Internship Spotlight: Message Heard
Photo by Jordan Medina
Studying abroad never really crossed my mind, despite my parents advocating for me to study abroad at some point during my college career. When one of my best friends at BU told me she was going to be in Ireland for the fall of our junior year, I applied to study in London on a whim. While I was very nervous about living abroad and interning there too, when the acceptance letter hit my email inbox, I dove headfirst into all the planning and preparation.
As a part of BU’s study abroad internship program in London, students partner with EUSA, a non-profit organization that helps pair students with internships abroad. I met over the summer with a EUSA employee to discuss my career interests and relevant experiences that could help set me up for a successful internship in London. After another interview with the woman who would eventually be my supervisor, I received an offer from Message Heard, a podcast production and distribution startup. I was set to work on their marketing team, primarily on the social media side.
Last year, I highlighted my internship with youbloom, which you can read here. Message Heard was remarkably different in comparison to the previous internship experience I had, and for the first time, I was working in-person and commuting to an office four days a week. My previous internship was entirely remote, and required me to join weekly Zoom calls, where I was met with a faceless screen to discuss my progress for the week. I was quickly cast into the throes of meal-prepping lunches and timing out the train route to take me from my dorm in South Kensington to the coworking space in Hackney. My mornings were spent trying to come up with an appropriate business casual outfit for the first weeks, eager to make a good impression in my new role. My coworkers were incredibly welcoming to myself and the other intern, who I also became friends with. My supervisor was extremely helpful in getting me acclimated to the workplace environment and taught me so much during my tenure. We got along and formed a really good working relationship, one I will forever be grateful for.
My role at Message Heard was entirely in their marketing department. I maintained the content calendar, brainstormed future content ideas, created TikToks and graphics for social media, and wrote copy for social media. I was really proud of the TikTok account that I created during my time with Message Heard that is still up and running. I made 9 videos during my time with the company, with a couple of them breaking 1,000 views, which I was really excited by. The account only has 22 followers, but for a start-up, my supervisor and the CEO were pretty impressed with my work. My supervisor taught me about SEO and helped show me a side of digital marketing that I didn’t know much about. I learned more in the office than I thought I would, much of which hadn’t been covered in class. While I love the courses I’ve taken at BU, the hands-on learning was something I hadn’t gotten much of before, outside of other internship experiences and through AdClub. These outside opportunities to learn can be so daunting, especially if you’re being thrown into it. The jump is always scarier than the landing.
Advertising internships vary, especially depending on the kind of business you’re working for, whether you’re in-house or at an agency, etc. My internship was definitely more in the marketing realm, since Message Heard wasn’t making advertisements for themselves or their podcasts, but were seeking to promote their brand and their shows organically through social media.
My first few days I sat in on meetings with various teams, including production, sales, and development to get a better understanding of what Message Heard was all about. I’d spend our weekly catered lunches getting to know each team a little better, which helped me gain a better comprehension of the podcasting business as a whole, especially since my primary goal is to work in the music industry after graduation. Despite Message Heard being a company I had not previously heard of in a space I didn’t think I had much interest in, I was able to learn a lot about the business.
This isn’t to say I never struggled. I had creativity blocks where I didn’t know what trending sounds to use for our next TikTok (so much so that I actually made a video about this) and had to resubmit copywriting work multiple times to get it perfectly right. As a perfectionist, and someone who’s struggled with the idea that they aren’t qualified enough, it was difficult. There were times where I was way too stressed for my own good, but my supervisor always had a kind word to say when she could tell I was having a hard time. Most of the TikToks I produced were more light-hearted and humorous, but I was especially proud of the “Day in My Life” video where I documented my day as the American marketing intern for the company. I showed off my commute, my typical coffee routine, our Wednesday lunch, and a bakery excursion with some of my coworkers. When I left at the beginning of December, the whole team wrote me a card thanking me for my work and wishing me the best. The card now is hung up on my wall beside all the postcards I bought during my weekend travels.
I definitely recommend BU’s London Internship Program for anyone who’s interested in gaining internship experience abroad. I miss London dearly and am so grateful I was able to experience life in a foreign city in college. The experience opened me up professionally to the world of digital marketing, helped break me out of my comfort zone, and allowed me to travel the world on the weekends. My internship is something that I am grateful for, both to build my experience for future internships, and as a fantastic opportunity for professional and personal growth
Jordan Medina