One
Smithie's Dream Internship
By
Sarah Gauché ‘08
Jane Kim ’06 |
Jane Kim ’06
spent last summer getting to know international recording
artists Alicia Keys, Carlos Santana, Rod Stewart, and Maroon
5.
As one of seven
finalists in the CosmoGIRL! Project 2024 internship competition,
Kim worked at J. Records, one of the leading labels in commercial
music, learning the art of public relations, and spending
her work hours between the stars and the media.
CosmoGIRL!,
a spinoff magazine of Cosmopolitan popular with young
women, aims to bring about the election of a female President
of the United States by the year 2024 through the project,
which assists young women in assuming leadership roles through
the internship competition. Kim, along with her fellow interns
from last summer, appears in a on page 92 in the December-January edition of CosmoGIRL!
The annual competition
places young women in dream internships, such as Kim’s
at J. Records, as well as jobs at the United Nations Association,
Merrill Lynch, Saatchi & Saatchi, the National Football
League, and the offices of New York Attorney General Eliot
Spitzer and New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
To apply, Kim
submitted her résumé and wrote a required essay
describing where she saw herself in 2024. Having interned
in 2004 at Sony BMG, Kim wrote her essay in the form of a
magazine article, describing her interest in music industry
public relations.
Her last hurtle
before winning the internship was a late-afternoon interview
last March with personnel at RCA Music Group, the parent company
of J. Records, during which she again shared her interest
in public relations in the music industry, as well as her
experience at Smith handling publicity for the spring 2004
Recreation Council’s John Legend concert.
“The interviewer
said that they just so happened to have a position open for
Urban Publicity,” remembers Kim. “Right then and
there, I had an awesome feeling about my chances.”
The next week,
CosmoGIRL! informed her she won an internship at
J. Records, working with the vice president of urban publicity
for eight weeks in New York City. The job included a weekly
salary, paid room and board at New York University, and travel
expenses to and from the city, and the commute to work.
Kim’s internship
focused on building a database of new indie urban magazines
that help new artists break into the music industry. She also
contributed to a project compiling new markets, and organized
media reports on J. Records artists. Her favorite task was
the creation and maintenance of a high-profile guest list
for Babyface’s album release showcase at the W Hotel
in Times Square. “At the event, I worked alongside my
supervisor with a guest list in hand behind the velvet ropes,”
she recalls. “Babyface was amazing and the VIP list
was as well: Jamie Foxx, Star Jones, Gayle King, Mario, various
executives from other records labels, and entertainment journalists
from every possible media outlet.”
Kim’s CosmoGIRL!
Project 2024 internship with J. Records provided a boost
to her career aspirations, she says, with opportunities for
networking in the industry and forming relationships with
her co-interns. “I was so excited to be able to do public
relations work with them,” she says. In the spring,
Kim will study at New York University while interning at either
Sony BMG or VH1.
After Smith, she
hopes to work in New York City in the entertainment and music
industry.
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