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Week 18- End on Internship

I wrapped up this week by working on pulling some apparel collaboration ideas for the company based on their new brand partnership. I went through their business partners’ previous apparel collaborations to get ideas for potential Women Who Rock apparel collections with their company and put them in a google drive folder for the CEO with my vision of what the clothing item or accessory would be and the design in mind. I also worked on helping to pull together the pitch deck which is similar to the recap deck, but it is getting new businesses on board to help fund the brand rather than already participating business partners. For this reason, the vision and the accolades of the business must be front and center for the pitch deck. One of my bigger contributions was   emphasizing how women in music and women’s health are interconnected by proposing using a quote from either the CEO, one of the artists that performed in this year’s concert, or both. Other contributions included helping choose designs, verbiage, and formatting of the document. The Women Who Rock women treated me out to a farewell lunch and I ended the week by dropping off an item to a sponsor as well as doing my last new music Friday feature on Instagram. I will miss working with this company as I have learned so much, but will continue to stay involved as a committee volunteer when I can. Thank you Women Who Rock and I can’t wait to see the company blossom in the coming years!

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Week 17

One of the issues of having a brand dedicated to highlighting women in music is that many inspirational type photos used for social media are of existing celebrities whose name and likeness you can’t use without their permission. As a small brand it is not really on their radar, but as the brand grows it becomes more and more important to use pictures the brand owns. The challenge is keeping that same inspirational message with different content. For this reason, one of my tasks this week was to brainstorm how to use the pictures we took at the concert for social media. Some of my ideas included pulling stats about women in music and women’s health to educate the public why this mission is so important, give advice about being a woman in the music industry, remarket with merchandise shots and concerts shots, pull quotes from past and most recent musicians and stakeholders to the brand, reintroduce the CEO and the committee to social media, and more. The majority of my time spent this week was helping the CEO create the recap deck of the concert to help continue to grow the company. I learned the recap deck’s purpose is to show the successes and growth of the concert to help sustain and increase funding for the company from the people who already are such a big help in putting on the show. That way, it can just keep getting bigger, better, and most importantly help to save more women’s lives. I put forth ideas of what the deck was missing, helped to find photos for it, worked on formatting the document so it was aesthetically pleasing, and more. I can’t believe my time with Women Who Rock is coming to a close soon. One more week left!

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Internship Week 16

Coming off of the concert last weekend, this week was about wrapping up any loose ends. Monday I met with the team to debrief what went well this year and what could be improved on for the next concert. We talked about how VIP tickets sold out, but general admission tickets didn’t sell as well. Part of this may have been due to fears surrounding Covid-19 that are still looming or vaccination proof requirements, but we discussed what we could have done better on our end too. There were a lot of general admission ticket holders at the beauty bar, the photo booth, the merchandise table, the bar, and the auction during the show which was great for getting people in the door, but left an empty looking pit to the performers which was not the best. Next year’s task is figuring out how to keep people in the pit during the performance or simply selling more general admission tickets with better marketing tactics. That was the main issue. We also discussed having registration for VIP be separate from everyone else next year just so talent and press can have more accommodations. Lastly, the signature cocktails could have also been mixed better with more specific directions. Otherwise, the concert was organized very well, the acts were fantastic, the guests were happy and the show went over very well! I also worked the last weekend at the Women Who Rock pop-up shop to continue spreading brand awareness and sell the last of the concert t-shirts. The following last couple weeks will be continuing to wrap up the concert before planning for the next one begins. What a ride! 

