“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart”

Being in an intern for the circulation department of Philadelphia Magazine was not all that I thought it would be. I take phone calls, send out magazines, file through the mail, charge credit cards, all of the typical “intern” work. Day after day my days were starting to become more repetitive, even after I asked for other work to do. One afternoon, while I was sitting in my cubicle away from everyone else, I decided that I needed to change what I was doing. I wasn’t meeting anyone, going out and showing my potential to other people, or even learning about the office itself. I knew I had much more to offer to the company then just writing people’s names onto letters, so instead I made my way over to Philadelphia Magazine’s, Philadelphia Wedding, to get my name known.

Temple Ad Club has given me a lot of opportunities to meet new people. I found out that someone from Philadelphia Wedding was coming to speak to the club one Monday afternoon. I had my internship on Monday so I told my employer that our magazine was coming to speak and he let me leave early. That’s when I met Alana Tosti, the director of advertising sales for Philadelphia Wedding, and a previous employee at Teen Vogue. Listening to her success story made me fall in love with everything advertising. I introduced myself to her after the meeting and she said that she heard great things about me from my employer. I told her that I wasn’t too excited about my internship and she offered me to help her out at an upcoming event for Philadelphia Wedding. Immediately I said yes.

That afternoon we left work early to head over to the bridal expo at the Camden Aquarium. Along with us we took a large advertising poster of the cover of the magazine along with an easel, and about 300 gift bags.  Once we got there, we unloaded the car and talked to the directer of the event as to where we were going to go. We were the first people that the brides saw right when they walked into the doors. After they signed in to the event, they were given a Philly Wedding gift bag before they entered the actual event. People were really curious to look at the magazine and see what it was all about. The vendors that were at the expo were even featured in Philadelphia Wedding, so they could find them after the event.

What I thought was really great was how Alana and another girl from Philly Magazine went to go make connections with the people at the expo so that they might advertise with us. They took their business cards and walked around, ate food, listened to music, and chatted with the people. I stayed behind and handed out the rest of the magazines, but still watching them was interesting. They would go up and start talking to a company, and then after a while, offer them a business card. Advertising is more than just getting someone to buy a spot in the magazine, it is about making memorable connections with a person, so that they can want to put their advertisement your magazine. This was my favorite part about the event.

As for my internship, I still keep my head up to get through the day. I put 100% effort into my assignments, even if they aren’t the most exciting tasks in the world. When I get offered opportunities, I will always take them on full charge. After talking to my boss about getting my foot into more of the advertising department, because the bridal expo was a great experience, he said that was fine. Let’s see how the next few weeks change…