Hi, I’m Amanda. I am a 20-year-old college student, a twin sister, a daughter, a NJ resident, and a dual citizen. And most recently, I have become a girl behind your TikTok screen. One of my assignments as the corporate communications intern at Publicis Health was to create our company’s first and official TikTok page. (Follow @PublicisHealth Tok if you haven’t already done so.) I am going to offer some tips and tricks to help you navigate your intern experience—from my internship to yours. Hopefully these TikToks will make you laugh, at least a little bit.

My experience at Publicis Health was such a warm and insightful experience, and I really look forward to applying the leadership and independent skills that my team has taught me in the future. I started my journey here at Publicis completely blind at what I was about to endure. I was part of the Regulatory team at Digitas Health for my six-month apprenticeship. To be honest, it took me a minute to get used to being an apprentice as I never had any prior experience. Before this opportunity, I didn’t even know what a Regulatory apprentice was!

From the beginning of the Year Up Professional Resources program (YUPRO), I had goals to grow as a professional, expand my skill set, and learn more in-depth about the differences and similarities between Finance and Accounting. As an intern within the Business Financial Insights (BFI) and Client Finance teams, I was able to learn how the agency as a whole overlaps with the Finance team’s responsibilities. During my internship experience with Heartbeat, I was able to develop my analysis, technical, and financial and accounting reporting skills.

Ciao! I am Betta Deblasio, 25-years-old and perhaps one of Publicis Health’s more non-traditional interns, let me explain: In undergraduate school I studied biology and for many years I had dreamed of becoming a doctor. But, once I was in the pre-medical program, I wasn't sure if that was the direction that I wanted to truly dive into for the remainder of my career—it felt like so many years to give up for a career I was not sure about. Once I graduated, I was unsure of my next move and planned to take a year off to travel and plan out my next career move.

My name is Cortney Knight, and I have been an apprentice at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, a Publicis Health agency, for almost six months. I can honestly say this has been the most rewarding yet personally challenging role, and I can happily say that with a smile on my face! I know what you are thinking: How could something so hard make me smile? Well, it’s because working here gives me the unique opportunity to work on my emotional, mental, and overall personal battles. I believe that everything we do is connected.

It’s summer 2022, I still wear my mask on the train, I work from home three out of five days of the week, and I don’t sit too close to strangers. Even though it’s been more than 2 years since the pandemic began, the effects of COVID-19 are still lingering to this day. One thing that remained the same, however, is the liminality of the college intern experience.

What is my purpose? Like many other college students my age, determining my purpose was not always forefront in my mind. As my junior year began, however, I began to unpack this simple yet overwhelmingly complex question. My year began with the stress of what my summer of 2022 would look like. Where will I intern? What do I even want to do? Is marketing what I should be pursuing? These questions would continue to take up space in my mind for months.

Last year, for lack of better words, I was having a bit of an identity crisis. At the time, it was the fall semester of my junior year in college, and while I was feeling confident in my major in Business administration, I experienced a sense of uncertainty that I would not find a job that aligns with my personal characteristics, strengths and interests. In order to gain a sense of clarity, I began to take a series of personality tests online to gain a better insight on various career paths that would fit my personal traits.

My name is Kwame Bullen and I am a Technology manager and Strategy apprentice at Digitas Health (DH). As my apprenticeship comes to a close, I want to express how I found value, community, and the foundation for a career during my time at DH. It’s been an amazing time working at DH, especially because I enjoy the work culture. At DH people are friendly—and in a hybrid working world, nothing screams ‘friendly’ more than someone pinging you a smiley face emoji via Microsoft Teams.

As a visual learner, I appreciate an environment where I can combine technology and business—and thanks to Year Up, I’m getting to do just that at Publicis Health Media (PHM). I am a Colombian-American based in New Jersey, currently attending Hudson County Community College to earn an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts and Business. During my first year of college, I joined a learning and development program for young professionals called Year Up.

I’m sure many young people can relate to the uncertainty of trying to make decisions regarding your future. We spend all of our high school years trying to decide what to major in at college and then, if you’re anything like me, you spend most of college questioning whether or not you made the right choice. I decided to pursue advertising in the summer before my senior year of high school. To be honest, it was the first major I felt I could be okay at, so I went with it.

As an only child of immigrants from Indonesia and the first in my family to attend university, I often felt the pressure and burden of my family’s expectations for me to succeed. While I appreciate that the achievements I’ve worked hard for were not handed to me easily, I also understand that being a first-generation American means taking the mantle of my forebears, which includes bringing honor and respect to the previous generations that worked so hard to help get me to where I am today.