Sydney Narvaez
COM’19 | Public Relations
Digital & Social Media Intern
CCD: Tell us about your internship experience. What were your responsibilities?
Sydney: I worked with the digital team at NBC New York. The digital team is in charge of the website such as writing articles, as well as creating content on all social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. My main responsibilities included operating the station’s Instagram account which included taking photos and videos to be posted for around 95,000 followers. I additionally helped grow the station’s Snapchat account, as it was in the beginning stages when I started my internship.
I was sent to different places around NYC to cover the latest news- for example, park openings, free concerts, protests, and more. I also assisted newscasters at meet and greets where I was responsible for covering the event on all social media platforms. I created news articles and photo galleries for nbcnewyork.com. I was responsible for interviewing people and writing news articles on events, such as the reactions of Wall Street workers following ‘Brexit,’ and the reactions of costumed characters in Times Square to stricter laws. I created photo galleries utilizing both pictures I took and user-generated content sent in by NBC New York’s viewers.
CCD: What was the best thing about your experience?
Sydney: The best things about my experience were the location and the people. I worked at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which is the birthplace of television and home to many important shows. The TODAY Show was filmed right across the street, and the office where I worked was directly next to Jimmy Fallon’s studio. I was constantly surrounded by talented individuals who were at the peak of their career.
Although I was a small part of such a big organization, the people I worked with were very welcoming and made me feel like I belonged. I even received a shoutout in a email sent to all NBC New York employees from the station’s manager because of my help with Facebook Live chats.
The worst part of the experience was how negative the news can be. Since I interned at a news station, current events such as the Orlando nightclub shooting or local murders were heavily discussed.
CCD: What’s next for you?
Sydney: My internship taught me that I do not love working in the news, and I do not want to be a journalist. I realized that my favorite assignments involved entertainment: concerts, meet and greets, etc. I would love to intern with an entertainment news show such as ‘E! News,’ and see if that is the field I really want to be in. I am a public relations major, so ideally I would love to intern next in a PR or or social media department somewhere in the entertainment industry.
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