Internship Diary: It Was Meant To Be

Just weeks before getting an interview for an internship at PATTERN, I was rejected from not only an internship I flew to New York City to interview for, but also what I thought was my dream internship. I was full of anxiety as I sat in my car before the interview thinking this was my last shot at an internship because everything else had fallen through. Little did I know at the time, I’d get the internship and love it far more than I had ever imagined.

After being turned down for my dream internship, I started to question the ‘why’ of the situation. I am someone who firmly believes that absolutely everything happens for a reason so not knowing that reason was driving me crazy. Come to realize, that reason was PATTERN.

During my junior and senior years of high school, deciding on my future career was a massive stressor for me. I am an extremely organized and planned out person, so not knowing what I wanted to do for the rest of my life drove me crazy. Throughout months of college campus visits, department meetings, applications and career aptitude tests I began to narrow things down and weed things out. I decided on print journalism, finally. But, it still felt off until at some point I overheard a friend of a friend mention fashion merchandising at Ball State University. From that point on, I felt like I had finally figured it out.

Deciding on a major was just the first step to really figuring things out. Next was deciding what I wanted to do with said degree. I felt like as a fashion major, following the road of styling, designing or buying was what I needed to do. But, that didn’t seem like enough for me. It felt like fashion merchandising was meant to be but none of those routes were. I started to second guess if fashion merchandising was really meant to be. Then along came the interview and eventual acceptance of an internship with PATTERN Magazine.

PATTERN seemed to help everything fall into place and helped me realize that I could take a path other than those three obvious ones. I could combine that knowledge of fashion with my marketing and print media minors. This internship has helped me realize that I can take my passion for fashion into other careers that I find more fitting to me. Interning with PATTERN has allowed me to not only learn more about the things I have a passion for but also things outside of my comfort zone. I’ve done far more this summer than I could’ve ever expected I would and even thought I was capable of. This summer I’ve curated and posted weekly instagram stories, styled two photoshoots, one of which I fully planned and directed, assisted in planning meetups and other events, learned how to edit videos, and so many other smaller detailed tasks that are part of making PATTERN what it is.

This summer has been one of constant shock and amazement by how great this company is. I’ve met so many amazing people that I know I can build a network with for years to come, including 10 other interns that became a big family for me these past 15 weeks. I’ll miss this internship so much when I leave but know that what I have learned, the memories I have made, and the people I have met will stick with me for far longer than 15 weeks. The biggest advice I could give my past self is to trust your gut because who knows, maybe it’s meant to be.

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