It's hard to believe I've finally arrived at my final blog post. When I started this blog, the end seemed so far away. Now there are less than 3 weeks until school starts and I leave my internships. I know I've said this so many times already, but it's mind-blowing how quickly time flies by when you're busy.

As much as I enjoyed this summer, if I'm going to be honest, it somewhat failed to meet my expectations. I thought working at THR would be a lot more dynamic than it really was. I'd hoped to do some writing and reporting, but in the end, all my days were spent in the office doing the same tasks over and over again. Contrary to what I thought at the beginning of the summer, the internship wasn't very interactive. Similarly, LA INC turned out to be a very stiff, aloof working environment. As much as I loved the work I did, I was only in the office two days a week, so I didn't get to do everything I could've done. I definitely regret that aspect of the summer.

However, I'm confident that I've added valuable experience to my repertoire. I was working on my cover letter for a fall internship application, and I realised that I have so much more knowledge to draw upon now. This summer was also important because it cemented my career goals: now I know I definitely want to work in entertainment/hospitality marketing, and that learning the skills required for such a job won't be impossible.

As I look ahead to the year ahead, I feel more apprehensive than excited. I feel burdened with a great deal of pressure: pressure to network, pressure to find an internship at a more prominent company, pressure to start looking for jobs, pressure to decide what I want to do after graduation, and, most of all, pressure to enjoy my last year in college. I look around, and all my friends have already completed internships I still dream about -- internships at companies like Fox, Universal, New Line, Disney, and Paramount; internships that have introduced them to very influential people. I love working for smaller companies, because it allows me to get more involved, but I feel I need to challenge myself with a more demanding workplace before I can really attack my job search with vigor.

So that's my goal for next semester. I want to study hard but work harder. I plan on continuing my job at Katsuya in hopes of climbing the SBE ladder, and if I can't find the perfect internship, I'll also be working on campus at the new Moreton Fig restaurant. Hopefully in between all of that I'll find time to continue my exploration of Los Angeles.

It looks like I've fallen a bit behind on my blogging -- I just checked the syllabus, and it looks like my five entries are due this Wednesday. Since there won't be much to catch up on in this post and the next, I'll try to keep them as succinct as possible.


LA INC

As my time here draws to a close, I'm starting to realise that I haven't formed any of the close relationships with my coworkers. This doesn't necessarily bother me, since I just do my own thing most of the time and I feel comfortable enough with my supervisor, but I have to admit it doesn't really feel right. Honestly, the time has just flown by here because I'm always so busy, and I don't feel like I've really changed since I arrived. The best way to explain it is that I don't feel like I was ever a part of LA INC: it feels more like I was a spectator observing the company for a few week. I have to say, though, that I learned a great deal about marketing, and I had some very invaluable hands-on experience. Things like writing that social media marketing proposal for Mummies of the World (which my supervisor presented to Mummies of the World to a very positive response, according to him) were completely new to me before I did them, and now I have a general sense of what to do if I'm ever told to do something similar in the future. Tomorrow I'm going on a "field trip" with my supervisor to Hollywood, where we'll ride one of those celebrity tour buses (our company is partners with the company that creates those). It will be a nice chance to get out of the office and get to know my supervisor, and hopefully I'll find an opportunity to interview him for my assignment.

THR

I honestly can't say I've learned anything from this internship, either. It's been fun, and I've definitely picked up some information about the entertainment industry, but I could have done everything on my own. As much as I hate to say it, my internship here wasn't really a valuable experience -- I pretty much just did the same basic tasks over and over again. It's not anyone's fault, as the job itself doesn't really provide many learning opportunities. It's essentially a good name to put on your resume. However, I'm glad I got to meet my supervisors, as they've been very kind to me, and I definitely feel comfortable enough about our relationships to contact them in the future should I ever need to. (Speaking of contacting supervisors, my previous supervisor from Valhalla who I didn't think liked me actually Facebook messaged me the other day to say hi and let me know that I was one of his favourite interns and I should ask him if I ever need advice -- crazy, right?) I still haven't told them if I'm going to stay or leave, but I've pretty much decided to leave, as I don't feel like I'll get anywhere if I stay.

