The Value of a Great Mentor
Being new at an agency can be hard, but great mentors make it easier. Hi, my name is Camille Kent, and this semester, I am an Account Planning intern at Digitas Health! I have a double concentration in brand strategy and research and art direction, and will be graduating May 2024. Digitas Health is a healthcare and pharmaceutical advertising agency. There are multiple office locations, as it is a part of the larger global advertising group, Publicis Groupe. I typically work from home Monday, Wednesday, Friday and go into the Philly office on Tuesday and Thursday. I was originally a summer intern but had the opportunity to stay during the fall semester and will be extending through May. I have learned so much in my position and had the opportunity to work on two fulfilling accounts. Throughout the 6 months I have been with Digitas, I have challenged myself to constantly put myself out there and learn as much as possible. At times this can be difficult, but a great support system makes it easier. I have had the privilege of having two wonderful woman mentors. They advocate for me, provide me with feedback and help guide me through space. As interns, it is important to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
One of my mentors is my manager, Anna. Anna advocates for me to work on projects that I don’t have experience with doing before. This has allowed me to work with other people, learn from their experiences and see how other people solve problems. She asks for me to be in every meeting so that I can hear how people speak in the industry, especially working at a pharmaceutical agency. By doing this, I have learned new acronyms, different processes, and how meetings typically flow. She gives me feedback and reviews my work so that I know what I can change and what I did well at. I feel like because of her feedback, I have grown so much in the past 6 months. I am grateful that I have a fabulous mentor.
My second mentor is our coworker and friend, Annalyse. She is a project manager on multiple projects. I work on one project with Annalyse and outside of the project she teaches me how the agency functions. She provides agency and industry insights from a project manager’s perspective. It is incredibly interesting to hear all that goes into timing, money, and resources for the accounts.
If I had one piece of advice for future interns, it would be to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. When you start at an internship, you do not know much, so own that and take the opportunity to ask questions. Find a support system that you can lean on when you are uncertain and can guide you through life at an agency. It is all going to be new and different, but that is okay because you are learning!
Hi Camille!
I enjoyed learning about your experience at Digitas Health and reading how your mentors have guided you through your experience. I can relate because I worked directly with two managers this past semester and I felt learned so much from them and the company overall. Reading your post it seems you had a lot of hands-on experience and learned a lot about the pharmaceutical industry. Great post and good luck to you!
Hello Camille, I’m really glad to hear that your overall experience has been good despite initial challenges! It sounds like your internship at Digitas Health has been a learning journey. I think that your advice for future interns is valuable. Getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable plays an important role in personal and professional growth. It’s crucial to ask questions and seek support to have a successful internship experience.
Camille it’s really cool to hear that you had such a formative experience from your internship at Digitas! I wanted to touch on your theme from the blog post, the importance of a mentor. Not only does a mentor sort of push you to ask important questions, but it also humbles you in the sense that it reflects how naive we are to the working world as college undergrads. Having some guidance that you can lean on is essential to a strong career development. I also had a supervisor this internship that in ways was a mentor, and though them mentoring me I was able to learn and grow that much more from the experience. I look forward to seeing what else is in store as you progress throughout your professional career in advertising.
Heyyy Camille, your journey at Digitas Health is so motivating! Anna and Annalyse sound like mentors every intern dreams of. I absolutely agree about good mentors and colleagues can always lead us to learn more and grow quickly. Thanks for the advice – embrace the discomfort, ask and learn as much as possible! I believe it will be immensely beneficial for interns who are new to the workplace!