Sailing media and PR is not what I was trained for in my years of studying at NMU.
Everything I learned is wrong.
My boss wanted to strangle me because I was so eager to help, but I, myself, was helpless. I hated the internship, hated my professors and just wanted to go back to rigging boats the day before. I wanted someone to hold my hand through the process like I've heard from a number of interns. But, no, this was an event internship that lasted a week. When Boss recognized that I was educated in a style very different from what the sport demands, he just told me to forget all my classes.
I didn't go to school for journalism, but that's the style press releases that need to be sent out here in the US. Why? Because no one understands the sport and how broad it really is. Actual journalists have no idea how to interpret sailing lingo and would just nudge it off their desk with all the rest of the crap they sift through.
In my review, he said I was an excellent "schmoozer." A more educated person may take this as a backhanded compliment, but I'll take it for what it is -a compliment. The media -oh, the media. Why not be a little nauti if it fits the event and publics?
photo cred: Meredith Block
If I didn't have who or what I needed, I found a way to get it. This was probably the hardest part. No offense to these big-name professional sailors, but I have no idea what your face looks like. When told to fetch quotes, I was given a list of names of people I had never met before. Not going to lie, the task was a bit intimidating with over a thousand sailors roaming the harbor. Luckily, the party was being hosted at the venue, so the sailors were somewhere between their boats and the bar. Why not walk around with a few beers passing one out to names on the list or those who could point me towards those names?
I was truly spoiled by this internship. It was a crash course in what I want to do with my life and make a career out of. Boss also had no curtains or double-meanings. I was allowed into every aspect of the event and saw it all. I didn't immediately recognize how privileged I was until my next internship.
photo cred: Meredith Block
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