My Summer Internship: Learning to Speak Up

This summer I was offered an amazing opportunity to work at KARV Communications, a crisis management and corporate communication firm based in New York City.

First Day Nerves

To be honest, the excitement of working for a crisis management PR firm in New York City totally overwhelmed my first-day nerves when I went into the office in the morning of June 18. Besides, everyone in the office made me feel super welcomed upon arrival and that enabled me to quickly adjust to the office environment.  Although the firm mainly dealt with solemn cases related to the public affair, crisis management, litigation and government relations, the office has a friendly vibe and my coworkers always encouraged me to ask questions. It wasn’t my first internship, but it was the first time I felt so much like at home since the first day.

Reflecting on how much I’ve learned

In my past internship experience, I always had trouble to speak my mind, so I told myself that at KARV, I would work with everyone in the office and share my ideas with them. It wasn’t easy as I dBy Wenyi Jiang idn’t have experience working with government and finance related clients in the past. The anxiety of not knowing enough and the eagerness of assisting co-workers with professional knowledge and attitude motivated me to learn as much and as soon as possible.

The first and the major project I finished in the three months’ duration was a two-step media report for a top financial institution in the U.S. I had looked into both English and Chinese media to categorize and analyze the positive, neutral and negative coverage regarding the institution, and how the voice of the head of the institution fit in or stood out in the current political and economic environment. There were a few bumps on the road considering the amount of information the project required, but I managed to conquer the obstacles with the help of my co-workers.

In retrospect, the internship was definitely the highlight of my summer and experience of life. I remember how nervous I was when I got the phone interview and later an on-site interview with KARV. I also remember how frustrated sometimes I felt in the middle of a huge project, but in the end, everything was worth the effort. Although I was sad to leave KARV, I know the things I learned from the projects and KARV’s hardworking yet friendly ethos would always inspire and benefit me in the future.

By Wenyi Jiang