National Intern Day 2020: Meet Scratch’s Intern Co-Pilots

It’s National Intern Day, and we couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to feature our two amazing interns: Sara and Ciara. Throughout the past few months, these two have been extremely helpful to have on the team for their contributions to both Scratch’s internal and external projects. We sat down with them to discuss their most interesting projects, their hobbies outside of work—and how they’ve managed to navigate the learning process in a remote internship.

Sara DeMoranville

Boston University Class of 2020

Bachelor of Science Business Administration (BSBA), Concentration in Marketing

Responsibilities at Scratch: Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media

Ciara Campbell

University of Richmond Class of 2022

Bachelor of Science Business Administration (BSBA), Concentrations in Marketing and International Business, Minor in Spanish

Responsibilities at Scratch: Marketing, Virtual Event Planning, Social Media

Looking back on this internship, what have you learned about yourself both personally and professionally?

Sara: On a personal level, I’ve definitely learned the importance of managing myself—whether that’s time management, money management, etc. There are a lot of little things I do to stay motivated and focused throughout the week. For instance, I start my day by waking up early and going out to get coffee before work. Then at the end of the work day, I spend time at the beach to try to relax and refresh. It’s definitely made working from home a bit easier, since I haven’t really experienced this type of challenge before.

Professionally, I’ve learned that I love working in an agency setting—there’s always something different and exciting every single day. I love working on teams with people of all ages and experience levels, because it’s really inspiring to hear everyone’s different perspectives. I feel like there’s always something new to learn from each person I work with.

Ciara: Personally I’ve learned a lot about time management during the pandemic, which has really helped me in a number of ways. When you’re working alone in one room—some people can go crazy without the social interaction with others. I’ve stayed sane by trying to maintain a solid work-life balance.

On the professional side—I’d only taken a few marketing classes before starting the internship, so it’s been a major learning experience. Working through different types of projects, I’ve been able to figure out which aspects of marketing I enjoy the most—one aspect being marketing strategy in the B2B world. I’ve also really improved my written and verbal communication skills, especially over email and Zoom since we’ve been working remotely for the past six months. I’ve really improved my vocabulary, particularly with different terms that are used prominently across the marketing and agency world.

What have been your favorite types of projects to work on so far?

Sara: I’ve really enjoyed all of the activities that have involved creativity or brainstorming new ideas for new projects. Whether it’s for design, social, or a blog—I really like that freedom of being able to use my creativity and bring ideas to life. I’ve also really enjoyed the research process around weekly news scans for different clients, because I’ve gained a deeper perspective about different industries that I likely wouldn’t have gotten the chance to research otherwise. And sometimes I even like doing the more mundane, tedious tasks. It’s almost like a break for my mind, even though I’m still practicing and learning skills that are essential to have in my future career. For example, I’ve enjoyed the process of breaking up a heavy research task with a regular reporting task…so having that mix of tasks and projects has been really helpful.

Ciara: Many of my projects have included a solid amount of research and writing, which I enjoy doing in my personal time—so doing those types of tasks in a more professional setting has been great. I’ve also loved taking what I’ve learned in one project and applying it to a completely different project. For example, creating informational slide decks for team members to use, writing educational pieces for Scratch’s blog, etc.

What do you hope to learn more about in the future?

Sara: I’ve been learning a lot about public relations, which I’ve never really explored before…so that’s been really interesting for me. In the future, I’d love to learn more about content writing and design. I’ve always been interested in creative tasks like painting and making music, but I never realized how much goes into the writing and design tasks in a professional setting. It’s been fascinating to experiment with design projects and receive feedback. I would love to learn about the technical side of design, because people don’t realize the technicalities that go into each graphic.

Ciara: I’m really interested in event marketing. In the future, I would love to work at a music label and think it’d be really cool to do event planning and marketing in that type of space. Since the pandemic started, in-person events haven’t really been happening…so in the meantime I’ve gotten great exposure to the world of virtual events and marketing at Scratch, which has been a really good learning experience for me.

What do you like to do outside of work? Favorite hobbies?

Sara: I love to make music! It’s mostly singer/songwriter style, and working with electronic producers. It’s really become my “outlet” and I’ve never done it for any other reason besides that. I also love snowboarding and surfing. Those are the main things I do to have fun and keep myself busy.

Ciara: I love traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing different cultures. My family has dual citizenship in Ireland, and I’ve always wanted to live and work in Europe. Last summer, I was able to work in Madrid, which was amazing. I ended up living there for a bit because I wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country, since I’m a Spanish minor. I also love creative writing, and planning for different activities, because I’m always thinking about what my next adventure will be.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

Sara: I’m such a go-with-the-flow type of person, and I like to take opportunities as they come. I think planning too far in advance isn’t always the best idea, because it can squash random opportunities that can come up and take your life in a different direction. I eventually see myself living comfortably by the beach, with a dog and a family. In terms of my career, I’m not too sure yet. I think I see myself leading a successful business of my own, or doing something completely random that I just don’t know about yet.

Ciara: Twenty years is pretty far, so I don’t know where exactly I’ll be by then. I definitely hope to be living happily with a family and traveling the world. In terms of my career, I’ve also always wanted to start my own business and I’m always writing down ideas that I think of. So hopefully by that time, I’ll have my own business that I’m really passionate about.

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