My internship coordinator happened to email me a link to a webpage on my college website that showed a story about myself. It was pretty much a quick interview by answering a couple of questions on paper and sending it to my coordinator about my internship and what suggestions I can offer to others. I was kinda excited, I guess it’s my own version of celebritism at least at the most basic level. My internship coordinator told me that I am kinda well known by other students because of this blog I made; all thanks to my professor that showed me the way to social media. I know a couple of classmates of mine sometimes ask me about the blog and then from there we go to everything social media and I am always happy to help others to start on their own path and this really encourages me to learn more in order to achieve my career goals, which is to get into social media.

I should start blogging about social media pretty soon but I wanted to give a little bit of info about traditional media, which is still useful if marketed right. Below is an image of the page where my profile is at as well as the story. You can find my story on the Intern Spotlight page at my college website as well but I’ll copy the text for this post because I really don’t know how long they’ll have it on the site.

Here is the actual text:

Intern Spotlight: Frankie De Soto

Green and orange are the two most prominent colors Frankie De Soto works with on a daily basis as a graphic design intern for the UT Dallas Office of Communications. During the spring semester, Frankie, an ATEC graduate student, has had the opportunity to design several marketing materials for UT Dallas.

Whether he is designing a banner ad for the UT Dallas bus line to promote the McDermott Library, developing a “Pardon our Progress” ad on a tight deadline for The Mercury or researching visual concepts for UT Dallas’ 40th anniversary logo, Frankie has remained busy and focused on learning more about marketing and honing additional skills to include on his resume.

“This internship will help me expand my skills in both design and marketing,” explains Frankie. “While my career goals are focused in online marketing communications, social media and multimedia design and production, this position will help me develop more print design skills, because there is still a need for print production.”

Besides learning more about marketing strategies, Frankie is also taking advantage of the Office of Communications’ team environment. “So far I have learned to collaborate with my more experienced co-workers, who are more than happy and willing to educate me in visual design and marketing,” says Frankie. “I also learned to communicate with clients on proposed projects and share ideas at a more professional level.”

Upon completion of his internship, Frankie will not only have “real world experience,” but also a few additions to add to his professional network, which he keeps track of online through LinkedIn and Twitter. As a blogger with online media marketing interests, Frankie understands the importance of meeting people in the field of your interest.

“Most importantly: network, network, network. Build relationships with people that you meet at your internship,” emphasizes Frankie. “Begin building professional relationships with others who are in the same field as you.”

Frankie believes that his internship will give him an edge in this competitive market and he offers some advice to other students thinking about an internship: “Don’t be afraid to take on more challenging work. Remember, you’re an intern, the more challenging work you get, the more experience you will gain and put on your resume,” explains Frankie. “The Career Center team helped me revise my resume. As I got more experience, they made it possible for me to create a resume that is a professional reflection of my skills.”

Intern Spotlight