When I started my Journalism course at Kingston University, I thought I'd end up in the typical journalist role – you know; writing for a newspaper or for broadcast, or maybe even trying my hand at documentaries.
But, to my surprise, one of my first experiences of working in the media found me in a public relations internship instead.
During my degree, I covered all sorts of topics; from British politics to sports and even fashion. I’ve learned to be flexible. But exploring the world of business education? Well, that was never really on my mind.
A new challenge
Taking on the BlueSky Thinking internship gave me the opportunity to get to grips with the academic research of some very smart professors scattered all over Europe, turning their expertise into conversational, impactful and engaging feature pieces for the website.
I was tasked with writing one piece each day, and I must admit it felt daunting at first as I had never written so many pieces in a two-week stretch before. However, the opportunity to acquire such a valuable skill was too good to turn down, and I embraced the challenge wholeheartedly.
I was given creative freedom and was even encouraged to add personality to my pieces. This explains why I have littered my pieces with pop-culture references such as “Black Mirror” and “The Russell Howard Hour”.
The power of curiosity
Back at university, lecturers hammered into our heads that journalists need to be curious. To be walking encyclopaedias, knowing a little bit about everything. And you know what? Working with those research papers gave me the opportunity to expand my knowledge in ways I never knew I could. Suddenly, I could speak in depth about Ireland's startup scene or how robots are taking over industries.
One goal that I set myself at the beginning of my second year was to get my first byline, and when I first achieved that with BlueSky, I was absolutely buzzing! Now flash-forwards a couple of weeks and I have a whole plethora of bylines and a body of work that will feature in my portfolio - which any journalism student will know, goes a very long way.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work alongside the team at BlueSky. Kerry, Stephanie, and Chloë were always there to ensure I was doing well during our calls.
I would certainly recommend this internship to any aspiring communications or journalism student due to variety of transferrable skills you will receive.
Personally it’s been a blast!
Author: Plamedi Mbungu
