Well, we just finished the second day of our D.C. journey, and I’m just now mustering up enough energy to write a post about it!
So far, we’ve visited Valerie Elston at Levick Strategic Communications, Carolyn Tieger at Porter Novelli, Senator Johnny Isackson at the Capitol and Erin Caldwell at Edelman. Our schedule has been super busy, but we’ve been loving every minute of it!
Washington D.C. is a city you can easily fall in love with. I’ve never been in a place where I feel a part of something so much bigger than myself. Everyone’s dressed to the nines; the streets are clean; important conversations are going on EVERYWHERE, and everyone is always talking about politics.
Now, I like to consider myself a concerned citizen of America, but I am by no means a self-proclaimed politics lover. I was worried about not being obsessed with politics if I moved to D.C., but Mrs. Tieger told me not to fear. I figured it was something you’d learn more and more about the longer you lived here, but she helped calm my fears about it.
Ah, yes. What have we learned so far?
After consulting with my roommates, @mturner21 and @carlyed, these are the lessons we feel we’ve learned from each place we visited:
- Levick: “Ask stupid questions intelligently.” Gene Grabowski, Senior Vice President, told us this, and we all enjoyed the breath of fresh air. He said that sometimes interns are afraid to ask questions, but if you ask all your questions intelligently (even if they are a little stupid), people will be glad to help you. We were so excited to have Gene grace us with his presence. Britney Watson had even listened to a podcast he recorded about A-Rod earlier in the week and told him he was like a celebrity to her. So cute!
- Porter Novelli: “Not every blog is influential, but every influential person has a blog.” YES! All of us wanted to stand up and say, “Amen, brother!” when Eddie Garrett, SVP of Digital Marketing at Porter Novelli’s D.C. office, told this to us yesterday. It’s so true, though! We were talking about how to reach people through social media, and he connected it just like that for us. Eddie is a “Double Dawg.” He has an ABJ from Grady and an MBA from Terry. Needless to say, Georgia people are SMART!
- Senator Isackson: Success is about relationships. Senator Isackson told us that if you care about a person for who he or she really is, despite race, color, ethnicity, background, or whatever you can come up with, you’ll be truly successful in life, and people will trust you.
- Edelman: As an intern, it’s SUPER important for you to always ask your superior what the “next step” is after you’ve completed a task. Normal people do only what’s required, but Edelman interns (and Grady students) are expected to go beyond the call of duty. After all, if you are hired full time as an account coordinator and don’t know what to do after writing a press release, you’re not going to get anywhere. Common sense, y’all.
That’s pretty much it for our adventure so far! D.C. is amazing. Grady is awesome. Weather is cold. Sleep is lacking…but we’re learning so much.
Go dawgs!
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