up my account and I was left on my own thereafter.
My editor wasn't in the day I came in so I didn't get to know her until much later.
I spent the first two weeks assisting the fashion team with sourcing, pick-ups, returns and shoots.
When I went on my first sourcing with my stylist, she asked me if I had good stamina and I said: "Um, yeah, I think so," thinking back on all the physical training I went through in Crescent and JC but dragging luggages around town totally caught me off guard.
I did not feel as embarrassed as I did abused because it became a weekly routine. By the end of the first month, my legs felt so worn out my mom brought me for a foot massage. (Damn, that felt really good.)
I eventually got used to it. In fact, I actually looked forward to doing pick-ups or returns because it was a good chance to escape the mundaneness of the office (when I had nothing to do.)
My stylists also left me to plan my own route and manage the baggage on my own. If anything, I definitely grew some muscles from trekking around town.
Apart from the logistics, I also got to observe and assist on shoots. That literally translates to steaming a whole rack of clothes, laying out accessories, taping shoes and taking credits.
It was always nerve-wrecking on shoots because one of my stylists' feedback was that I had to be more initiative but I'm always so afraid of taking the first step because I didn't know her working style. I mean, I was relatively new to the whole photo/product shoot thing for one and I didn't even know her before I entered the company but she just loaded a whole truck of her expectations on me, which was nothing but a burden.
I'm glad that after 22 weeks, I am now able to speak up for myself because she can be a little ridiculous at times.
There were times I ended work in town because I was doing returns. I usually finish about 4ish, 5 so I get off work directly from town (since it'd make no sense to return to office.) Ahhh, those days.
(Ultimately, I learned to plan my route such that I leave office at about 3pm so that I can go home straight from my last stop. Of course, this happens when I have work to complete in the morning or if there are returns I can only do at certain times.)
Fashion team aside, my main responsibilities were to help with the lifestyle pillar. In short, I became the editorial intern for the lifestyle team, which consisted my editor only. (She's an amazing one-man team.)
My first story was a tech story on headphones in the April issue. I remember the art meeting where I presented the images I got from the respective brands and how the art team and editors reacted. It was all very new and I could feel my heart shrinking with each passing minute. But! All that got better as time went by.
I also remember coordinating a coffee story with another intern who finished her internship even before the story was completed so I had to tidy everything up. For the shoot, I worked with another photographer to cover 8 cafes in a single day. We started at 9 in the morning and finished close to 5 in the evening. It was a sickening day because it rained most of the time and Vee, the photographer, had to lug her equipment everywhere. But we made it.
On hindsight, I didn't even go into the office that day.
One of my biggest achievement is writing the opener for the lifestyle section in June's issue. It's a 3-page long article on posh hostels and I went through a lot of shit to get the story put together. I was on the brink of breaking down because I felt so helpless but thank goodness everything fell into place nicely.
My aim was to put as many stories under my belt as I can during my entire internship and I think I did pretty well with 4 shoots and 6 bylines from the March to June issues.
It was not all a rosy journey for sure.
There is an article in July's issue where I helped the writer collect quotes but I was not credited even though, the last I saw, 8 out of the 18 quotes were collected by me.
I also had to take shit from one of my stylists who often took a condescending tone with me without realising how hurtful and disrespectful that can be. I know I'm a novice but I think anyone would much prefer a more understanding guide.
For most of it, I felt very left out of the team until Gordon, the next intern, and Ains, the intern for Her World PLUS, came in. (I finally felt like I could breathe!)
I used to lunch in because I had no one to lunch with. (This is not a bad thing, by the way, because I managed to save some money.) But I sometimes enjoy company too. And when the team decides to order lunch in, they'd never think about asking the interns unless they need more orders to make up the minimum order or share the delivery fee.
Then again, it doesn't matter anymore!
I'm not taking any bad memories with me.
On my last day, I bought the team cupcakes and my very own supervisor didn't seem appreciative of it. He didn't even smile at me.
But you know what? All that is over now.
I have survived the hardships and I have made friends (with Gordon, Veron and Ains, and the media coordinators!) I also signed a freelancer contract with another magazine on the same level!
Life can be such a tease sometimes but the freelance offer was a pleasant surprise and sure ended my internship on a much more positive note.
#internSmi is finally free!
I remember receiving word of my acceptance and I just couldn't believe it. In fact, right after I went for the interview, I told my mom I probably failed because the English test was mind-blowing and the interviewer didn't seem very impressed with me.
So it took a while for the good news to sink in.