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Internship Week 15- The Concert

This was the busiest week to date and probably will be the busiest week of the internship. That is because this week, Women Who Rock had their 2021 benefit concert with Rita Wilson, Orianthi, Lauren Monroe and Rick Allen of Def Leppard, The Vindy’s, DJ Femi, and Graciela. The week kicked off with doing a last count of merchandise so we could decide how much of each item could be brought to the concert to sell on site and what needed to be updated in Shopify online. Taking inventory usually takes the majority of the day so this was pretty much all of Monday for me. On Wednesday I picked up last minute promotional gifts from one of our in-kind sponsors to use as VIP ticket holder gift bag stuffers. That same day we went over the sound check and full run of show schedule with the whole Women Who Rock committee as well as each person’s duties the night of the show. After the meeting, we wrapped giveaway prizes for the auction the night of the concert, organized each committee members’ show night clipboards with their duties listed, and organized registration lanyards for talent, press, VIP ticket holders, volunteers, Beauty Bar business partners, and all access members working the show on the Women Who Rock team. Friday, I found and posted stories of women in music who recently released music per usual for new music Friday. Then, I picked up updated copies of the run of show after we made edits from the meeting earlier in the week in addition to the CEO’s speech and a last-minute promotional item for the concert from a sponsor. Saturday was the day of the show and I was working on the show from about 11 am until 12 pm that night. I got there and registered to get my all-access pass and then I got my vaccination card checked and a stamp so I was ready to go. The first thing I did was place pads onto chairs for VIP seating. It was glamorous. Then I worked with another committee member to stock each artist’s dressing room with snacks and drinks for the night based on their riders. After that, I went with a different committee member to go around the North Shore and do last minute promotion for the concert by giving away a handful of extra promotional tickets to nearby hotels for their guests and getting flyers hung up. The rest of the night was dedicated to getting good photos and video of the event to promote it on social media in order to get a buzz going about the show and the performances. I also did some personal networking with the guests during the show. At the end of the night we broke down boxes and helped clean up the space my deflating decorations and loading leftover merchandise back into the car. The concert was a success and raised lots of money for Magee Women’s Research Institute. I know next year will be even bigger and better than ever before. I’m so fulfilled and grateful to have been part of putting on this concert. It was a wonderful experience and I hope to continue to help out with it in the years to come. Go Women Who Rock!

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Internship Week 14

It’s the last week before the concert! Monday, I did inventory counts on 11 boxes of concert t-shirts so the numbers could be put into Shopify. That took the majority of the day, but I also went with the Women Who Rock team to go pick up more boxes from USPS. Tuesday, I spent a little bit of time engaging with followers, commenters on our last post, and small businesses on social media to encourage them to keep engaging and to follow Women Who Rock. I tried to make each comment personalized to these individuals and businesses in order to help build better relationships with them and hopefully funnel them into being interested in the concert and the Women Who Rock mission. Wednesday, I picked up new merchandise from the warehouse, dropped of promotional items to a business partner, and picked up a book to help educate the CEO to grow our brand. Lastly, this week I also found and posted artists new songs to our story for the New Music Friday Instagram story features as I usually do. It’s really rewarding when I find a small artist whose music really stands out to know I am helping them gain exposure and possibly building a relationship with them to create another avenue for them to grow their career. As an artist, that makes me very happy. I’m so excited to put on the concert this weekend and see so many talented and strong women perform! It’s going to be great!

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Internship Week 13

My hours were a little impacted again this week by my physical well-being, but it’s getting better so hopefully hours will go back to normal next week. I found and posted the new music Friday artists Friday morning per usual. Technically this wasn’t part of my hours, but I also performed for the Women Who Rock pop-up shop at the mall Friday evening to attract people to come check out the store. Then as part of my internship hours I came back Sunday to talk to customers, sell merchandise, and help out with any other duties. While I was there, I worked at the POS to check customers out as well as discuss the benefit concert and the Women Who Rock mission. During down time, the team and I took merchandise to style it with sponsors clothing items in order to create a look book of outfits for the night of the concert to post on the brand’s social media pages. I also helped a business partner close up their shop at the end of the night. It was a successful day gaining many people’s attention at the pop-up shop and selling merchandise! Overall, I think the experience of being able to network as a performer as well as a business woman was really great for me. I got to meet the coordinator at the mall which could come in handy for future performances and I got to meet a Women Who Rock product business partner which could come in handy in the future as well. It’s important to be kind and professional to everyone you meet in the entertainment business because making authentic, solid connections in this business is everything! I am excited to come back for more hours at the pop-up shop at the mall.

