Allison BurkeName: Allison Burke

Major: Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles

Expected Graduation: December 2015

Where are you completing your internship? BCBGMAXAZRIA Group, Los Angelas, California

What is your ‘typical’ day as an intern?
On Mondays, I update all analytics for the social media channels the brand uses for marketing. These include: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, and Polyvore. I check to see if we have received adequate reach and our top posts from the week.
On Fridays, I schedule all weekend posts in advance.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I work on Mall outreach via emailing all malls that have BCBGMAXAZRIA and Herve Leger stores. I update them about what promotions or new arrivals they should be advertising. Next, I check all of the social media channels used by the malls to see who has posted. From there, I compile an spreadsheet with images of their postings. After that, I work on collecting images and postings for the BonChic Blog and for Facebook and Instagram. I also draft Tweets.

How are you using and applying classroom knowledge in your internship?
I am applying knowledge of merchandising in collecting images that go together for daily posts. I consider variety and color. In addition, I help pull images of fan posts that include outfits. I consider if these are current. I also have to work with time management to get things done. I also use my marketing classes from UK alot because I am drafting marketing techniques for the social media sites.

What is one key thing you have learned during your internship?
I have learned extensive time management and what that looks like in a very fast paced high fashion company.

If you could share one piece of advice for other students who are preparing to complete an internship, what would it be?
Be open to fields within merchandising that you may not have thought of. I would have never thought of managing social media sites, but I love it.

Additional Comments:
This internship is an amazing opportunity for hands-on, real experience in fashion. There are various departments and they often hire their interns in career positions. I highly recommend it.