(Written by Alice Finney)
Not many people are fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to intern over summer in one of their favourite cities, let alone to be working with such an inspiring and accommodating team of people as the Magenta crew. Landing the six-week internship with Magenta Associates was, for me, a wonderful step towards what I hope to be an exciting career in PR and communications. My desire to work in PR stems from the fact that I adore meeting new people and making new contacts, and revel in writing articles and researching current affairs. It is no secret that nowadays there exists a kind of stigmatised and stereotypical view of the “PR Girl” (no doubt fuelled by series such as Sex and the City); the girl who gets her nails done weekly, goes to Bikram Yoga at 6am, attends fashion week parties and is virtually glued to her iPhone 6s, whilst dabbling in bits of work here and there. My first week with Magenta undoubtedly shed light on some of these views and demonstrated how this preconceived image is nothing but a media spin off.
My first couple of days were pretty much a whirlwind. Along with my new teammates, I caught the train up to London to meet some of the company’s clients for coffee meetings and to get an understanding of what kind of PR ventures each company wants. In the first meeting it hit me pretty hard how fast paced the industry is and how on the ball you have to be. Additionally, learning new anagrams and industry jargon was clearly going to have to be a focal point. In between sessions, the girls and I would catch up over a quick lunch to review what had been said and to compare notes. My first afternoon was spent, rather glamorously, in the Picturehouse Rooftop Cinema where Esme ran through with me what my role would entail over the coming weeks. Getting to grips with the clients we worked with, the various media publications involved in facilities management and the journalists who we have relationships with is all PR bread and butter.
It wasn’t until the third day that I got to catch up with the rest of the team at the office (and meet my new Macbook!). Immediately I was bombarded with an array of different emails- my manager had usefully begun to copy me into email conversations so that I could see how we contact clients and inform them of what work we have been doing. I soon learnt that the range of work we conduct here at Magenta varies from client to client and completely depends on what the client would like in terms of content, media, awards writing or features.
The remainder of the week, which unsurprisingly pretty much flew by, was filled with collating relevant FM news articles found in the daily papers, creating an information document for the upcoming FM show and beginning a research document listing all the significant journalists who we could potentially get in contact with. By the end of the week I felt fully integrated within the Magenta team and was feeling, aside from being a little worn out after all the 9am starts and travelling about, very positive and excited about the rest of my time here.
