#BOCALife

National Intern Day

By July 30, 2022 No Comments

This past week we celebrated “National Intern Day” and BOCA loves our interns!! Sammy Totah, now a BOCA Partner, was BOCA’s first intern ever – just look at him now! BOCA truly values the internship experience and all that it provides. Below, BOCAteers share some of their most memorable intern experiences that have led them to where they are today. 

My personal purgatory is a never-ending cycle of post-grad job applications and endless rejection letters and ghosted emails. I seriously would not wish this on my worst enemy. Nearly every postgraduate lives through this process. My purgatory came to a relieving end when I came across a LinkedIn application for BOCA Communications for a PR Intern position. I’ve heard many stories of intern life and how it is depicted in shows and movies. My intern experience at BOCA greatly differed from these stories. I was met with a wonderful and nurturing environment that allowed me to learn the basics of PR and be challenged to do my best. I am grateful that my first internship was here at BOCA which allowed me to have such a positive experience and provided me the opportunity to expand my career and knowledge in PR.
Kayla Castro, Account Coordinator

The power of applied experience is gravely underestimated. I was lucky enough to have four internships throughout college in a variety of PR organizations – most of which I quickly realized were not at all what I expected them to be. Entertainment PR was “my dream,” at least so I thought, but after three months it was clear that the glitz and glam of the industry weren’t all I had built it up to be. My fourth and final internship, at Beyond Fifteen Communications, was out of my then-comfort zone (B2B tech) and ended up being the best decision I ever made at that point in my career. Not only did I love the people I got to work with and learn from, but I discovered that there was much more room to be creative in B2B tech PR than in any other industry I’d explored before. That leap I took resulted in four years at an amazing company and has set me on the path I’m on today!
Taylor Byers, Account Director

One of the best things about attending Arizona State University was the importance of internships and gaining real-life experience while going to school. One of my first internships was within the Sun Devil Athletics Media Relations Department. At that point, I was studying sports journalism but that internship introduced me to public relations and I loved every second of it. After spending time interning as a high school athletics beat reporter, I landed an internship with the Boston Celtics. I had to work part-time for Red Bull and still take a full class load while in Boston but those sleep-deprived months hold some of my fondest memories. That internship not only cemented my choice in switching my major to communications but I was lucky enough to meet my boyfriend and some of my best friends while living there. I fully believe in working as many internships as possible while in school, the memories and experiences are totally worth it. You can sleep when you’re dead right?
Janet Sauter, Account Executive

During the summer before my senior year in college, I interned at Harrison & Shriftman, a public relations agency in Manhattan. I remember that the ‘intern room’ was essentially the office’s kitchen space and all of the interns would kind of huddle up in there. I shared a studio apartment with a girl that I met through a mutual acquaintance and slept on an air mattress on the floor. I was broke and knew nobody but I was living in NYC and it was fantastic. I met so many nice people at H&S and I learned a lot about the industry, but more than anything I gained real insight into the working world in general. I have such great memories of that summer and while I decided that I ultimately did not want to live there, NYC will forever hold a special place in my heart. One of my favorite places to visit!
Lauren Brown, Content Specialist

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