DTR: Work Edition
When I say DTR, I don’t mean sitting next to your significant other and discussing whether or not you’ve hit a dead-end.
Instead, I mean figuring out what kind of relationship you want to have with your supervisor/mentor at your internship. At Kapten & Son, my mentor is Ashley, a twenty-something graduate student with a Master’s degree in Communications with a resume chock-full of work experience. Ashley went to undergrad at Baruch College, maintaining at least two internships a semester (one under Vera Wang and one where she met Kanye West!) and then moved to Hawaii. Why? Because she could and she did.
Ashley is an incredible mentor to me at Kapten & Son. On my first day at Kapten, the first thing we did was go to a cafe to get to know each other and learn more about our backgrounds. Ashley immediately made me feel comfortable with talking to her. At first, I maintained a more professional relationship with Ashley, strictly talking about how my project was progressing, but eventually we spent enough time with each other that we could talk about weird people we encountered on the subway or different sorority experiences. We’ve collaborated closely to complete a big project this summer at Kapten but at the same time have been able to have time to talk about Rob Kardashian/Blac Chyna as well as popular food places in the Lower East Side.
As you meet new people in your internship, it’s very important to remember that it is a professional atmosphere and to always maintain professionalism at first. I wanted Ashley to know that I respected her as my mentor and that I took my work at Kapten very seriously. As you get to know your mentor, you can feel out how personal they want to be with you. From the beginning of this internship, one of my goals was to develop relationships with people that’ll last past the internship due date and I definitely believe that Ashley and I will still be able to talk after my time at Kapten ends.