INTERNING AT ATIKA LONDON

As someone who has just graduated university with a degree in Drama and Creative Writing, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself after the blissful university bubble had inevitably popped. Interning was something that had crossed my mind multiple times over the last few years, more specifically in those last few months as the realisation that yes, I actually was going to have to do something with my life began to sink in. As ‘The End’ (as us dramatic drama students liked to call it… or maybe that was just me…) drew ever nearer, being an intern suddenly became a serious option. Experience is vital and what better way to get it?

So when I saw the advert for a social media/ PR intern at Atika London, it was simultaneously like Christmas had come early, combined with a hundred questions: am I good enough/ cool enough/ experienced enough to work at somewhere like Atika? What if they ask me to do something and I have no idea how to do it? What does interning even involve?! However, in a moment of bravery, I sent in my CV and now… here we are.

“You’ll just be making tea” said numerous friends, “you’ll be doing the really boring jobs.” Whilst that may be true for some places, I can safely say that I am now three weeks in and I have not had a single moment of being bored and I have not made a single cup of tea.

I could not have asked for a more welcoming group of people. They have put up with every single one of my questions (stupid or otherwise) and have been so, so lovely, always making sure I know exactly what I’m doing instead of just throwing me in at the deep end and leaving me there to flounder around like a distressed fish.

Until now, I have always been one of those people who looked at flat lays on Instagram and whilst I’ve obviously been able to appreciate them, I have also assumed they would have been easy photos to photograph. I was so, so wrong. Never again will I assume that photographing different outfits is easy, or that it takes no time at all. The attention to detail that is needed is something that I thought I had, but in fact, I’m learning that you can never pay too much attention.

I feel like being at Atika is really helping me to slowly (but surely) step out of my comfort zone when it comes to creating different outfits (both on myself and for our social media platforms.) I used to live in black and although this is probably still 82% of the case, I’m actually learning that colours, accessories and patterns and putting them all together is actually a lot more exciting.

I honestly don’t think I could have found a better place to intern. If you had asked me a few months ago about whether I’d be this happy after university I would have probably laughed (and then cried). I didn’t realise that I could incorporate all the things that I enjoy and am genuinely passionate about and actually turn them into useful skills, and on top of that, I’m learning and becoming more confident each day. Whenever my friends ask what I’ve been up to, I think they expect answers like, ‘Oh, I did some nice photocopying today.’ But in-between helping with press loans for Vogue and getting to be creative and write blog posts like this one, it has so far honestly been a dream.

So with my (still obviously very limited experience) I can only say positive things about interning so far. Find something you enjoy and chase it. And thanks Atika, for letting me do just that.