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Internship Week 12

This week I was originally supposed to be involved in the opening of the Women Who Rock pop-up shop at the mall, but I unfortunately could not make it due to unforeseen sickness. My hours ended up being shorter this week for that reason and I’m not sure how it will effect future weeks. Despite the worsening of my condition, I was able to still do a few things for my internship. On Monday I did an inventory count on VIP passes/lanyards for the staff, special guests, sponsors, and other important players involved in putting on the annual benefit concert. I also spent a great deal of time preparing posters to hand out/ship out by rolling them and packing them into plastic sleeves. One of the more interesting parts of my day on Monday was listening in on the meeting my supervisor had with a business partner about Women Who Rock branding, engagement, and reach toward their demographic. It was really heart warming to hear them discussing being able to inspire the next generation of women who rock by trying to reach the 13 year old girl who just got their first guitar and dreams of having a career in music. That really resonated with me. I also thought it was important how they were discussing part of their strategy needs to be not only reaching current musicians, but also selling the lifestyle of rocking whatever job any average person may have whether it’s being a mother, a cancer survivor, a nurse, etc. After this I went to go drop off some packages or my supervisor at USPS. I wasn’t able to pick up one of the items she asked for or drop off the gift card I got for her auction later in the week, but I’m still hoping to get those things to her soon. I was still able to do the new music Friday artists stories this week and I think they came out pretty good. I’m hoping I’ll be able to be more involved next week, but only time will tell. The pop-up shop looked fantastic on instagram! 

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Internship Week 11

This week we kicked off Monday by going through the Rising Star submissions. We narrowed down three finalists by judging each performance based on vocal performance, instrumental performance, songwriting, and confidence/charisma. They were all so talented and it was so hard to pick! On Wednesday I ran more posters and picked up auction items from sponsors and business partners. Thursday I attended our last committee meeting before the concert at Magee Women’s Research Institute. We discussed Magee’s role in the pop-up at the mall that starts this upcoming weekend. I learned there is going to be a mannequin designed to educate those who walk by about women’s health issues such as breast cancer, reproduction, and more. We will have an iPad that plays short educational videos about Magee and talks about the different conditions. The rest of the meeting we discussed the benefit concert that is happening in a month as well as going through the floor plan of Stage AE and where the auction, merchandise booth, sponsors, VIP tables and more will be located. Friday I did my usual New Music Friday story posts and picked up hard tickets from Stage AE. Saturday the Women Who Rock and Pound Fitness collaboration took place in market square which was a fitness class that involved drumming. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was really cool and now I want to take a class. After that event, the Rising Star Finalists competition began. I live streamed the girls’ performances and then a winner was chosen to perform at the  benefit concert. The rest of the night we sold merchandise. It was a busy and successful week! 

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Internship Week 10

This week was a more laid-back week as most of my hours went to running promo materials to business partners and working on New Music Friday Instagram story posts. I ran complimentary tickets over to McCaffrey as well as concert posters so that they could be put up to promote the concert in the strip. I also ran the same promotional items over to Lamar as well as merchandise over to a business partner downtown. The rest of what I did was working on social media. I checked our list of scheduled artists to be promoted based on when their release is per request of their publicists and then I went to Spotify’s New Music Friday List to look for up and coming artists who got their songs on that playlist. I also look through the Instagram hashtag #newmusicfriday to look for even smaller artists to promote. I like to pick artists of all different sizes. I use an app to save videos with the artists music playing so I can repost them and tag the artist in the story. If I can’t get a video, I take a screenshot of the artists album cover on Spotify and then crop it until it looks good. Then I use Instagram’s feature of searching for music and adding it to the story. I always make sure to use relevant hashtags on each story so people can find them outside of WWR followers such as #femalemusician or #artisttowatch in addition to every single post tagging the artist, hash-tagging their song, and #newmusicfriday. I also reposted a story from a girl who entered the rising star contest and made a story to make news of Ariana Grande’s beauty line launching this fall. I’m excited for this upcoming week because we are going to pick and announce the rising star! I can’t wait!

