Summer Intern Recap

Today marks the end of PO3 Agency’s summer internships. PO3 would not be what it was without our unique internship program, and we want to share some inside scoop on how this quarter went!

Our mission statement is “Changing you internally so you can change the world around you”, and our CEO and Founder, Jessica Campbell, full-heartedly believes that equipping her interns with the tools they need to be successful in the workforce does just that.

“We equip our interns with skills, with confidence, with experience, with everything they need to go on and complete their career goals so they can change the world around them”, she goes on to explain.

PO3 offers four internships for each term, and I am beyond grateful and blessed to have been selected as the Communications Intern and to have been mentored by someone like Jess. Jess truly stuck to her promise of giving us tasks that were tailored toward our own personal career goals so that my colleagues and I could gauge paths for our future endeavors based on our personal passions and interests.

Throughout my time working with PO3, I discovered I have an immense passion for writing as well as interviewing others. Jess took my input into account and together, we were able to create this blog and I am ecstatic to be writing this piece as my final blog post, as I also had the opportunity to interview my fellow interns to get their insights on their experiences as well (so as you can imagine writing this post is a full-circle moment and a dream come true to me).

One of the key skills that Jessica drills into her interns is to always be prepared.

”You always have to be over prepared and one step ahead of the game at all times, and that comes from doing your research”, she explains.

Jessica taught us this by setting up lesson plans every week for us to learn about the ins and outs of PR and marketing, but also about how to maintain professionalism and how to be properly prepared when in the workplace and when reaching out to potential employers and clients. These weekly lessons have truly steered us in the right direction:

“My internship at PO3 has prepared me for future jobs by helping with interview prepping, giving resume tips, teaching and advising with public and media relations”, all which were among topics we went over, explains Social Media Intern, Bella Sandoval.

Another factor that makes PO3’s internship program unique is that interns get hands-on experience working on tasks for clients. Sports Marketing Intern, Jake Lehman, reflected on his experience making graphics for one of our clients, Creatin Monsters.

“I ended up doing Photoshop for Creatin Monsters”, he says, “That was cool because I never really understood Photoshop at all before and now that I’m doing it and it’s on Instagram and other social media platforms, I can see that I can do it and that it’s not too hard!” he goes on to add.

Jake went on to discuss how he learned a lot when reaching out to athletes, in that had to learn how to properly “portray what PO3 does and sell them on the whole idea” as part of a pitch, and that he believes that that is real world experience he is going to use later on.

These tasks working with clients not only enforced tangible skills, but also helped us gain confidence. Sports PR Intern, John Greene, explains that working with PO3 helped him improve his confidence tremendously.

“I now know how to act in professional situations”, he says, and he feels as though that will help him stand out amongst other candidates. He went on to add that his PO3 internship “has been an incredible experience”, and has made him “more confident in what [he] wants to do and in the attainability of that”.

I would agree with John, as I remember telling Jess that having a lack of confidence and ability to be assertive was my biggest weakness during my initial interview for this position. Now, four months later, I am astounded at the amount of confidence I have been able to gain from my time working at PO3, and I now feel more prepared to tackle what is to come in my future!

My colleagues also unanimously agreed that our internships helped provide clarity for our desired career paths.

“This internship has definitely solidified my interest in sports and entertainment for my future career”, says Bella, and she mentioned how she especially enjoyed creating Pinterest graphics for PO3 on Canva.

During my conversation with Jake, he disclosed that he minored in business “as a backup because it’s so broad”, but after his internship with PO3 he realized he wants to work in the sports marketing industry, and specifically that the business/PR side of sports marketing and working with athletes “is something that [he] definitely wants to pursue”.

From the beginning of all of our internships until now, Jessica gushes about how proud she is of all of our growth, and she hopes what she taught us during our time at PO3 stuck:

“Being aware of what is around us is a superpower”, she says, as she explains how she hopes we are all now able to analyze the purpose of how everything is portrayed in the media.

This is something I can personally attest to, as I now view social media and the digital world as a whole from a different lens as I did before my internship, and I think it’s safe to say my colleagues feel the same way.

Jessica lastly revealed how her past internships inspired her to want to create an internship program at PO3.

“I am not a self-made anything, and I believe that everyone that says that is wrong. They had to have had people that gave them a chance…and a lot of people have done that for me and I wanted to be able to pay that forward”, she says.

My colleagues and I are extremely grateful for the opportunity Jessica has given us the past few months, and although it was a short amount of time, we all learned lessons that can last a lifetime.

“As for PO3, I think their hearts are in everything they do…and as for Jess, she is extremely inspiring in her achievements and how she builds such a friendly community…and I have no doubt there are many great accomplishments ahead of her”, says John.

While Jessica has been proud to watch us grow and is excited to see where the future takes me, John, Jake, and Bella, we want her to know that the feeling is mutual. I think I can speak on all of our behalfs when I say that I cannot wait to see what is in store for PO3’s future.

And P.S., to all of PO3’s future interns, you are all so lucky and we wish nothing but the best. Here’s to changing you internally so you can change the world around you!