Working at Pensylvania Horticultural Society.
I’d like to start off this post by encouraging my fellow students on their own internship journeys. I filled out applications for weeks and weeks before I was able to land the job as the social media intern at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. In fact, I didn’t even get this internship the first spring semester, but I took it upon myself to reapply, and after going through 3 rounds of interviews, I was able to secure the position.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I work from 9 AM to 5 PM as the social media intern at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS). The PHS is a nonprofit organization whose main goal is to make the Philadelphia region a greener space. It has a large team with horticultural experts, researchers, and marketing experts. This organization works with many other groups, like community gardens, volunteers at the PHS Annual Flower Show, and several programs that benefit the less privileged sectors of the Philly region, including their free gardening tool library, plant giveaways, and food drives.
I work on the marketing team, so most of my duties are focused on the promotion of events, services, and basic information that PHS provides its fans. With over 57,000 followers on Instagram, I was nervous but excited to contribute to this successful team.
Under my supervisor, Abby Barringer, I help develop and implement the organization’s social media presence across major platforms. I’m part of the MarComm team (PHS jargon for Marketing Communications), which comprises PR, creative direction, magazine and email writers, and the social media team.
I’ve done two other internships before, but I treat every experience as if it’s my first. My first few weeks I made a concerted effort to soak in everything about PHS and the MarComm team. Every business is different, and even if I used a certain software at another job, their use at PHS could be completely different. Additionally, there’s more to glean when you are open to learning new functions and exposing yourself to different office styles.
PHS was very casual and collaborative from the bottom (me) to the top (the president of PHS), and all ideas were taken into consideration. One thing I really enjoyed about this experience is talking to different types of people and gaining the confidence to share my ideas with those working there.
As students, I find that we are very eager to learn and share our ideas, but we often exist in an echo chamber when we’re in a classroom. The ability to work a real job in the industry and expose yourself to this new experience has a lot of value as well.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my work at PHS. I’ve done everything I can to make sure I really soak up all the connections I’ve made, collect as many examples of my work as I can, and even learn some new things about marketing as I go.
Working on something as big as the Philadelphia Flower Show—which has been going on since the early 1900s—is something that has been super rewarding. Even if it was an Instagram post here or a TikTok or Reel there, working for PHS served as an academic learning experience as well as a history lesson on the city I call home.
