Don’t Doubt Yourself: An abridged summary of the past two months

My name is Maddie Archambault. I am currently a creative intern at Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners. This internship has made me realize, perhaps for the first time ever, that this is truly what I want to do. It has taught me to always question myself and my ideas and to push myself further than I think I can go. Many of the people at RTO+P have inspired me with their creativity, perseverance and drive. Something that has always been tossed around in classes and at TAC meetings, but never really focused on is the importance of side projects. Some of the people whom I really admire at RTO+P have side projects in their portfolios that have actually gotten them job offers in the past. The crazier and more out of the box, the better. Their side projects have inspired me to create some of my own side projects. One of wish I hope (fingers crossed) to finish before the senior showcase.

This experience has been even better than I thought it would be and let me tell you, that never happens to me. Before starting here, I was so nervous. I was afraid that I wouldn’t like it or be good enough. While I still don’t think I’m good enough, or, at least as good as I want to be, I am totally and completely in love with advertising. I would have done a few things differently if I could. First, I would stop worrying so much about whether my ideas and work is good enough and just show it to my coworkers! I am a bit of a slowpoke by RTO+P’s standards in general and a lot of the time I wouldn’t contribute ideas when given the opportunity because I thought my ideas were bad or I was too busy worrying about what they would think about my ideas to even come up with any. I wish I would have just calmed down.

I have learned so much in these past two months that I feel are crucial to my development as a future (hopefully) art director. I’ve gotten better at Photoshop, which is something I didn’t feel very confident in before and I think that I am better at pushing my ideas further and being more creative even when there are a lot of restrictions. I still have so much more to learn. I’m absolutely terrified, but simultaneously excited to see what the future holds for me. I think that’s a good feeling.