As the second day of my internship at CGPR comes to a close, I quickly realize how integrated the internship program is here. The welcoming staff embraced me and another intern into their close knit family and have begun entrusted us with client work, clients they have undoubtedly put countless hours of work towards.

The presence of past interns is clear with the coordinated presentation of the building, the extremely organized intern packet holding almost every detail of information I could need, as well as a precise orientation of the Cision program by Kristen. I immediately realized that my internship experience here would not come remotely close to any other internship experience I’ve had in the past. The hands on skills I develop here will surely help me with any future endeavors I hope to come across in my future.

It is clear that the past interns have made their mark on CGPR whether it is through the traces of their last emails left on the server, the retelling of a funny story involving a summer intern or the fact that an intern now works here as a part-time associate; their mark has been left.

As I was completing one of my morning tasks, I came across an article in The New York Times titled “The Next Wave,” about six up-and-coming designers in Manhattan set to recreate and transform the world of fashion with their fresh talent and new inspiration.

This year’s fashion week plans on displaying a large number of new designers whose labels are being shown for the first time in the fashion world.  However, I must give credit where credit is due; these new designers would not be where they are now without previous designers’ forward thinking inspirations and designs displayed in fashion week’s previous years.

Making the correlation between the new designers showcased in fashion week and me as a new intern at CGPR might be a stretch. However, the connection between the overwhelming feeling of starting something brand new and feeling extremely uncertain of living up to your predecessors is the exact same.

This internship will be challenging, as any internship should require. I will be working a lot of hours. But the amount of information and experience I will gain will be immeasurable. And when December comes around and a new set of interns begin their internships, I hope traces of my presence are still here and they feel the pressure to live up to what I have left behind.

– Sarah James