My Career After My Academic Internship

My first summer internship was through CIEE’s Summer Global Internship Program in London. Through AIC, I was placed with Revlon in London. More specifically, I was on the Elizabeth Arden brand team doing designer fragrance marketing. Without that placement, I know I would not be where I am today. That summer gave me the experience and resume I needed to differentiate myself from other candidates moving forward. I am eternally grateful for the incredible placement team who matched me, and wanted to show you guys what I’ve been up to since my internship in London!  

Revlon in London

During the summer of 2018 I participated in CIEE’s Global Internship Program and worked for Revlon. My supervisors were incredible, and we are still friends to this day. Any time I’m in London, we go out for dinner or a drink.

From the beginning, I was given real projects that had an actual impact on the business. I worked mostly with the Juicy Couture fragrances, specifically the OUI Juicy Couture launch that was happening at the end of the summer. I made training booklets, which were distributed to all the Juicy Couture employees in the UK to educate them on the new fragrance. I also came up with the idea for, and worked with a supplier to produce, a retailer head office gift. This went to the executives in the Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser, etc. head offices to thank them for carrying our new fragrance.

In addition, I helped with launch events, experiential marketing sites, and the online campaign. It was a perfect placement for me, and I was sad to leave at the end of the summer. I didn’t leave empty handed though! One perk of the beauty industry is the bags and bags of samples you get to take home. I also left that summer with many new friends, from my fellow interns to my supervisors to the staff at CIEE London.

Walgreens Boots Alliance in NYC

The following summer I was offered a position with the Walgreens Boots Alliance at their headquarters on Wall Street. It was an incredible job, and I know my role at Revlon was a huge reason they wanted me on their team. Having prior experience in the beauty industry was vital, and having worked in the UK made me their ideal candidate. Walgreens is based in Chicago and Boots is headquartered in Nottingham, England. The two companies formed an alliance, which is where I was working. My proven ability to work cross-culturally and my knowledge of the UK market was an advantage over other candidates, and led to me being given the most important intern role. The team appreciated that I knew the global market, understood the industry, and had used the brand’s products. Most candidates had never heard of No7, or even Boots, but I knew them both well. I had worked directly with Boots while at Revlon, as it was one of the retailers that carried OUI Juicy Couture.

I was on the No7 brand team, which is the company’s biggest brand and the largest beauty brand in the entirety of the UK. It was our job to increase popularity of the brand in the U.S., and it was working. The brand was experiencing an incredible 60% yr/yr growth rate and absolutely exploding in stores. Among other things, I was given the responsibility of taking product proposals from the Global team in the UK and assessing their suitability and feasibility to the U.S. market, given differing consumer preferences and production constraints.

It was an amazing time to be with the company and brand and I gained invaluable experience. However, I realized that I no longer wanted to work in the beauty industry. But that was okay! By this point, I had an exceptionally strong resume with work experience at two prestigious companies.

Visa

The fall of my senior year at Tulane was stressful. I was flying all across the country for interviews and Super Days. I was final round for a few consulting firms, as well as Visa’s New Graduate Development Program. While I always knew Visa was my first choice, I made sure to pursue a variety of opportunities.

My Super Day for Visa was two days, with 5 interviews and 3 networking events. It was exhausting, but I was prepared. By talking about the things I learned at my past internships, starting with Revlon, I was able to answer each one of their questions thoughtfully and completely.

Within two days of the interviews, I was offered a position! I will be moving to San Francisco this summer to work at Visa's headquarters in Silicon Valley. After a few years, I might be able to move back to London and work for Visa there.

Whether you’re on the fence about participating in a global internship or have already applied, I hope my story has made you excited about what is possible during and after an academic internship. I regard mine as the springboard that has led to my successes, and am still the biggest advocate for this program!

Good luck! x

Josie