Hello world, or at least our fans. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Briana Ford, with numerous amounts of aliases (let's stick with Briana for now). I'm an incoming sophomore at California State University Long Beach. I'm a pre-marketing major, considering a public relations minor, and also the new intern / CSULB Campus Ambassador for The Rainmaker Network!

I found this great opportunity through the infamous Twitter (be careful who you follow; it just may change your life). Long Beach Breaking News tweeted about a Marketing/PR internship opportunity through CSULB and it directed me to a CraigsList post. After reading everything the position would include, I was immediately interested. First I needed to know exactly who were these people who I would be working with. I looked up The Rainmaker Network and wished I had stumbled upon them before hand, but was nevertheless excited.

Long story short, I got the internship, which is how I'm writing to you all today. It's only my first week but I'm already in love with the job. I was interested not only because it's right up my alley as far as marketing and PR, but because they're mission is to connect students with companies. It's funny because this is what I've been doing already. Although I'm not quite a sophomore yet, The Rainmaker Network is actually my 4th internship that I've accepted (I've been offered more but turned them down because there's only 24 hours in a day and only 1 me). My friends have been asking me to help them acquire internships as well, but I didn't want to limit my expertise to only my friends.

In these times, I think college students should not only be required to intern before they graduate, but intern often. There's so much competition out there, and you should always look for ways to stand out above the crowd (even if you gotta shout out loud). Interning not only gives you work experience to put on your resume and keep with you forever, it gives you a preview of what you want to pursue as a career, which is definitely important. After my first internship with Mint Julep Social Events, I knew I wanted to stick with event coordination in my future. It also gave me hands on experience coordinating events, handling event production, vendor relations, and what to expect with clients.

Not all internships work out unfortunately. Some companies have extremely high demands and are not exactly considerate of your schedule (school or personal). It's always good to research the company before signing your life away to be their non-paid slave (or indentured servant) for the next few months. Familiarize yourself with company policy and make sure their ideals are aligned with yours. It's always important to be comfortable at your place of work, whether you're being paid or not.

Never choose internships based on if they pay or not. Many internships that are not paid pay off in different ways like lifelong connections and networking opportunities. Although everyone needs extra cash here and there, don't dismiss an opportunity because they have no monetary value; you could be missing out on a chance of a lifetime.

I think I've rambled on long enough and I'm pretty sure you know nothing much about me besides I'm a workaholic student. We'll be able to elaborate more on me later, for this is only the beginning. I'm really excited to be part of the Rainmaker Network. Although my internship is set for 6 months, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be looking forward to trying to keep my foot in this door.