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Internship Week 9

We kicked off the week with two on site meetings. The first one was doing a run of show at Stage AE. We discussed the lineup, the backline, artist accommodations and Covid-19 implications on the concert. On the way to the next on site meeting, I listened in on a phone call with a sponsor to go over the Nashville event the week prior. The second meeting was to go over the pop-up and the aesthetic of the window to promote the pop-up at the mall. We went over the specific locations within the mall of where Women Who Rock would have their pop-up, we talked about the fashion and specific merchandise the mannequins would be wearing, we talked about all the branded extras that would be in the window like lights, rugs, guitars, amps, posters, and more. I also did POS Training on the iPad to learn how to make a sale through Shopify. I took notes in google docs and sent them to another member of the committee. This was for the Walk Against Women’s Cancers in North Park. This event went very well and sold the most merchandise we’ve ever sold. It was the perfect demographic. Per usual, I also found and posted the New Music Friday artists/songs and ran posters to business partners. It was a productive week! 

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Internship Week 8

This week the women who run the company were in Nashville working with a sponsor, so I was remote for the internship. I spent the week doing research for the brand. This involved further looking into big business, women, and cause marketing conferences for the CEO to network through. I did this through googling key words, filtering options through Eventbrite, and using Meetup. I ended up putting about 20 of them into an excel sheet. Some of what I found included DigiMarCon, Music Biz, Billboard, Pollstar and more. I also searched instagram hashtags for micro-influencers that were female feminists and/or musicians. I searched hashtags such as #womensupportingwomen, #intersectionalfeminist and #womeninmusic. I ended up finding about 30 of them that I put into an excel sheet. I mostly looked for women who had between 10,000- 50,000 followers. Then, I drafted a pitch dm for these micro-influencers to potentially invite them to join the Women Who Rock team as ambassadors. The last thing I did this week was run tickets to sponsors for the event. These are considered “comps” aka complimentary tickets to help maintain the relationships we have created with these businesses. This was a more laid back week since it wasn’t on site like usual, but the research was very in depth.

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Internship Week 7

I did a lot of unrelated tasks this week. At the beginning of the week I sat in on a google meet meeting with a potential photographer/videographer for the concert. Expectations and payment were discussed as well as the type of package and video the Women Who Rock team might need. Overall the team really liked this professional. I went through a list of performers that were supposed to perform in a big festival that got cancelled to build up a list of artists Women Who Rock could potentially become affiliated with. I checked the Rising Star submission form to make sure it was still working and worked on a draft for a social media post. I signed up to work certain hours of the mall pop-up beginning the following month. I attended a Women Who Rock Committee meeting where I took notes for the CEO surrounding ideas that were pitched from the committee during the meeting. I did my first street team-like task which included running hot cards to business partners around the Pittsburgh area so they could promote the concert to their customers and clientele. I found new music Friday artists and songs to spotlight. I went to another pop-up shop at The Strip District Terminal and I researched big business, women, and cause marketing conferences the CEO could attend to network with potential business partners. I am constantly learning and working on my feet for this brand and I love the hands on experience.

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Internship Week 6

This was a heavy research week. My first task was to try to find businesses that could potentially be interested in buying VIP tickets to the annual benefit concert. Some businesses even get merchandise packages or ticket packages as an incentive to come to the show. I also researched health pictures to accompany health statistics I found a couple weeks ago. Some pictures included women who survived breast cancer, women’s heart attack signs, pregnant women, women researching, women nurses and doctors, etc. I learned these could not just be taken from google because many of those images are owned by other brands. I used Pexels to find images that were considered public domain. Another concept I looked into this week was how to promote the rising star contest. Some of my ideas included getting testimonials from previous winners and those influencers involved with the event. I  thought of attention getting PR stunt type of posts like pretending to be Galileo looking for stars in the sky to promote looking for artists for contest. Lastly, I came up with future social media post ideas for the brand. I thought of things like lists surrounding information new artists may be interested in learning such as how to write a press release or how to get more gigs. I also thought it would be important at some point to make sure the brand posted content to inspire artists and promote inclusion and diversity within the music industry. 