My first day at Her World was mostly protocol: I met the HR officer and she brought me up to level 7, where Her World was. She handed me over to the media coordinator who led me to my seat and introduced me to my supervisor, who in turn introduced me to the team and the other interns. The IT guy came to set up my account and I was left on my own thereafter.
My editor wasn't in the day I came in so I didn't get to know her until much later.
I spent the first two weeks assisting the fashion team with sourcing, pick-ups, returns and shoots.
When I went on my first sourcing with my stylist, she asked me if I had good stamina and I said: "Um, yeah, I think so," thinking back on all the physical training I went through in Crescent and JC but dragging luggages around town totally caught me off guard.
I did not feel as embarrassed as I did abused because it became a weekly routine. By the end of the first month, my legs felt so worn out my mom brought me for a foot massage. (Damn, that felt really good.)
I eventually got used to it. In fact, I actually looked forward to doing pick-ups or returns because it was a good chance to escape the mundaneness of the office (when I had nothing to do.)
My stylists also left me to plan my own route and manage the baggage on my own. If anything, I definitely grew some muscles from trekking around town.
Apart from the logistics, I also got to observe and assist on shoots. That literally translates to steaming a whole rack of clothes, laying out accessories, taping shoes and taking credits.
It was always nerve-wrecking on shoots because one of my stylists' feedback was that I had to be more initiative but I'm always so afraid of taking the first step because I didn't know her working style. I mean, I was relatively new to the whole photo/product shoot thing for one and I didn't even know her before I entered the company but she just loaded a whole truck of her expectations on me, which was nothing but a burden.
I'm glad that after 22 weeks, I am now able to speak up for myself because she can be a little ridiculous at times.
There were times I ended work in town because I was doing returns. I usually finish about 4ish, 5 so I get off work directly from town (since it'd make no sense to return to office.) Ahhh, those days.
(Ultimately, I learned to plan my route such that I leave office at about 3pm so that I can go home straight from my last stop. Of course, this happens when I have work to complete in the morning or if there are returns I can only do at certain times.)
Fashion team aside, my main responsibilities were to help with the lifestyle pillar. In short, I became the editorial intern for the lifestyle team, which consisted my editor only. (She's an amazing one-man team.)
My first story was a tech story on headphones in the April issue. I remember the art meeting where I presented the images I got from the respective brands and how the art team and editors reacted. It was all very new and I could feel my heart shrinking with each passing minute. But! All that got better as time went by.
I also remember coordinating a coffee story with another intern who finished her internship even before the story was completed so I had to tidy everything up. For the shoot, I worked with another photographer to cover 8 cafes in a single day. We started at 9 in the morning and finished close to 5 in the evening. It was a sickening day because it rained most of the time and Vee, the photographer, had to lug her equipment everywhere. But we made it.
On hindsight, I didn't even go into the office that day.
One of my biggest achievement is writing the opener for the lifestyle section in June's issue. It's a 3-page long article on posh hostels and I went through a lot of shit to get the story put together. I was on the brink of breaking down because I felt so helpless but thank goodness everything fell into place nicely.
My aim was to put as many stories under my belt as I can during my entire internship and I think I did pretty well with 4 shoots and 6 bylines from the March to June issues.
It was not all a rosy journey for sure.
There is an article in July's issue where I helped the writer collect quotes but I was not credited even though, the last I saw, 8 out of the 18 quotes were collected by me.
I also had to take shit from one of my stylists who often took a condescending tone with me without realising how hurtful and disrespectful that can be. I know I'm a novice but I think anyone would much prefer a more understanding guide.
For most of it, I felt very left out of the team until Gordon, the next intern, and Ains, the intern for Her World PLUS, came in. (I finally felt like I could breathe!)
I used to lunch in because I had no one to lunch with. (This is not a bad thing, by the way, because I managed to save some money.) But I sometimes enjoy company too. And when the team decides to order lunch in, they'd never think about asking the interns unless they need more orders to make up the minimum order or share the delivery fee.
Then again, it doesn't matter anymore!
I'm not taking any bad memories with me.
On my last day, I bought the team cupcakes and my very own supervisor didn't seem appreciative of it. He didn't even smile at me.
But you know what? All that is over now.
I have survived the hardships and I have made friends (with Gordon, Veron and Ains, and the media coordinators!) I also signed a freelancer contract with another magazine on the same level!
Life can be such a tease sometimes but the freelance offer was a pleasant surprise and sure ended my internship on a much more positive note.
#internSmi is finally free!
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