THE FIRST INTERN FOR THIS POSITION…and probably the last.

Greetings internees, my name is Cyleigh Russell-Grace, I’m currently a sophomore here at Temple University studying advertising with a double concentration in Brand Strategy and Art Direction. I am currently interning as a creative assistant for Recphilly, which is a creative workspace/agency in Philadelphia, PA.

Can we talk about manifestation for a bit?

It starts in November, my friend and I bought tickets to attend the monthly Creator Talk Recphilly hosts, we’ve been looking forward to this for a while and because of the growing presence Rec was making in Philly and to me, we felt the urge to be there. On the day of the event water spills on my Macbook and the screen completely goes black, in that very moment, I am completely focused on fixing this careless mistake that occurred and not interested in anything that doesn’t concern my laptop. I scheduled the next genius bar appointment, skipped all my classes, and immediately hopped on the Septa praying my laptop was just playing games with me.

It wasn’t.

In fact, the geniuses told me – a struggling college student – it would take nearly $800 to fix my laptop; this indeed was one of the most stressful days of the semester yet one of the most pivotal days of my career…thus far. I was so ready to dismiss an opportunity that gave me a steppingstone in pursuit of my career goals that I lost all focus and was emotionally drained from the laptop situation. But I still went to the event…I even asked a question, which was the reason why I’m typing this today. My question simply was “how do I get into the room?” Which is the question we all should asking and Will – the co-founder- told me “you’re already in the room”.

Months later, COVID is here, and back to my hometown I am, HOWEVER, I made it to the room. I’m even working closely with the founders of the company I had been spying since my move to Philadelphia as their first intern for this creative assistant position. I’m getting hands-on experience via Zoom on how to market and operate a creative business while also being able to use my creative talents to build my portfolio. Though, I’m not working directly with the Creative Director given that’s my pursuit I’m still learning as much as I would if I was. My job entails a diverse range of work surrounding cultivating and executing their social media content, assisting as a junior graphic designer, and more. I was even able to take the lead in promoting black-owned businesses in Philly as well as creating or pushing the content that was related to the movement out to our audience.

I will be honest…I hate social media but working for a company that utilizes those platforms as their main marketing tools has moved me to view social media less as a personal blog and more as a business though I have realized through my job as a social media manager and content creator for Rec this is not what I want to do.

I want to be an Art Director. I want to be a Creative Director. I want to execute my concept for whatever entity alongside an amazing and hardworking team, like the one at Recphilly. Having this internship has taught me so much from correct professionalism in a realm that’s extremely laid back to brand strategy and design techniques, but here are the three things (now) that I’m stapling to the forefront of my mind.

1. Thoughts are power. Words are power. If I think it, I manifest it, I pray on it, I speak it, and I believe it. I will achieve it. Remember I went from crying in the Apple store to helping Recphilly achieve a milestone.
2. Trust your intuition, it’s always right.
3. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning. Though an internship can lead to a job it’s just the playground of the workspace. Remember you’re there to learn, if they want you, they’ll hire you but while you’re there DON’T BE AFRAID TO FALL.

This definitely won’t be my last internship, but I hope the process and experience are as memorable as this one.