The past year has been filled with many unexpected extremes on both ends of the spectrum. When the pandemic shut down businesses and sent schools to a virtual setting last year, it completely changed the course of my career. All of the jobs that I was interviewing for immediately cancelled their positions and the job market lacked new opportunities for me. While this was initially crushing, I have now come to realize that it opened many doors that held potential: it was more than I ever expected.

How did I find this internship?

After several rough months of the pandemic, I received incredible news in December of 2020. I got accepted into my dream program to pursue my masters degree in marketing! I didn’t anticipate going to grad school so soon after receiving my undergraduate degree, but this is one of the unexpected opportunities that arose. At that point, I knew I had six months to try to get some more marketing experience before continuing my studies. I wanted to find an opportunity where I could learn about various aspects of marketing from professionals, and an agency felt right. 

Thus, I started researching all of the agencies in Albuquerque to try to find the perfect opportunity. When I reached SiarzaSD’s website, one of the things that caught my eye most was Kristelle’s experience teaching social media and communications. The fact that the founder and CEO has also taught at the college level made it feel like the perfect place to learn from before continuing my studies. With an application, an interview and then a short wait – I got offered a social media internship with SiarzaSD!

Learning from a remote internship

Working an internship remotely is different than any other experience that I’ve had before. The best part of working remotely with SiarzaSD is that there was a lot of flexibility which allowed me to schedule my hours around any other commitments that I had without worrying about going to the physical office. The one downside to working remotely was that I wasn’t able to interact with the team as much as I imagine that we would have in person. With that being said, we did have team meetings via Zoom on a weekly basis including a “Zoom + Chill” where we would chat and have fun with some activities. I was also fortunate enough to go to a Covid-safe team event at TopGolf! 

I’m extremely grateful for the learning opportunities that came from this position. I was able to increase my knowledge of social media management and strategies, learn how to use new marketing software and improve my time management skills.

How I explored new opportunities at Siarza

After a couple months with the SiarzaSD team, I was offered a promotion because the team could see my hard work and full potential to succeed. This promotion came with some new opportunities to learn and explore other aspects of marketing. I was able to help with analytics reports, train on email marketing through MailChimp, learn more about PPC (pay-per-click) advertising and write a blog. It was great to learn from the Siarza team on a deeper level.

Unfortunately, my time with SiarzaSD has come to an end. My experience here opened a few more doors for exciting opportunities to pursue alongside my graduate program. Overall, I’m grateful for my experience at SiarzaSD. I have been fortunate enough to learn from the team and create lifelong connections. While I will be pursuing other opportunities when I move across the country for grad school, I know that I’ve met some great people who I am thankful for and I hope to stay connected throughout the rest of my adventures!