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During May, I worked on two shoots for North Six, one of which I helped a lot with the pre-production. It was nice to see everything come to life. I will return to the office on the 19th to help with more upcoming shoots. DPS has been a great experience as I have grown personally and professionally. It has helped me understand what I like and what I don’t like in the professional world. I am eager to graduate and continue my career in whatever direction.

At the end of March and throughout April, I worked for North Six, a fashion production company. Subsequently, I worked in their office and on various shoots. In the office, I assisted with tasks. I started off by helping with daily administrative tasks like picking up the phone, taking deliveries, and keeping on top of cleaning. When I wasn’t doing those tasks, I helped various producers plan for their shoots and also checked the finances of past ones. 

When dealing with the finances for past shoots, I would file recipes by scanning them and then putting the information into the appropriate Excel sheet; I would also cross-reference the amounts on the Excel with the recipes to ensure everything was there for accounts. During pre-production, I created travel itineraries and helped book studios, PAs, photo assistants, catering, etc. I would also go to their storage unit to pack for the upcoming shoot. This was a great way to learn what was needed for each shoot. It also helped me when I was on set because I knew what we had, making set up and wrap move much smoother. 

I enjoyed working in the office since I was often asked to help. I also felt at ease there because I felt like I fit into the environment and people. Since I was helping with many stages of production, the producers allowed me to have more critical roles on set, for example, taking care of the clients. It was nice to work at North Six because I was being taught so much and rewarded when appropriate.

At the end of February until the beginning of March, I was a research assistant for STACK magazine. This company is one with which I have remained in contact for a long time, emailing and occasionally receiving a response, usually indicating that they didn’t take interns. Since February and March, I didn’t have anything lined up, so I again began applying to various roles. While searching for new jobs, I also emailed places I had already visited; I was always told that persistence is key. This effort never paid off until my work with STACK. For over two weeks, I thoroughly investigated different independent cinemas, cafes, and stores that might want to have a STACK membership. I created a spreadsheet for each major city in England and Scotland, identifying ideal locations and including links to their websites, contact details, and addresses. Even though this task didn’t require much, it helped me become more organised in my research, as I was consciously doing it for someone else to use later. Contributing was important, as I have admired STACK for a long time and was finally given the chance to work for them. 

Before starting DPS, I had a strong desire to enter the production field, which was intensified by my experiences working on films in February. I contacted North Six and began my role as a production assistant on set for three days, which was an overwhelming start due to the scale of the shoot. I worked in their craft area, restocking snacks and drinks and assisting with other tasks whenever possible. Despite the challenging beginning, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and discussed an internship opportunity with someone at North Six.

At the end of the month, I interned at TCO London, working for their magazine Little White Lies. It was a short two-week internship, as that was all they offered; however, I feel I gained so much support and feedback during those weeks. They focused on me and what I could get from the internship. While there, I watched and reviewed films and documentaries and pitched features. Writing film reviews was much harder than anticipated. I thought I might have done it at university over the past two years, but I realised I hadn’t, and there was much more to it than just an article, mainly because of how the magazine writes. Finding their tone of voice and following it was new to me. By the end of the internship, I had done a lot of pitching activities, which were also much more complicated than I had thought. A key tip that has stuck with me is coming up with an idea while knowing your conclusion before you get there. Despite having two short-term internships in March, I felt accomplished and felt like I left each with a better understanding of the company and what I could improve on.

Little White Lies Published Review: https://lwlies.com/author/ionam/

In February, I finished my internship at Satellite 414. It was a great experience, but I wish it had been more than just one day a week. This limitation affected how much I could progress during my time at the office. Each week, I had to reacquaint myself with the habits and processes I had developed at the agency, which slowed my ability to advance. However, in the last one or two months, I was able to work on different tasks and expressed an interest in learning more. This included working on press reports, lists, and releases. Looking back, I learned much about PR and what the job entails. 

During this month, I also assisted with two student films in their lighting departments. The first film was a BA film and television graduate project at LCC, while the other was a graduate project at Bristol Film School. I have always had an interest in film and a solid understanding of it. It is a great environment because it requires all sorts of people to work together and take on whatever role needs doing. It would be an excellent chance for me to get into the role while observing what everyone else does to see if there is more that interests me. These two jobs allowed me to pursue that. The lighting work drew upon much knowledge, but I also learnt many new things in this area. I also got the chance to help the assistant director on both jobs.

January was my last month, Satellite. It was interesting going back. I enjoyed the agency because of the difference between the workday there and the gallery. At Satellite, I could relax, sit at a desk and do the same tasks. Without the gallery job, I found this month very long; I completed tasks faster than before and had less to do, making the workday drag on. Despite this, I was able to write a full press release and help create a press report. I wanted to learn these two skills, and I am happy I got the chance to do so. Completing this internship isn’t as sad as finishing at the gallery; I feel more ready to leave and excited to find new opportunities. Only working once a week was a massive downfall to this internship; if I had been there more, I would have gained more skills. 

