by Suzannah Peek
When I started at Olivia Management in January, I had no idea how much I would come to love these ladies and how sad I would be to leave them. Y’all… THIS is an internship. I laughed, I failed, and definitely embarrassed myself a few times. Most of all I grew. With every failure came a lesson and I will forever be grateful to Erin, Madeline, and Maggie for this experience. If you’re reading this and need an internship, do this one!! There’s going to be hard work, spreadsheets, Calypso Café, live music, and maybe even some bowling. Keep reading to find out the top three things I learned from the past 4 months.
AFFIRMATIONS CHANGED MY LIFE
I’ve had a couple of internships where I learned insane amounts but never knew if I was doing a good job. Each week in our Monday meeting we would write down personalized notes to each other saying anything we liked about the other person. We would then go around the room and read them out loud. It could be something specific that they did well that week, a compliment on their overall personality, or encouraging words if they weren’t having the best time. This seriously changed the game for me. Knowing what I do well helps me center my focus and saves time by allowing me to move onto tasks that I don’t do as well. It makes me feel valued and makes me want to work even harder. Every company should do this, no question.
IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER
Before coming to Olivia Management, part of me wanted to work at a big company. After this internship my mind has totally changed. Seeing Maggie build a tour from the ground up and seeing Erin run this company like the boss she is inspires me so much. They created everything they have themselves and it’s that kind of entrepreneurial drive that makes me proud to have been a part of Olivia Management. A big time management company has more artists and more resources but Olivia Management is just so hands on, you feel proud of what you made at the end of the day. This semester the interns were involved in editing videos, creating album art, and even setting up some of the artist’s websites. I don’t know of another internship that gives out that much responsibility. I was so immersed in the artist management world and I gained knowledge that I couldn’t get at a large company. THESE LADIES ARE HARD WORKING AND IT SHOWS.
PEOPLE ARE GENUIENLY NICE AND HARD WORK IS REPAID
I’m graduating in a little over two weeks and it is scary. It’s painful, things are ending, and my life is changing. Everyone at Olivia Management went through the same thing and they have been so encouraging and helpful throughout this process. They have given me job searching tips and forwarded job postings my way. I worked hard for them (at least I think so) and they have returned the favor 2x over. Internships don’t always have to be about coffee runs and grunt work. There are companies out there (OLIVIA MANAGEMENT) that care about your growth. Maggie and Madeline always asked me what types of tasked that I liked and tailored them that way. For that reason, I genuinely loved the work I was doing and who I was doing it for. Work hard and people will do the same for you. Ok I’m emotional now goodbye.