Starting out: Beginning an internship
Hi there!
Who am I?
I’m Daniela, and I’m currently on my final year of Management with Marketing at the University of Exeter. I am originally from Colombia, and I moved to the UK when I was 16 to continue my education.
A few things about me:
- I love playing tennis. Everyone in my family plays tennis so it’s always been one of my favourite things to do.
- I also really enjoy dancing. Coming from a Hispanic background, dancing has always been a synonym of happiness for me. In Colombia, even the smallest gatherings will end with everyone dancing around.
- I try to develop new skills regularly. I love learning and growing both professionally and personally. I would be the first person to sign up to a new online course, read a new book, or attend a special lecture.
Throughout my degree I have been able to learn about different areas of business including finance, management, economics, marketing, business strategy, and organisational development. This has allowed me to confirm my passion for business and become a proactive and well-rounded professional. I have always had the strong belief that in order to fully understand something you need to go from theory to practice. That is why since I started university, I have been focused on obtaining work experience that would allow me to develop my skills in a practical setting.
In my search for work experience, I came across the internship opportunity at Joanne Manville Virtual Assistance, and I was motivated to apply as it seemed like an excellent business and the role included many responsibilities that I wanted to acquire more experience on.
What I’ve been up to:
In my first job, I was responsible for managing and creating the social media strategy for the accounts of different businesses, this role allowed me to discover my love for tasks based around creativity and strategic planning. I then went on to work with a start-up where I reviewed the business model of the company and created the marketing strategy for the launch. I did this in a team of 8 people all coming from different backgrounds, which showed me the power of harnessing diversity when it comes to innovation. After that I decided to join a non-for-profit organisation as a marketing and PR volunteer, where I oversaw different campaigns and marketing efforts to raise awareness about stalking.
In July 2021 I started my placement year where I was able to work in a range of different projects such as managing social media accounts, tracking and analysing relevant marketing statistics, researching and writing blogs and articles, working on the employer branding of the company, helping with the development of the new website, and many other business and marketing related tasks. After I completed my placement, I started a summer internship with a consulting firm that helps European and north American companies enter the Latin American market. I am currently part of a start-up that is due to launch within the next few months, where I oversee all marketing activities, from planning to implementation, which has been a very challenging and rewarding experience.
The future and beyond:
I am very excited to start this internship. Joanne has been such a welcoming and supportive person throughout the whole process, and I could not be happier to be part of the team.
I believe this internship will help me develop my skills and will allow me to gain a deeper understanding of the different business areas I’m interested in. I’m looking forward to working with a range of different businesses and growing as a professional by helping them with various projects.
I would love to connect and talk. Find my LinkedIn profile here.