University Link

I'm actually enjoying my freelance job very much. My editor Rebecca is great -- she's very understanding, and she knows I'm a huge fan of Glee so she went out of her way to get me an interview with Harry Shum Jr (I did the interview yesterday -- after a few glitches with my phone, it went smoothly). I wrote a short article about double majoring the other day and it made me realise that I really enjoy writing about topics that I have personal experience with. While I definitely don't foresee myself pursuing a journalism job in the future (despite all the journalism experience I have by now), this freelance job is a good way to get writing experience without putting too much stress on myself.

Katsuya

Nothing has really changed since my last update. I think by now I've gotten past the "new" phase of my employment, because people are starting to complain to me and criticize some of the things I do. The managers are definitely more strict when it comes to me messing up. While I've started to befriend some of my coworkers, I'm still finding it difficult to strike up a conversation with others. I know I should just mind my own business, but I'm very self-conscious about these things. I've become friends with one of the other hostesses, Liberty, and she mentioned to me after we worked two nights at Gladstone's that the lead host there didn't like me because he thought I was too catty and controlling. It's frustrating, because I'm just trying to watch out for myself (they're very disorganised over there so I don't always trust their direction), but in the process I give off a self-important vibe, and I don't mean to. Liberty told me I should just accept that I won't always get along with everyone and move on. I'm going to try hard to incorporate that philosophy into my working attitude from now on.

Los Angeles

With all the time I spend working, I pretty much haven't had any free time since several weeks ago. In a way, work is like my free time -- I get to interact with other people and do what I love. Still, I have a feeling I won't have achieved most of my goals by the time school starts in three weeks. A few things I definitely want to do, though, are the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest (running every Saturday until August 21, which is my 21st birthday), a trip to LACMA, and a visit to Catalina Island. I don't know how realistic the last one is since there's very little time left, but I'm going to try my best, because it's my last chance to go before next summer -- and who knows what I'll be doing by then?

I realised yesterday that summer is 3/4 of the way over. It's unbelievable how fast time flies when you're busy. I feel like I just started my internships yesterday, but I'm already looking ahead to fall internships and getting ready for classes. Now's the time to really attack my jobs with everything I have and hopefully leave the best possible impression with my supervisors before I leave.

LA INC: Recently I've been spending a lot of time in my supervisor's office watching him go about his daily duties, listening in on his conference calls, and offering input when needed. I've sat in on calls about everything from dineLA's Restaurant Week to While I appreciate the opportunity to learn, I also wish I could be doing more actual work. So You Think You Know LA (the project I've been working on since I started) is starting to take off. We've finished the website and sent the bookmarks out to be printed. I'm excited to start the field marketing part of the project. We're thinking about putting a street team together to hand out the bookmarks. If so, I would love to participate in that.

THR: After spending the past few weeks doing the same thing everyday, I decided to take initiative and speak to my supervisor about going out and doing some events coverage for our About Town section, something he had mentioned as a possibility during our initial interview. To my relief, he was very receptive and agreed to get me in touch with the woman in charge of About Time. Usually I shy away from making too many demands at my internships, but I'm glad I decided to step out of my shell in this case. Now that I'm on the email list, I'm going to try to take on an assignment or two. I want to get out there and start meeting people in the industry. Public relations is another area I'm interested in entering after college, and it'll be helpful to get a feel for press events right now.

I've also been talking to my supervisors about staying for the fall. They've all hinted that they would love for me to stay, as they need all the help I can get, but at this point I don't think I can continue an unpaid internship if there's no chance of me being hired after graduation. I also don't know if I want to work at THR -- it's a great place to build internship experience, but journalism isn't for me. I need a more dynamic, hands-on job. I like to see direct results, and working in a cubicle all day doesn't give me that.

