Communication and Sociology senior Stephanie Smith has worked in a number of different organizations, including commercial retail, beauty salons and nonprofits. While seemingly unrelated at first, Smith says all her jobs have had one thing in common: helping others.
“I love the nonprofits; it makes me feel good, just like doing hair,” Smith said. “Helping people is the underlying thing.”
This past summer, Smith worked as an intern for Lansing’s Old Town Commercial Association and helped organize the Festival of the Moon and Sun in June.
“They gave me a lot of room for creativity and to be able to take control and learn things hands on,” she said.
As an intern, Smith did a little bit of everything – from choosing the bands and booking food vendors to working on social media campaigns and writing press releases. In all, about 4,000 people attended the event.
Smith received the Adrienne M. Johns Communication Arts and Sciences Internship Award in connection with her internship at the Old Town Commercial Association. She said the award helped a lot since her internship was unpaid.
Currently, Smith is working with Habitat for Humanity as an Event Coordinating Intern. She found both of her internships on MySpartanCareer.
But before she started working in the nonprofit sector, Smith took some time off from school and attended Douglas J Aveda Institute.
At one point, she was spending evenings at Douglas J while working part time at Younkers and taking classes.
“I felt a little overwhelmed, and eventually I had to streamline,” she said.
So she decided to finish up at Douglas J, and returned to MSU as a full-time student. Even though she’s taking a little longer to graduate than she originally planned, she feels having a nontraditional undergraduate experience will help her in the long run.
“I learned a whole new skill set and I could use parts of that in my new career,” Smith said. Ideally, she would like to morph her passions together as a beauty event coordinator.
Now, Smith is enjoying her last year at Michigan State. She recently joined the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) at Michigan State and loves many of her ComArtSci classes, especially CAS 492, An Insider’s Look: Attaining Success in Communication Careers, which she says has really helped build her network.
“It’s definitely worth it,” she said. “People should do the mentor program. It may bring you out of your comfort zone a little, but I think that it’s worth it.”
Smith also offered up some advice to younger students.
“Be open to doing things you didn’t necessarily think of originally. Do things you want to do right now. When you might not get paid, do the ones that really interest you because you might as well try it out and see if you like it,” she said. “But, find a happy place where you’re not burning yourself out. You want to do well, don’t overexert yourself. If you’re skimming the top of everything, you’re not making good connections. Pick and choose the most valuable and work on those.”
By Kelsey Block, Journalism and Arts and Humanities double major
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