Jamelia Lowman is a student at the City College of New York who dreamed of one day working in fashion in Manhattan. After securing an internship in PR, she decided that fashion PR was her calling and decided to explore opportunities with fashion magazines and secured an internship with People StyleWatch.
I currently reside in Brooklyn. I graduated high school in 2007 and enrolled at the City College of New York where I am pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Media and Communications. I quickly realized I was more drawn to PR my junior year when my classes became more hands-on (doing service projects where I had to craft press releases, pitches etc.). I started looking for PR internships in Manhattan- where I always dreamed of working. My very first internship was in at a PR agency, and I learned a lot what the day to day looks at an agency that handles various accounts: fashion, lifestyle or beauty.
There is something about fashion that always excites me. While at my first internship I had the opportunity to work on fashion and beauty accounts and one of my responsibilities was going through magazines to look for client mentions. Growing up I was always reading or browsing through magazines and so I thought, well why not intern at a fashion magazine.
I signed up on every internship site and started looking for summer internship. I also asked the Media and Communications adviser at my college. The day after I asked her she sent me an email about an opportunity with People StyleWatch magazine. I immediately sent my resume and cover letter and the next day I received an invitation to be interviewed and soon after I was hired! The best lesson I took away from this experience is that persistence, consistency, networking and of course, passion to succeed are crucial when looking for internships or a job. I wanted an internship in magazine PR and I searched until it came to pass.
My day starts off with browsing through the newspapers and online for any mentions of People StyleWatch and then checking emails. When there are TV segments, the weeks leading up to the segment are very busy. I assist with casting models, setting up fitting times, assisting the stylist and my supervisor with anything needed. There’s always something to do in the office.
As an intern, my main responsibilities are creating press reports, dropping off samples for TV segments, working on expense reports, assisting with castings, updating model files, finding and printing press clippings and assisting with general office tasks. When we receive new issues I send out packages to our media contacts with ideas for future segments.
Keeping up with the pace can be challenging sometimes, but it is very important. You learn a lot about yourself and you get to show how passionate you are about the job. In PR there is always something to be done, whether it’s for now or later.
I didn’t encounter too many surprises as I talked with the previous intern who held my position. I knew it would be a very busy job but I was excited about taking on all tasks and so I never thought of it as a surprise. I was always excited about learning new things.
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