Interning at Discovery Communications: An Experience Unlike Any Other

Carly enjoying her experience at Discovery with her new stuffed shark, Chompie

By Dean’s Intern Carly Ferreira at Discovery Communications

I walked into Discovery’s HD Theater yesterday and was stunned by what I saw. In every single seat, there was a huge, furry stuffed shark just waiting for each of the 85 interns to give them a home. After quickly finding a seat and grabbing a shark of my own (which I later named Chompie, of course), I sat back and listened to Discovery’s CEO speak for the next hour and a half. Once again, I thought only at Discovery would I have this opportunity.

To say I have enjoyed my time at Discovery so far is an understatement. I have loved my time here. The people, the company culture, the internship program, and the opportunities here to grow have truly blown me away. When I walk into work each day, I don’t feel that I am just the intern. Instead, I feel a part of my team.

Volunteering at a Shark Week screening with other interns in Silver Spring

That being said, this past month, I have worked on several projects that I am quite proud of. One of them was a project on a trend/concept that our team has seen become popular in the industry, and that idea is co-creation. Co-creation is the idea of women and men working together now, rather than separate, toward a mutually valued outcome. For example, now we see men and women’s roles blending together within business, politics, the media, and even within the family.

Specifically for this project, I delved into lots of research on why this is trending and what the cause of co-creation is. For instance, why in Hollywood have power couples become such a phenomenon? Do women’s skills (such as relationship building, empathy, and listening skills) make them good co-creators within businesses, in relation to generating value and minimizing risk? What is the reasoning behind more stay-at-home dads? I sought answers to all of these questions through extensive research and more. The final deck was 40 slides and I was really proud of the work my fellow intern and I completed and was also excited to share the findings with my managers.

Besides specific research projects, I have also become in charge of creating weekly trend reports that highlight top trends within the news, specific media outlets, and entertainment, which is then distributed to the entire agency. I love generating these reports each week and feel great when I see them featured on the company’s portal.

Carly was able to meet Jazz Jennings, the new TLC star on the show I am Jazz

These are only a few of the many projects I’ve been working on this summer and have already learned so incredibly much from this internship experience. It amazes me that I only have three weeks left with my team, but I guess time really does fly by when you are enjoying the experience and having fun in the process. That being said, interning for Discovery has truly been an amazing experience so far that I will never forget for the rest of my life.