This past March I was like any other college Junior. I was preparing for that coveted “Summer Before Senior Year” Internship. And as a marketing and creative writing student at the University of Pittsburgh, I was ready. My plans included interning and studying abroad in London—something I had been daydreaming about for years.
But like almost everyone on planet earth during 2020, I was blindsided by the pandemic.
COVID-19 shook the structure of our lives right down to their foundations. Thus, losing my summer plans in London, while disappointing, was not the main concern on my mind.
Trying to survive a pandemic is something they prepare you for in dystopian novels, not in real life.
People were worried, frustrated, scared, and feeling every emotion imaginable. Not only about the future but also the present. Because as time went on, our current situation seemed more and more likely to be our future—at least for a while. The media called it “the new normal.” Yet, this new normal felt anything but. Masks became as necessary and attached to us as limbs, our plans changed, general panic set in, and if you weren’t an essential worker, your home became your new office.
When I discovered Cosmitto, I was grateful to have found a company I really liked that was also offering their program with remote options. I knew people’s internships were getting canceled left and right so I felt incredibly fortunate when I got the position.
So, I started my first official agency internship over Zoom.
From day one, the team made it easy for me to transition not only into the company but into working in this new business environment online. I learned how to be adaptable and work collaboratively even from many miles away. This fast-paced tempo is not unlike pandemic-free agency life, so I quickly learned to keep up and keep going. This was one of the first things Cosmitto taught me, and it’s invaluable.
Over the course of my internship, I continued to develop skills and discover new ones. I was given real responsibility and my input was encouraged from the beginning. From creating social media calendars, email newsletters, and blogs to doing SEO, building wireframes, and more, I was always excited to see what I’d get to explore next.
The upside of Cosmitto’s team meetings, I also found, was getting to see everyone’s pets. How can you be sad when there are as many dogs and cats as there are people on the call?
The structure of the internship was particularly beneficial as it afforded me the chance to work within a different service each week. I was able to learn about areas of marketing I hadn’t worked in before, and this helped me find what I really liked and wanted to continue doing in the future. Even though I didn’t get to come into the office and experience agency life in a physical way, I never felt like I was missing out. That’s all thanks to Cosmitto’s warm culture and team.
The internship gave me professional confidence and, more importantly, the knowledge and experience to back that up. My time at Cosmitto has been invaluable and the experience irreplaceable. It even made me forget about the complicated reality of the pandemic for a few hours a day.
In living through something of this magnitude, your plans aren’t the only thing that changes—your perspective does too. Looking back now, I think some good things can come from bad ones. You can’t anticipate a pandemic or the fallout that results. But, you can do what we as humans do so well-—keep going.
Even amidst a pandemic, Cosmitto was exactly where I wanted to be.
Cecelia LeBus
