NEWS

Hear From Our 2021 Summer Interns Before They Take Flight

As summer winds down, the world opens up, and we all try to regain some sense of “normal,” our ten-week internship here at Penguin Random House is quickly coming to an end. As the first interns to navigate this program virtually, we have all risen to the occasion, made necessary strides to soak up all that we could, and stayed connected with our teams through our computer screens at home. From drafting current event posts for Igloo to helping update the Social Impact site, I got to take a peek at the diligence and dedication that is exhibited across every department.

IsMonie Davis

It’s no secret that this virtual internship experience sometimes made us all feel disconnected in one way or another, but thanks to our amazing HR department, virtual events like Networking Night and Teach Week, and even an HR 1-on-1, helped us connect with employees across different departments as well as each other.

We end our adventure at Penguin Random House with a strong sense of community and empowerment from the impact of this unique experience.

Thank you to everyone at Penguin Random House for giving us all such a memorable and invaluable opportunity and just know that this isn’t a goodbye, but a see ya’ later!
–IsMonie Davis, Corporate Communications

Several more of our 2021 Summer Interns share their experiences below.

Andrew Taets

Andrew Taets

Department: eBooks

What does a day in your role at PRH look like?
After checking my e-mail, my day begins by opening our research wiki and seeing where I left off. There’s a 900-column spreadsheet I use to note which pages of eBook documentation I’ve revised metadata, links, and more in. Once I’ve checked what I did the day before, I continue to edit pages and log my progress. The eBooks team has a number of we​ekly meetings to go over any issues or new developments, and so part of my day normally involves one or two of these meetings as well.

What was your experience like as a virtual intern? What were some challenges and learning moments?
Being a virtual intern, particularly being on a different time zone than EST, has been an interesting experience. Meeting people via video meetings or over email can feel a little bit removed, but fortunately, my team’s work has always been online and some team members had worked remotely before, and so they were very welcoming. The biggest learning moment I had came from team members reaching out to set up time to chat and bring me to meetings, teaching me how important active outreach can be in forming connections virtually.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this internship?
If you want to learn more about something or get involved with a new project, you have to have the agency to ask for it.

What is your favorite memory, project, and/or highlight?
My favorite project was working on displaying differences between our epub files and Amazon’s Look Inside sample feature.

What’s next for you?
I’m still looking for a full-time job, but hopefully a permanent position at Penguin Random House!

What words of advice would you give future interns?
Take advantage of the network you’re now a part of – people at PRH really want to help you out, but you have to make the effort to reach out and connect with them first. Sit in on every meeting and take every opportunity offered to you, because you never know what skill you’ll acquire that you can use in the future.

Malika Knight

Malika Knight

Department: Editorial, Vintage Anchor Books

What does a day in your role with Penguin Random House look like?
Reading submissions, TI sheets, collating reviews for cover copy, and answering emails.

What was your experience like as a virtual intern?
Easy going.

What were some of the challenges and learning moments?
A challenge was remembering to step away from my phone/laptop and go outside.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this internship?
That we’re all just people learning as we go. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions and being honest about your current level of experience.

What is your favorite memory, project, and/or highlight?
My favorite project was reading author submissions! I hope to see them in print one day!

What’s next for you?
Enjoying the rest of my summer with family and friends. Fingers crossed I get a full-time position before the end of Fall.

What words of advice would you give to future interns?
Always have a support group of peers and mentors to decompress with and get advice from.

Alexander Liu

Alexander Liu

Department: Strategic Projects Group

What does a day in your role with Penguin Random House look like?
I primarily worked on the launch of prhcomics.com, and the 11 week timeframe we had for the project demanded a very agile working environment. While I mainly focused on quality assurance, everyday brought something new to work. Because of the novelty of work I feel like I can only describe a “typical day” at a very high level—which would involve taking care of our most prioritized JIRA tickets, and giving an update about what we were doing in our daily scrum meeting.

What was your experience like as a virtual intern? What were some of the challenges and learning moments?
Better than I could’ve asked for! I’m glad there were specific internship events and that I had the opportunity to participate in POC@PRH ERG events as well.

A challenge I found initially in working remotely was knowing when to ask for help. However, I quickly realized that people at PRH really just WANTED to help, and that realization made me more comfortable being vulnerable in situations where I needed guidance on what to do.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this internship?
How truly willing people are to help you. I don’t think there’s been an occasion where I’ve asked a question that’s led to a dead end, or I’ve felt like I’ve imposed a burden by asking someone something. Everybody has made sure to see my question and have answered my question, either by answering it themselves, or introducing me to somebody that could.

What is your favorite memory, project, and/or highlight?
When the first email of prhcomics.com going live was sent, and first entering the site without a password.

What’s next for you?
I’ve actually been taking my final requirement at university concurrently with this internship, so I’ll have graduated by the end of this internship, so…I HAVE NO IDEA.

What words of advice would you give to future interns?
Don’t be afraid of asking for help! The people at PRH genuinely want you to succeed, and their knowledge/experiences are one of your top resources.

Lauren Sum

Lauren Sum

Department: Marketing, PRH Speakers Bureau

What does a day in your role with Penguin Random House look like?
As with most things publicity and marketing related, there really is no “typical” day – every day brings new and different tasks. This summer, I’ve had routine tasks such as media monitoring and conducting a Speakers Bureau website audit but have been presented with the opportunity to draft copy for Kwame Onwuachi’s speaker profile, as well as (my personal favorite tasks) drafting the pitches for Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Evette Dionne’s Lifting as We Climb as Company Reads Book Club books.

What was your experience like as a virtual intern? What were some of the challenges and learning moments?
With a virtual internship, I feared being (unintentionally) excluded from Penguin Random House’s company culture, but this couldn’t have been further from my experience – I was quickly and warmly welcomed into my team. With a virtual internship, interns lose the ability to connect to others in the workplace through passing conversations or in the cafeteria. However, I was encouraged to speak up in meetings, meet with others for virtual coffee chats, and connect with the other interns through various events.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this internship?
This internship has been incredibly rewarding, with so many opportunities for personal and professional growth. My biggest takeaway has been that in any internship, you are always your biggest advocate – so make sure you embrace vulnerability, but also have confidence in your skills! Everyone I’ve spoken to within Penguin Random House (from my supervisor, Eva, to my mentor, James, and the various other professionals I’ve connected with) were all incredibly willing to contribute to my learning experiences at PRH.

What is your favorite memory, project, and/or highlight?
The highlight from this internship was how welcomed I felt within the Speakers Bureau Marketing Team, and how eager everyone was to involve me in exciting projects. My personal favorite memory was being able to see my work come to fruition: a pitch I contributed to went live at 9Am and by 11AM that same day, PRHSB had already received a request for the author as a speaker, which was so exciting!

What’s next for you?
I hope to continue my career in the publishing industry full time! I am an elected Board Trustee for the Board of Education in my hometown, so I will be continuing my work advocating for students in the district as well.

What words of advice would you give to future interns?
My biggest advice for future interns is to put yourself out there! Connect with other interns, and reach out to others in your field for coffee chats – PRH has such a positive environment and everyone was so eager to cultivate my experience and help me develop as many skills as I could in just one summer.