CAREER DECISIONS, CERTAINTY, AND TRUSTING YOURSELF

By Leah Miller, Art Direction Intern, Digitas Health 

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. Thinking back, I’m not sure that’s a great reason to commit to a career, but as an irrationally stressed 18-year-old, I wanted to make at least one decision.  

I have now learned, however, that career decisions never really stop. Once I got to college, I felt certain I had made the right choice for about one whole semester. The pandemic hit and suddenly, the classes I was taking no longer felt important. This feeling continued throughout my sophomore year as classes remained online. I started to question the purpose of going into advertising and whether I had what it takes to be creative in this industry.

I know I am not alone in saying that spending so much time alone gave me too much time to overthink every little thing. In the spring of my sophomore year, I got tired of questioning everything and realized that I was stopping myself from progressing. I started looking for summer internships that aligned with what felt like a priority at the time, namely health. 

I didn’t have much confidence and truthfully was terrified at the thought of being an intern, but I knew it was an important step I had to take. I applied to the Publicis Health internship program for the first time and ultimately landed the role of Art Direction Intern at Langland in 2021. At the time, I wasn’t certain I was ready or good enough to be an intern. But I did know that interning as a part of this program would help clarify if advertising had been the right decision. I am now confident I made the right choice, as I am back in the program for a second time, this summer at Digitas Health.  

I have been asked a few times why I came back rather than try something “new.” To that I would say that my role at Digitas Health is drastically different from what I was doing at Langland, so it is something new. But if I am being completely transparent, I wasn’t sure if it would be at first. I have been told thousands of times to use the four years in college to try as many different things as possible. 

While I think there is a benefit in this, I felt pressure to experience something completely different. I even applied and interviewed for a few different internships in vastly different areas of the industry. But as I went through this process, it quickly became apparent that different did not always mean better. I was starting to realize that none of the roles I had been considering even remotely compared to what I had experienced with the PH internship program. 

For the first time in my career journey, I felt certain about a decision I was making. Deep down I knew that this was my next step, and I was letting outside factors distract me into thinking I was supposed to do something else. If I could share one piece of advice from my personal experience, it would be to trust yourself. Sometimes it can feel like outside pressures are working against you, but only you can be certain what the right choice is. 

After being at DH for about five weeks now, I can confidently say that my internship with Digitas Health has been more fulfilling than I imagined. My team has gone out of its way to make sure that I get the most out of this experience. From brainstorming new social ideas, to being looped into real client work, I have started to see what life could look like post-graduation and I honestly could not be more excited. 

Leah Miller is a 2022 Art Direction Intern at Digitas Health in Philadelphia. Last summer, she interned with Langland, making this her second time as a Publicis Health intern. She is pursuing a major in Advertising with a double concentration in Art Direction and Brand Strategy at Temple University (Class of 2023). Outside of advertising, she loves photography and traveling.