For the past nine years, internships have been a part of my life. My experience with them has been a roller coaster, but I do appreciate the journey.
The first internship I did was back in Compton, California in the fall of 2017. I was the assistant to an editing teacher at Compton High School.
I got the internship through the help of my father since he pulled some strings for me to get into the program so I could get a head start in my career in journalism. The teacher had graduated from Compton High with my father back in 1988 so as a token of his gratitude, I was hired for the position.
The position required me to learn how to edit videos and take pictures of events that were going on in the community. I took photos of Compton High students, trophies and Christmas parades. I also edited videos of daily school news.
Although some parts were interesting, working in this environment didn’t do much for me. I felt like I was rarely learning anything new about my career field as some students were teaching me what to do rather than the teacher himself.
I would’ve liked to learn some new skills, such as interviewing, but instead, I ran with the punches and continued to learn how to edit videos and take photos for the high school.
I was constantly trying to figure out what my sole purpose was though, which got discouraging, so I stopped showing up. The internship lasted for about a year until I was fired due to unexcused absences and tardiness.
One of the students and now my cameraman, Jovahny Pugh, had to assist me with programming everything instead of the teacher.
He was the only person who guided me along that seven-month journey and gave me the courage enough to start my podcast. It was tough getting fired, but I was on to bigger and better things.
The next internship I had was at the radio station in Compton called “HubRadio.” This began in the summer of 2018, after a friend of mine put in a good word for me. Andre “Hub City Dre” Spicer gave me the personal assistant position.
I was excited about the job at first, but then it got tiring. I wanted to be taught lessons in broadcast, such as how to ask good questions and how to work the studio equipment, but I was instead doing grunt work like bartending at a Sip & Paint.
The experience was okay for what it was, but I wasn’t doing anything close to learning about the field of radio hosting. I guess I should have read what personal assistants do though.
Eventually, I was fired from that job once again for unexcused absences, but it was a good trial run for me to have an opportunity to learn more about my craft. I learned to always be prompt, ready to work and do as I’m instructed.
My internship experience could have been better, but they both still taught me valuable lesson mental lessons to always speak up for what you want. These two internships only helped me learn how to become an efficient editor that’s all I had to practice on my interview questions all by myself.