The Devine + Partners team was lucky to have two wonderful interns, Teagen Golden and Brandon Trush, join our team this fall.
Throughout their internship, Teagen and Brandon were integral members of the team. They created media advisories, wrote press release and pitches, established social media content calendars and crafted blogs for an array of D+P clients.
We sat down with them during the last week of their internship to learn about their internship experience, what it was like to work in a virtual environment and how they feel this internship prepared them for future full-time professional roles.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself, your education background and what made you want to intern at Devine + Partners?
Teagen: I recently graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor’s degree in marketing. I was interested in working in PR because it is similar to marketing in a lot of ways, and I felt that working at an agency would be a great way to get hands-on experience in while working within many different industries. I found out about the D+P internship from a relative, who spoke highly of D+P and encouraged me to apply. I’m really happy that I did. Helping the team with client projects is always very interesting, and my time on the team has been a great learning experience.
Brandon: I’m a soon-to-be graduate of Temple University with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English. I’ve always had an interest in writing and the art of communication in general, which led me to explore multiple facets of the journalism industry during my time in college. I had previous experience freelance writing for online publications that required me to work with professionals in public relations, which spurred my own interest in the field. I came across the public relations internship opening with D+P through Temple’s online job search tool, Handshake, and now, I’m really thankful that I took the time to apply!
Q: What was it like for your internship experience to be completely virtual?
Teagen: Though working in an office setting has its benefits, I found that I’m able to accomplish almost everything I am required to do from home, too.
Brandon: I agree. And while the idea of working in D+P’s Center City office sounds very appealing (especially given the great food options around it), the virtual internship opportunity was truly invaluable for keeping the safety of myself and family in mind during the ongoing pandemic.
Teagen: Alyssa Zinar, our Internship Director, was very helpful and always there to guide Brandon and me as we got our start the world of PR. She always made sure we knew what we were doing before allowing us to work freely on a variety of exciting projects for clients.
Brandon: Luckily, work in public relations can be both very collaborative, and very independent. The team always felt available for me to bounce questions off of when I needed it, and I had the ability to be as productive as I could from the comfort of my room!
Teagen: The experience was convenient for me too, since I live about an hour and a half north of the Philadelphia office. Under normal circumstances, I might not have been able to take this opportunity.
Q: How has interning at D+P prepared you for the next steps in your career?
Teagen: For me, the D+P internship experience is a great transition from college to a professional career. I was able to take the things I learned in my education and apply them to my tasks during my internship. Since D+P is a boutique agency, the interns get to work on many of the tasks that the upper-level team does, too. So, I was able to get a full view and understanding of what it is like to work in PR.
Brandon: The D+P team may be small, but it’s comprised of both very seasoned, and relatively new PR professionals, which was perfect for gaining wisdom about the field from a range of different voices and experiences. When I sought out advice for what it’s like beginning a career in PR in the current climate, there were team members available to let me know how they had just started out, and when I wanted the wisdom that can only be obtained through many years of experience in the field, the resource was readily available as well.
Teagen: One thing special about this internship is Brandon and I were able to have informational interviews with the team to learn about their backgrounds, their career paths, and to ask for career advice, which has really helped my understanding of the industry. This was very helpful because we were able to make meaningful introductions to PR professionals and expand our network.
Brandon: I feel confident not only in the skills that I’ve developed through this internship, but in the leads that the team has provided me to continue in the industry.
