The opportunity to do an internship at a successful communications company is a dream come true for me as a Marketing Communication student.
I had just received my results for my first year at UJ when Tara Turkington, CEO of Flow, invited me to join the company and learn as much as I could before the year’s end.
Upon arrival I was warmly welcomed by Lyrr and Nikolai and given a tour of Flow, where I saw the artsy design studio, the busy offices, the inviting reception area, the buzzing journalism studio and the calm yet active IT department.
As everyone started arriving for work I felt inspired to see that they all seemed cheerful about their day ahead. I was stationed with the journalists and commissioned to write about various topics for 46664, Cape Town Tourism, Cape Town Kids, Maropeng and Flow. Jade and Miliswa kindly showed me the ropes so that I could slot in easily and Roy made sure that I was always busy.
The atmosphere at Flow is comfortable and, being surrounded by masters of the English language, I enjoyed many witty comments and amusing conversations during the course of the day.
The lunch hour was a nice escape from a computer screen, and chatting to Palesa and Itumeleng made me feel at home. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days at Flow, purely because Khanyi cooks the most delicious lunches for everyone in the office.
After a few days I became comfortable with writing articles and blogs, so Tara decided to mix things up and throw me into the interesting world of Expression Engine – the content management system used by Flow to build websites. I’m still not sure if I fully understand it, but I knew I could rely on Stephen or Reatile if I needed help.
Sarah taught me all about how content is loaded onto a site from the back end, and what the final result of all the difficult coding looks like on the front end. Before any of my work could be submitted it had to be edited, of course. Shirley edited some of my work and taught me a few helpful tricks of the trade with her detailed notes and tips.
Learning more about my future career and getting help from so many willing people in a professional environment was an amazing experience for which I am truly grateful.