Land of Style & Sass: Life Lately: 8/15/16

For the past 3 years, my job at home has been working as a lifeguard. Last year when I was home from college in May, part of my job was to clean up the outdoor pool before it opened for the summer. One day, my boss told us to bring our normal (meaning non-lifeguard) swimsuits with us. After some cleaning in the morning, we got to change into our swimsuits and play in the pool while someone took pictures of us! They also threw in some pizza afterwards which was a major bonus, especially since the water was freezing. At the time, we thought they were just going on the company’s Facebook page. But a year later and I’m on the front cover (on the far right) of the catalog they send out!

I was also in the picture for the lifeguarding training class. Although it’s a little hard to tell, that’s definitely me on the top left!

All the lifeguards on the front cover were featured in the back of the catalog as well. It was my first and only paid modeling job (so far;)! While I haven’t pursued a paid modeling career any further, I did change jobs. This summer I had my first professional internship.

This summer I worked at REHAU, an international plastics company. I was an intern in the Furniture Department for the Senior Marketing Specialist. I worked at REHAU from the beginning of May until just last Friday. The internship flew by and I learned so much. My main responsibilities were managing the company’s Twitter and Pinterest and scheduling tweets and pins for the future. I also wrote press releases, scripts, direct mailings, and worked on REHAU’s houzz page, which is a website for homeowners who are building or remodeling their homes.

During my internship, I had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with executives from Germany, Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil. This past semester, I had a really great management professor who worked as an international executive at Time Warner before he started teaching. It was really cool to see what he taught in the classroom in the workplace, such as different values and social interactions between different countries. A formal German greeting is very different than an Argentinian kiss and hug.

In addition to my internship, I took four online classes this summer. I am double majoring in Marketing and Media Arts and Design with a concentration in Creative Advertising. Because of AP credits, taking classes over the summer, and taking 18 credits for a few semesters, I will be able to graduate in four years. Although this summer was very busy and I was a little stressed, I know it will be worth it to have both majors and to have saved the money. (Not to mention I’d to graduate at the same time as most of my friends!:)

One of the most important things that I have learned this summer is to have fun along the way. No matter how busy you are, there are always ways to keep a positive attitude and to have fun. Although I didn’t get to blog as much as I’d hoped this summer, I made some great friends and memories in my few moments of free time.

These are the other interns that I worked with over the summer. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work in a company where there are a wide variety of departments, so the interns I worked with had a variety of majors (Biology, Engineering, Economics, English, Finance, etc). I think that having an internship is a great way to gain experience in your field, but also a good opportunity to learn what type of company you would like to work at. Internships at different companies can help you decide if you rather work at an advertising agency or in the marketing department of a larger company, for example.

The interns planned part of the company picnic together; this is a shot of me from the picnic. I like to caption this picture as “Friday Feeling” and I'll probably be looking at it throughout the year whenever I need a little pick-me-up.

Although this summer I missed being able to do things like this on my breaks at work...

Thank you @colin_mcgee31 for nominating me for the ALS ice bucket challenge. I now nominate @timstryk, @jessicathoppil, AKarp, and Connor. You have 24 hours or you have to donate!

A video posted by Michelle Mullins (@the_michellem) on Aug 14, 2014 at 11:17am PDT

A video posted by Michelle Mullins (@the_michellem) on Aug 14, 2014 at 11:17am PDT

I'm still very happy that I had the opportunity to work at REHAU rather than lifeguard this summer.

Once I find something that I like, I usually stick with it. I'm definitely a creature of habit and feel comfortable in routines. But changing jobs this past summer helped me grow in tremendous ways and I want to encourage anyone who is on the fence about trying something new to just do it.

Now that my internship and classes are all done, I finally have a little bit of time to relax before going back to school. This week I'm at Myrtle Beach for a family reunion, so I'll have some time to get the tan that I've been missing out on all summer!

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."