Bon Voyage

Week 13:
August 12-August 16

I swear that every year of my life, time moves faster. Here I am, already done with my summer and both internships. When I started in May really does seem like just yesterday. Monday and Tuesday were super sad at Good Housekeeping. Okay, not super sad, but they were very sad that I was leaving and it was nice that I had clearly made an impact and proved myself a worthy intern. On both Monday and Tuesday, I trained two new interns who would be there for the entire fall. I passed the figurative "torch". It felt very strange to actually do the training because I was just trained by another intern 3 months ago! I showed both girls how to complete the daily tasks and they caught on very quickly. I have no doubt that in December they will be pros. Jasmine and Victoria gave me cookies from Magnolia Bakery that said THANK YOU. I thought it was very sweet and just proves once again how great the work environment is at Good Housekeeping. Monday, the new intern and I went to an invent to celebrate the beauty brand mark.'s 10th birthday. It was on the top floor of the Trump Hotel in Soho. Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars was there because she was the brand ambassador. It was beautiful overlooking the city and a really great way to end my time at Good Housekeeping. My summer spent at Good Housekeeping was definitely an unexpected pleasant surprise. By the time I left, I loved the people, the work environment and working with fashion in general.

At Creative Communications, I actually began two new projects and nearly finished them. One project was for Delish. I was in charge of finding the photos associated with the recipes and contacting the photographers and purchasing the image and the rights from them to use in the magazine. I created a massive spreadsheet with tons of information that made this otherwise complicated project do-able. The other project was for a corporate ad campaign that we are running at Hearst in the fall. I also had to assemble rights for photography. However, in this case, we also had to get rights from talent because we were using people's images for the ad campaign. After a few Word documents, most of the information was easy to understand. I also demonstrated to others how to use Flikr, the online photo database that Hanna and I had been updating all summer. They were very impressed and I was happy that the re-vamped database was going to be put to use in the future. Looking back, I definitely dabbled in a lot of different areas and projects. By far, my favorite was the United Way Campaign. I really enjoyed the whole process, meeting different people and organizing and being on set for photo shoots.

I know, I know, you all saw this paragraph I am typing here coming. Of course, it is going to consist of me wrapping up my summer and summarizing it for myself---I promise to not get too emotional (hah, who are we kidding?) This summer was definitely an experience, one giant experience. There was so much that happened, I am already mentally preparing myself for the array of questions I will get about it. I will have to prepare myself for the best parts, the worst parts, the celebrity spottings, and the ultimate horror stories straight out of Devil Wears Prada. I learned a ton this summer, not just about the jobs I was in, but the industry. I met some really great people who I will stay in touch with, and others that I cannot wait to flee the building and never see again. Although I may have liked certain parts more than others, the parts I didn't liked helped me to define what I want to do in the future. AH! There's that word again--the future. Thank god that I am only going to be a junior and have more time to figure out exactly what I want to do. This summer definitely narrowed it down and allowed me to explore more options I hadn't even considered before. So what's in store for me--Becca Bryden in the future? I plan to return to NYC next summer and embark on a new journey (aka internship). There is always more to learn and you simply cannot beat a first-hand experience. Until next summer my friends! Cheers!


xoxo,
Becca

mark.'s 10th Birthday!

Goodbye gift from GH

Lucy Hale and the CEO of mark.

August Rush

Week 12:

August 5- August 9

The second to last week of my internships commence! I probably could have stopped blogging because my internship evaluation is done and let's face it--I'm home free, I wanted to anyway. I started this experience on this site and will absolutely finish it. My two brief days at Good Housekeeping were brief as usual. It was sad because this was Alena's last week. I cannot believe how fast the summer went and the fact that she is actually leaving. I feel like it was our first day together just yesterday! I hope to stay in touch and hopefully her and the rest of my intern friends can reunite for our next summer in the city! We celebrated by going to the place we first got dinner together, Peanut Butter and Co and after we walked the Highline which was so, so gorgeous. We were busy as usual at Good Housekeeping. We had to send back a lot of the coats we received for the Coat Story starring in this November issue. This made for a lot of heavy packages! I also finished the Holiday Gift guide. It ended up being a pretty intense spreadsheet detailing  the product name, image, price, details and shipping info. I'm looking forward to seeing the items I worked on in the magazine come this holiday season.

I remember talking about a week of firsts. This week has begun my week of lasts. This week at Creative Communications was also Hanna's last day. The department threw us a party with baked goods to celebrate us. Compared to last week, where I was very, very busy, this week was a little slower. I had to make a few deliveries to the corporate floor and continued to work on spreadsheets I had begun earlier. Get ready next week for my last post! I know, I know, I might have to control the tears as well.

xoxo,

Becca

Celebrity Spotter
- FAB aka Frank A. Bennack, CEO of Hearst (Hearst Tower)

The beautiful Highline Park

Red White and Blues

Week 11:

July 29-August 2

Hello end of July! I know I say this about every other blog post--but this time I am absolutely serious. I truly cannot believe how fast this summer is going. This week was already the beginning of August. Part of me is excited to go home and begin school, but the majority of me is really enjoying the present as well. I continued to enjoy the present at Good Housekeeping. Things continued to be manic as we hunted diligently for prices for the coat and belt stories. A large concentration of my days there was also spent on the Holiday Gift Guide. We had our first run through on Monday and I was in charge of creating a spreadsheet containing the price, shipping info, description, and an image of the product. Some of the ideas were really cool and out of the box. Wish I could tell you, but you'll just have to wait to find out just like any other Good Housekeeping reader! This week, the September issue came out and Alena and I were able to see all of the hard word we did on the pants issue! I fully plan on saving the issue and showing it off someday. I have also been chosen to train the new interns. That's crazy, right? It feels like just yesterday that I was trained on my first day back in May. Looks like I will have to fake it til I make it so these interns are impressed with my knowledge.

At Creative Communications, my week could not have gone more differently than at Good Housekeeping. Both internships were complete mayhem, but Creative Communications took on a WHOLE new level. On Wednesday alone, I had to create two high importance spreadsheets that I only learned mid-afternoon were due later that night. One was for a timeline for invitations we are creating for the new CEO's gala in September. I had to estimate when proofs were arriving, when they would be approved, and when everything would be shipped to the calligrapher for final touches. In addition to that gem, I also had to create an expenses spreadsheet for a project we are doing in October that in estimates totals over half a million dollars! I didn't want to say it---but I told you so! These were no small tasks I was given. After a little bit of panic (ok fine---almost an internal mental breakdown), I completed both tasks and gave myself a huge pat on the back (literally). The next two days were a little slower, but I was still in charge of updating the new projects. I also reverted back to my favorite summer project, United Way. We had a couple of quotes from participants that needed to be approved and one quote that we are still waiting for. I will not name who is being so difficult with their quote--but it has come to the point where the other intern and I feel like stalkers. We have repeatedly emailed and called her assistant. This past Friday on her day off,  Hanna sent a particularly nasty email to her assistant only to have her assistant call our office and yell at me thinking I was Hanna. Let's just say that I understand that her boss is an important and powerful person, but this quote business is getting out of hand! Hopefully, before our last days we can get her quote. Honestly, when it's my last week I probably won't even care about leaving a bad impression and will do anything (within my power) to get that damn quote.

Well, on that note, I will stop ranting and raving and have you enjoy one of the last few blog entries that I will be writing! Read it and weep my loyal readers.

xoxo,

Becca