University Link: I completely forgot to mention this last time. A few weeks ago, my former supervisor from Metromix contacted me and asked me if I'd like to freelance for University Link, the magazine she's now editor of. It's a paid (albeit not that much) job, so of course I agreed. I recently completed my first assignment, an interview with the Big Bang Theory actor Simon Helberg. It was the first time I've ever done any reporting, so I was pretty much terrified going into the interview, but everything worked out fine, and the article wasn't too difficult to write up. I have my next assignment -- a short piece about double majors -- due in a week. The job luckily isn't too demanding, and it's always good to get clips under my belt, so I'm definitely not complaining. This was also a great lesson in networking for me. Apparently it really does pay to intern and form connections.

Katsuya: I find myself enjoying my shifts more and more as I get more comfortable in the work environment. It's always off-putting how friendly everyone is, especially compared to my internships, where the workplace environment is pretty reserved. However, I still sense a difficulty to connect between me and the other workers who have been there for months (some even years). One of the other hostesses told me the other day that the best way to get over the awkwardness is to not go out of my way to talk to them. Instead, I should go about my own business until someone talks to me. I've never really thought about it that way, but I think I'll give that strategy a shot from now on. We've had the chance to serve some pretty important customers since I started, including Jennifer Aniston, David Spade, and Mark Sanchez. I was sent to another SBE restaurant, Gladstone's, a few nights ago. It was an eye-opening experience -- they have a completely different way of running their restaurant, and it made me very thankful that Katsuya is more organised.

Now that my summer schedule is starting to come together, I've realised that I've perhaps bitten off more than I can chew. I come home most nights too tired and sore to even knock on my roommates' doors. At the same time, it's a good kind of exhaustion. I love feeling like I've accomplished something when I come home at night, even if it was just getting a compliment from my supervisor or putting a smile on a customer's face. Here's how things have been going for me:

LA INC

As the weeks go by, I find myself increasingly receiving assignments that challenge me and keep me busy. I sat in on my first ever corporate meeting last week, during which we discussed copyright laws (we've been dealing with some problems regarding copyrighted image, so my supervisor invited the interns to sit in on the meeting so we'd learn something for future reference). I've tried to go out of my way to get involved with the projects around the office. For instance, we've been working on the marketing campaign for Mummies of the World recently, and when someone else asked my supervisor if he could get an intern to help her at the press event a few days ago, I immediately volunteered even though it was on my day off. I had a great time and learned a lot about how such events work, knowledge that will definitely come in handy one day.

One area I've struggled in at LA INC is getting to know my coworkers. I feel very isolated from them for various reasons -- my cubicle is enclosed and relatively far away from the main office, and my age (I'm not 21 yet) prevents me from going out and, say, buying drinks during happy hour with them after work. My supervisor often invites me to eat lunch with him and some of the others, and even though I accept most of the time, it's difficult for me to join the conversation. I think the best way to get to know people is on a more one-on-one basis, so from now on, I'm going to try to get involved in situations where I know I'll get to work closely with someone in the office whom I haven't met yet.

THR

I've settled into a steady routine by now. On Fridays, I update the production charts, and on Sunday, I work for the web team, uploading content and creating photo galleries. I really enjoy working with the production charts -- even though it's monotonous work, I'm learning a great deal about the entertainment business and what's currently going on in the film industry. That's the main reason why I chose to intern at THR. I want to work on the corporate side of film one day, and familiarity with who's who and what's what is of foremost importance when you're pursuing that kind of position.

Katsuya

For a while, I wasn't sure if I'd ever start working. Shortly after my last blog post, the hiring manager, Grace, called me to let me know that they'd just found out I had been hired for the Katsuya in Glendale, not the one in Hollywood. I told her Glendale was too far, so she sent me to LA LIVE instead. Then, last week, I found out I'd missed a mandatory training session that no one had told me about. Luckily, Grace agreed to let me come to the next one once they schedule it, since things the location changes have made things very confusing.

Despite my slow progress with corporate, I've really enjoyed working at the LA LIVE location so far. My first day was relatively slow, so I got the chance to get accustomed to the different managing style at the restaurant. Then things got a little crazy when Anime Expo came to town. I had to work all three nights that weekend, and by the end of it I was exhausted. Standing on 3.5 inch heels every night is painful! Luckily, the work environment is very relaxed and all the staff are friendly. I definitely feel the awkwardness of being new, but I know it will fade over time. For now, I'm working on improving my customer service skills.

