Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone

My name is Gabriella McKeown. I’m a senior here at Temple majoring in Advertising and on the Art Direction Track. I’m currently the media intern for Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy at its Philadelphia office. Ceisler Media is one of the top media advocacy firms in the region. The company prides themselves on being one of the most trusted advocates on the most important issues.

My daily responsibilities at Ceisler include managing weekly content calendars for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, conducting daily media monitoring for national clients, creating graphics for client’s social media accounts, attending meetings, events and press conferences, and I’m responsible for compiling the company newsletter. On top of my daily responsibilities I also get various assignments from whoever needs help in the office. This can include making follow up calls to TV stations to attend one of our client’s events or conducting research that will benefit our clients.

I have learned a lot from interning at Ceisler Media. I learned that time management is very important especially when you are dealing with multiple assignments at once, and that everyone appreciates someone who works extremely hard. I was never pressured to stay later then expected or to come in early, but my coworkers appreciated my extra effort to get all of my assignments done on time.

The most important thing I learned from this experience is that it’s okay to step out of your comfort zone. Being an advertising major interning at a public relations company, I obviously didn’t know how to do everything or just was not used to doing PR work. What got me through was making sure to ask a lot of questions and staying positive. Another example of stepping out of my comfort zone is being in the presence of very important people. Ceisler Media has three offices and the main head quarters is here in Philadelphia. This is also where the CEO and owner of the company are located, so I’m constantly interacting and doing assignments for very important people. This can be a little nerve racking, but I don’t let that get in the way of my work.

Interning at Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy has been a great experience. My coworkers are extremely nice and go out of their way to make sure I feel comfortable. They are always there to help and answer any questions that I might have, and trust me I have a lot. By far this has been my favorite and most beneficial internship. I truly feel prepared and confident to enter the workforce after I graduate this May.