Back in early May, only a few days after finishing my last final for high school, I went in to interview at an agency called Topolewski. Just being able to finally get an interview with an agency was monumental for me. On a monthly basis starting junior year of high school, I had been writing letters to agencies asking for work after school, possible internships, or anything they could give me. Most places didn’t respond and others said they had no room. Even though my dad works for Leo Burnett Detroit and knows most everybody in the business, I refused to let him help me get a job- I wanted to do it myself. However, after a year with no internships or advertising job to speak of, he helped me out.

My dad had worked with Gary Topolewski in the past and met with him for lunch back in early May. I got brought up and Gary said he wanted to meet me. The rest is history and now I’m working full time as an intern at Topolewski. Sure, it can be stressful and the work can be hard, but what the hell, I’m doing something I love. The day I started was the first time we started conceptualizing a new campaign for Quiznos. From that day for a month straight we worked on Quiznos until they gave their account to Cliff-Freeman without exactly informing us. Sure, it was upsetting, but more work was on the way.

Since the agency is comprised of about seven to eight people working full time and another handful helping out when we need it, I’m able to work with everyone. Plus, I have been lucky enough to see every aspect of the creative process, not to mention given a good deal of assignments such as writing radio spots, commercials, viral videos, interactive websites, or anything else we need copy for.

Besides getting used to the whole, working full time thing, I’ve enjoyed every minute of the internship. I’m getting more experience in the business than most college students get by the time they’re juniors, heck, even seniors. Considering most advertising internships are reserved for upperclassmen, I’m hoping this internship will open doors most underclassmen don’t have access to. In addition, I hope to put together a nice little portfolio by the end of this summer, even though the process seems a bit confusing and I have tons of questions- I’ll save that for another post. Oh yeah, don’t forget to check out the pictures from my office here.

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