Los Angeles

I'm proud to say that I've been proactive in my pursuit of the perfect personal summer in LA. So far I've gone hiking on various trails around the Greater Los Angeles area (my favourite was Solstice Canyon, in Malibu), visited Venice Beach for the first time to watch 4th of July fireworks, and tried a number of restaurants I've had bookmarked for a long time (26 beach has the best burger I've ever tasted). Unfortunately, I no longer have much free time now that I've started working at Katsuya, so I'll have to start prioritizing the things I want to do. Next on the list: LACMA and brunch in the Mid-City West.

Introductory post

Welcome to my first attempt at a professional blog! My name's Annie, and I'm a USC student double majoring in Psychology and Communication and minoring in Screenwriting. I want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, hopefully in marketing or publicity. I've already had two internships: a development internship at Valhalla Motion Pictures and a web internship at Metromix TV. While both were great experiences, neither was exactly what I wanted to pursue a career in.

This summer I'm keeping busy with an online marketing internship at LA INC and a news internship at the Hollywood Reporter. Unfortunately, both internships are unpaid, so I'll also be working part-time at the SBE-owned Katsuya Hollywood to pay for rent. Over the next few months, I'll post about my experiences at these three companies, and hopefully anyone who stumbles upon this blog will find them worth reading!

Here's some background information on what I've been doing so far:

LA INC - Despite its flaws, I've always loved Los Angeles, both as an idea and as a reality. Whether it's food or entertainment, the city has so many hidden gems that tourists have no interest in and locals never discover. I want to open people's eyes to LA's unique character and culture, which is why I chose to intern at LA INC. It also helped that the internship is in the online marketing department, which is a field I have extensive personal experience in and therefore want to move into. So far, I love the internship. Unlike my previous internships, it's a very corporate setting, so I've had to readjust my personality and basic office conduct accordingly. What I really enjoy is that I don't have a set list of tasks because there's always something different to do. I sat in on a department meeting my first day, and yesterday I helped my supervisor come up with strategies for increasing traffic to our Facebook page. We're also thinking of starting a new video project that I would have a significant role in designing and maintaining. It's been very exciting so far, and I can't wait to see what other assignments I can get my hands on over the next few weeks.

The Hollywood Reporter - THR is one of the two leading entertainment business news sources, the other being Variety. While I don't have much desire to become a journalist, working at a crossroads of information is a great way to prepare for any career in the entertainment industry. I've certainly become more aware of what's going on in the world of film and TV since starting my internship. The office is understaffed at the moment, so I've had the chance to work with different departments, including publications, web, and charts. This has allowed me to get a better idea of how information flows through the entertainment industry and is distributed to the public. I hope I can do some reporting and social media work in the future, but for now, my duties are primarily setting up newsletters, creating galleries, updating production charts, and general web maintenance. While it isn't the most exciting, interactive internship in the world, I'm confident that it will provide the knowledge foundation I need to secure a job in my field after I graduate.

Katsuya - Katsuya is an upscale Japanese restaurant owned by SBE Entertainment, a hospitality company that also runs luxury venues such as the SLS Hotel, Gladstone's, the Abbey, and Hyde Lounge. My decision to apply for Katsuya was mostly made by what I like to call my guilty pleasure side: the part of me that loves reading trashy tabloids and follows celebrities' Twitters obsessively. I needed a restaurant job, because that's where I have the most job experience, and Katsuya -- a notorious celeb hotspot -- just happened to be hiring for the summer. After four rounds of interviews, I got a hostess job, and now I'm in the process of training. It's been a very long application process (I still have weeks of training to go), but I'm grateful to be a part of such a well-respected entertainment group. Celebrities aside, I hope I can improve my social communication skills while I'm at Katsuya, because that's going to be very important in the future.

In addition to writing about my professional experiences, I'll also post about any LA-related events I attend. TV tapings, food festivals, award shows -- hopefully I'll have the time to go to all of those and more this summer :)

- Annie