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OPR Intern Wrap-up: Erin Bauman

What does it take to be a stellar intern at Obsidian? Just ask Erin! Over the last two months, she’s been working hard, developing content and above all – learning from the best in the biz! To wrap-up her internship with OPR, we’ve put together a fun Q&A. College students and prospective interns, listen up! Erin’s dishing the tea about her internship experience and what she learned this summer.

Hey, hey Erin! First of all, congratulations on completing your internship with Obsidian! I know we’ve appreciated all your help and hard work this summer. What’s been your favorite part of your internship?

I loved getting to meet everyone at Obsidian. Everyone was so kind and welcoming! My favorite part was learning more about the type of work that PR consists of. Getting the opportunity to learn more about specific platforms PR professionals use was amazing!

Readers may not realize this, but you worked remotely – all the way in Colorado! What was the most challenging part of working remotely? 

The most challenging part of being a remote intern is working at home, but I didn’t let it hold me back! I really enjoyed getting to know all of the Obsidian employees virtually. I hope to visit Memphis one day and drop in to meet the team in person. 

As an intern, you get to work with several different types of clients. What was your favorite account (or type of account) to work with and why?

I’ve really enjoyed working with restaurants because as a customer, it’s easy to see the outcome of a PR firm’s work, but understanding the process of what goes into it is really cool! 

In your next internship, what types of projects do you hope to learn more about or get to work on more? 

In my next internship, I’d love to get even more involved with clients. Hopefully in my next intern role, I’ll be able to be present and experience client meetings and in-person events.  I also hope to learn more about media pitching and more direct client work.

If you could give upcoming PR interns one piece of advice, what would it be?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! All of the women at Obsidian are absolutely amazing and have been such a great help to me. This was my first internship and it was remote, so being able to ask questions or quickly jump on a call with someone was a huge help!

Can you tell us about some of the things you learned from your internship that you might not have known before starting?

Honestly, I have learned so much throughout my time at Obsidian. I have learned how to use all sorts of different platforms like Wrike, Hootsuite, Creator Studio, Critical Mention, and the list goes on. I was taught how to craft blogs and social calendars, use scheduling platforms, and how to compile media hits. Something very valuable that I learned is how to really understand the client and audience to write or craft content for them. I think understanding the client’s goals, language and consumer base is one of the most important parts of PR and working with Obsidian has helped teach me that. 

What was your favorite part about working at Obsidian?

My favorite part of working at Obsidian is the work environment – even though I was virtual. I have really enjoyed getting to know the team along with being a part of such a great office culture. I always felt comfortable asking for help on a project I was unsure about, which is not always the case for an intern. One awesome part about working at Obsidian is that the team was very open to me working on all kinds of projects, especially ones that I wanted to try or learn more about.