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Internship Week 5

I learned that the Women Who Rock annual benefit concert has a beauty bar. The beauty bar is a section at the concert with beauty vendors such as Macy’s and Nail Chic. We had to confirm who was in the beauty bar and what they would be providing at the concert as well as for the auction. Then we went over brand and artist promotion materials including pre-approved pictures and verbiage for any publicity around their brand for the event. I learned this is very important in relations with business partners. To promote the event and the rising star contest that is part of the concert, I joined lots of related music Facebook groups to target marketing toward musicians in the Pittsburgh area. I then went to the press release for the announcement of the Rising Star Contest to create a brief pitch for each Facebook group. Later in the week I did some research for Women Who Rock to try to find grants for small businesses like theirs. The week went out with a bang upon doing another merchandise pop-up shop at The Strip District Terminal and networking with other vendors by handing out hot cards to them as well as learning about their businesses. It was once again an eventful week.

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Internship Week 4

There was a lot of different focuses this week. The first day my true fixed internship hours began, I worked on doing merchandise counts. I learned this is important to do so inventory can be replenished, to make sure there is enough merchandise to bring to events, and so there is enough to be sent out from orders placed on Shopify. That week we also went over how the Shopify website should look. We worked with a web designer to see options and then picked which ones were best. We went through a similar procedure for choosing Billboard graphics that week. In addition to on site work, I researched women’s health statistics to potentially be used on social media graphics. I learned these statistics are something Women Who Rock wanted so their audience understands the gravity of sexism in the medical field. We further brainstormed ideas to try to marry women’s health and women in music to further align with the mission of the brand whilst gaining the audience’s attention. Last of all, this week I was introduced to finding new music Friday artists and songs to highlight on Women Who Rock’s Instagram stories. This involves going through hashtags to find female artists of all sizes with new songs out on Fridays in order to highlight these women and promote their songs on Women Who Rock’s platform by creating graphics with their songs playing. It was a busy week!

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Internship Week 3

This week I started my official hours at the Women Who Rock headquarters. We had a meeting to kick off the week at a cafe to go over expectations for the entire internship. This included weekly duties, how to conduct myself in front of business partners and in general as a representation of the brand, what is important to keep confidential to the business and more. I also was instructed that any weekly duties would be put into google calendar and to start using that application from then on to keep my schedule organized for the internship. The google calendar application would be used down to hourly topics that needed to be gone over as well as days, weeks, and/or months out like the big concert date. The hours I had this week were a little overwhelming to be caught up to speed about what was happening behind the scenes to put on this show. It included coordinating Women Who Rock’s social media, buying items for the concert’s decorations and amenities, booking talent, coordinating with sponsors and more. During this week I also did some research on my own for the brand. This included finding inspiration for future merchandise ideas and finding social media statistics on female artists for Women Who Rock to incorporate into social media artist spotlights such as live interviews or artists in the area to perform at events.

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Internship Week 2

This week I went to my first Women Who Rock Meeting! We met at a restaurant to discuss the logistics for selling Women Who Rock merchandise at the CEO’s show with her band. We learned how to use square readers through our phones, the location of the event, what to wear, what time to arrive, what to do in case of bad weather, how to behave professionally, what sponsors would be there, and more. Upon getting to the actual event a few days later, it was thunder storming pretty badly so the event times kept getting pushed back. We ended up waiting it out and setting up our table after the rain slowed down. We had to protect the merchandise from the rain because they were in cardboard boxes, which was not ideal. I helped to fill in a volunteer on what was to be expected after she had missed the meeting and we worked the table together as well as took promo pictures for Women Who Rock’s Instagram story. We did not sell a lot of merchandise that day, but I successfully used the Square reader, met more members of the Women Who Rock team, and introduced myself to sponsors. The most valuable thing I learned was about preparing for the worst in the event business in case your event depends on the weather being nice.