This summer I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to join Purplefish as a Marketing Assistant during a summer internship.

Within this role, my day-to-day duties include content writing, media monitoring, media pitching, social media audits and admin tasks to assist the team, and keeping up with industry news. 

After quitting education at seventeen and coming back almost a decade later to study Creative and Professional Writing at UWE, I’ve thought for a long time that PR is the industry I’ve wanted to work in. (Thinking back to the film Devil Wears Prada and how inspired it made me feel!) Before Purplefish, I worked in other marketing roles, and even as a content manager at a company in South Korea; but I still believed I had so much to learn to be truly successful. 

Being able to represent people and things I believe in has always appealed to me! I have always been a ‘go-getter’, setting my sights on something I want, and just going for it (sometimes with wild abandon), and I have come to learn that that’s a skill needed to keep up within such a fast-paced industry.

I have also learned during my internship at Purplefish, how important logical and organised thinking is, as well as enthusiasm and flexibility. It will come as no surprise to my friends and family to hear me admit that my weakest strength has always been time management. (I’m usually the friend who says they are 5 minutes away when they’re still sitting in a wet towel). Working in the PR industry has shown me the importance of organising my workload, my time, and my resources so I am able to deliver on what people expect from me. 

I consider myself a bit of a social chameleon, able to find common ground and things to talk about with different people. To be successful in the PR industry, you need to understand the needs of your clients so you can morph yourself, language and approaches to help them connect with the right audience. There is much more to PR than meets the eye. It’s not all glitz, glamour and events, although there does seem to be a fair bit of that. It’s hard work. 

During my internship, I surprised myself, and I am not ashamed to say that it has humbled me! With every new process learnt or system used, I’m slowly but surely getting there with the help of a lovely, friendly and patient team.

Since my internship finished, I have been offered the role of part-time Account Executive. I’m so thrilled to be able to continue working at Purplefish whilst studying in my third year at University and I look forward to gaining even more experience in the PR industry.