BIC's Melissa Julien Reflects on her MAIP Summer

9/09/2016 Unknown 0 Comments

Melissa Julien (BIC Class of 2017) interned this summer at DigitasLBi as one of an elite group of students chosen for the 4A's prestigious Multi-Cultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP). Melissa is a graduate of Hunter College with a BA in English and is currently in BIC's PR track. Here she recounts the highlights of her summer spent with MAIP.

137 students from over 55 campuses nationwide. 78 advertising and media agencies. 22 weeks of professional training. 3 summer projects. Countless friendships made. This is just a glimpse into the foundation of the Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP), a fellowship sponsored by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As). With the goal of diversifying the advertising and communications industries, MAIP gives agencies the opportunity to reach out to highly talented and passionate students.

MAIP Luncheon with CCNY students Wayne Rodgers, Iliana Ortega and Bennett Bennett 

Through MAIP, I spent my summer working at DigitasLBi New York in Account Management for the Accenture and Time Inc. accounts. This was my first time working exclusively in digital advertising and I left my internship with a deeper love and appreciation for the field. Throughout my ten weeks at DigitasLBi, I worked on client projects as well as intern exclusive projects, aptly dubbed “Quickfires.” These week-long, intensive group projects focused on developing strategies and executions for some of the agency's biggest accounts, such as Whole Foods and American Express. At the culmination of the week, each group pitched their ideas to top executives within the agency and some winning teams even had the chance to pitch to clients. Fortunately for us interns, DigitasLBi always demonstrated their strong emphasis on company culture by giving us the chance to bond with each other and employees from different accounts through activities like field trips to Buzzfeed, Bagel Fridays, Friday Happy Hour and Community Service Day. DigitasLBi has no shortage of creative, strategic minds, so it was great to meet with employees across all accounts and capabilities.

First day working at DigitasLBi NY.

Of course, the MAIP experience didn’t stop at DigitasLBi. In addition to the work done at agencies, MAIP fellows must also complete projects exclusive to MAIP. This year, the projects included 12 weeks of professional development webinars, completion of a Khan Academy computer programing class, and a collaborative project that entailed working with MAIPers across the country on a creative brief. The brief for this year’s project was to help the 4As educate others on the various facets of working in advertising. The deliverables for this brief included a website, a video and a form of new media. As the Project Leader for my team, Team Kaleidoscope, it was fun yet intense collaborating with and managing team members across various capabilities and time zones. Nonetheless, we pulled through to create amazing work! Visit our project website, watch our video, and follow us on Instagram.

Overall, my time as a MAIP Fellow and Digitas intern was an eye opening and an invaluable learning opportunity. Throughout the program, I found myself connecting the dots between what I learned during the internship to my academic experience with BIC. Going forward, I cannot wait to make more connections between my classwork and fellowship experience. MAIP not only exposed me to a group of phenomenal peers and mentors, but also helped me paint a better and brighter picture of my career goals.

MAIP 2016 Fellows on MAIP Cares Day at MECA.