Commerce Kitchen, Sofia Wright
I am currently an intern at Commerce Kitchen, a web development and marketing company in Denver. My fellow intern (and fellow Reedie) Rebecca and I get to work there, and explore the city in our free time, for nine weeks this summer. The experience marks many firsts for me. First time visiting Denver. First summer living away from home. First paid internship. First experience working in marketing. And here, my first blog entry; it only makes sense to talk about my first impressions.
Of Denver: Colorado is certainly different than the west coast. We watched the most magnificent lightning storm the other day, lasting for a couple hours, all from our apartment balcony! There are lots of trees. And lots of cars (A four-lane oneway street? That’s crazy!). Generally, the Denver community is youthful and active. Rebecca and I live just a few blocks from the office, and we cross paths with all kinds of interesting people every day on our walk to-and-from work.
Of the work: Rebecca and I are working to build linkbait – any online content designed to generate links and social media shares (examples include a “Top Ten” list, a captioned funny picture, or a how-to video). In the first weeks, we intensively researched examples of linkbait, methods of SEO (search engine optimization), and tools to track the success of our content once it is launched, to the point that I’ve become a bit of an online-marketing nerd; I see a webpage or online article and instantly find myself noting, is the heading key-word heavy? Is there a visually pleasing graphic? Is it cute, clever, a controversial twist on current events? That’s linkbait! I am excited to be now moving forward with our own linkbait design (but we are keeping the details under wraps until the project’s launch – I’ll say more about it in my next blog entry!).
Of Commerce Kitchen: I couldn’t have asked for a more fun group to work with. The office, renovated from an old firehouse, is an awesome workspace (there are Star Wars and Firefly posters on the brightly colored walls; need I say more?). Likewise, the CK staff are awesome people; with geeky and diverse interests, they treat each other like family, and they have fun doing their work. They have been incredibly welcoming and I am ecstatic to be joining this team for the summer!
The pictures feature 1) the Commerce Kitchen wall of superheroes (the staff members' superhero characters), 2) the Death Star decal on the wall above the water jug (one of several sci-fi posters that decorate the office), and 3) a Reed Student Handbook from 1992 (my birth year! Not so relevant to the office but just something fun that Michelle Drumm, one of the partners at CK,and a '95 Reed grad—showed us!).
Tags: internship advantage