In my final month at Saatchi Yates, I helped with a few things internationally for Art Basel Miami. For example, I sourced canvases for Slawn’s Miami show and shipped general office supplies to the gallery space in Miami. I also visited the warehouse to pack and ship the 1,000 canvases. 

This month was much slower than I was used to, so I started to help with the gallery’s decks to send to clients/institutions. This is all done on Adobe Creative Suite, which was a way to add to the knowledge I gained at university. I also started to do condition reports on the Solf artworks. I asked to get paid for that month, not just expenses. I was a significant asset to the team, and I found what I had done for them deserved to be highlighted. It was awkward to ask to be paid, as I had never done this before. I felt very worried about asking; however, they took my opinion board and paid me for that month. This was a great moment because I was being acknowledged for my work. 

At satellite, it was also a quiet month. During that month, I mostly did the print and online reports events list, but I also got to help send out press releases via MailChimp. It was a great experience to learn the software and see how the publicists write press releases. Before the winter holiday, I had chats with two different publicists to get more insight into what they do daily and how they got into it. It was a very informative session and allowed me to gain more of an understanding of the business. 

I was meant to finish at Saatchi Yates at the end of October, but they asked to keep me on. This was a great opportunity and gave me confidence in the workplace. During this month, I learned how to log images of artwork using a company software tool used for organisation. This was another nominative task, but it needed to be done, and I was happy to help. I also helped take down the whole Slawn show and watched as the Rachel Zhang show was curated. 

I was part of the team that shipped out 1,000 spray-painted canvas by Slawn. This required me to create a certificate of authenticity and package and ship the canvas. This was a tedious process but a great insight into the sales market. I participated in Zoom calls with the new artist, Rachel Zhang, as she discussed the art pieces for the upcoming show. These more extensive conversations allowed me to fully grasp her ideas and how the gallery will aim to sell her work. 

I transcribed a two-hour Zoom call so the marketing team could use her quotes for social media, catalogues, and press releases. I also assisted in social media marketing by creating short interviews with gallery artists like Benjamin Spiers and Rachel Zhang. I mainly helped produce the videos by sourcing the equipment and helping with the filming. 

At Stalliete 414, I became faster at doing the online and print reports, which allowed me to learn new tasks. I created and added to the events spreadsheet. This included using a platform to find significant events that interested the range of clients on their roster. I would see all events happening in London, LA, New York, and Paris and find out when and where the event took place and the PR for the event. A large part of this month was also spent on various tasks for the Rolling Stone Awards hosted by Satellite 414. I created picture lists for the paparazzi and sourced different social media profiles to interview the attendees. 

It was fun to get a chance to work on other tasks and understand more about PR and what Satellite 414 does daily.

In October, I started at Saatchi Yates. Many of the tasks at the beginning were administrative tasks and daily housekeeping. For example, turning on the lights and restocking food and water for clients and colleagues. Yes, these tasks are not complicated or new to me, as I have previously worked in hospitality; however, it made me understand the value of this. I became highly organised and capable of managing administrative tasks. I was comfortable communicating with suppliers and maintaining a smooth workflow by completing simple tasks. I also perform quality control checks and ensure the details always meet my and their standards.

Another task I quickly learned was packing and shipping artist catalogues. To uphold the gallery standards, the way we shipped catalogues, whether bought or gifted to clients, had to be of the highest standard. This task became increasingly something I oversaw. I checked that all orders had been completed and monitored shipping updates. 

October was busy as they opened a show for a popular artist, Olaubu Slawn. It was also Frieze week in London. I ran many errands, such as delivering catalogues to various galleries and arranging Frieze tickets for the gallery’s owners and artists. I also helped set up a pop-up Slawn had with Dover Street Market. I helped prepare the event, set up, and take down the display. 

The first month was very stressful because of the busy calendar. This made it hard for me to learn the basic tasks; however, being thrown into the environment helped me understand things and form bonds with my colleagues. 

I started at Satellite 414 toward the end of October. I enjoyed the change of pace with the PR agency. It was a much more relaxed and structured workday. For the whole first month, I mostly learned my weekly tasks. Learning each task took a while because the placement was only one day a week. 

The first task I was taught, and I continued every week, was filling out print and online press reports for their clients over the past 24 hours. For the print, I would get sent the daily report if any clients were mentioned in print papers; with this, I would send it to the whole team and log it into the artist report. For online coverage, I would search for myself, log anything, send it to the respected publicist, and then file it into the online reports. At the start, this would take me the whole day.