Want to Feel Empowered? Intern with This is it TV

Hello! My name is Erin Frances Geiges and I am a senior advertising major within the account management track at the Lew Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. This semester I have had the pleasure of being a Marketing and Publicity intern at This is it TV in Center City. This is it TV is a digital TV network that provides over a dozen programs hosted by professionals with various backgrounds to an audience predominantly made up of women. The main program, This is it with Cheldin, is aired Monday through Friday and hosted by CEO and Executive Producer, Cheldin Barlatt Rumer.

I was able to meet my current boss, Cheldin Barlatt Rumer during my junior year when I took her Personal Branding course at Temple University. I found her profession and her passion for what she does to be really inspiring as she brought it up throughout the semester. I had later sought her out for various reasons regarding what I wanted to do post-graduation after taking her class and eventually ended up in my current internship position.

The experience of getting to feel like an actual professional as I walked through Center City to the office and meeting some amazing people who came into the studio to shoot their segments during the week was a lot of fun, although it was cut short due to COVID-19. Fortunately, I have been able to continue working with This is it TV from my home. Throughout this semester, I have been responsible for a variety of tasks that include researching small businesses in counties around South Jersey to invite to an event that This is it TV was co-hosting and researching advertising agencies in various states to expand the brand. I was even able to go to the Beauty Brunch that my boss was co-hosting back in February which gave me the opportunity to network and listen to the influential stories of women in business. This is my second internship working directly under a female business owner so I feel as if I have gained more than just work experience but advice on how to handle certain situations that arise when you operate your own business.

My biggest piece of advice for other interns would be to take advantage of all the opportunities you might get out of working with the company that you intern with, just because an event falls outside of your normal business hours does not mean you should skip it. Signing people into an event, handing out gift bags, etc. can lead you to meet new people to add to your network or a new experience that you never would have learned about otherwise.

While my internship experience is ending in just a few short weeks, I am truly thankful for the experience that I have gained from working with Cheldin over the past few months. This internship has equipped me skills that can guide me in creating my best work and has helped solidify what I am interested in doing in the future in regards to employment.