The date was the 12th July, the time was 3am. My alarm was going off in a few hours and I was yet to get to sleep. I was starting my first day at EatSleep Media, and I’d never been so nervous.

I was haunted by questions through the night; what if they don’t like me? What if I’m no good? And do I need to bring my own coffee cup?

Once I got to the office, my nerves were still at large, not helped by my overwhelming tiredness. I remember Alex (Operations Director and Co-founder) asking me what I wanted to achieve here and I think my usually reliable brain just completely froze and I produced some incoherent sentences about wanting to learn some stuff.

Not the first impression I wanted to make.

Looking back on it now, I realise I was completely overthinking it… of course I wouldn’t need to bring my own coffee cup!

Hi, my name’s Megan and I’m just finishing a corporate comms internship with a production company called EatSleep Media which has involved twelve weeks of awesome-ness.

When you hear the word ‘intern’, what first comes to mind? For some people, an intern is there to make the tea, learn by watching and do the jobs nobody else wants to do. Not at ESM (I’m pleased to say).

While there was definitely a lot of learning involved, I have never felt any less of a team member than the permanent employees. I’ve been involved in meetings, encouraged to put forward my own ideas and given responsibilities which has given me a true flavour of, not just the working world, but also of what I’m capable of achieving.

While I’ve been here, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in a wide variety of things. My everyday role mostly involves creating content for social media platforms, using graphic design skills and video editing to create posts, gifs, memes, behind the scenes videos etc.

I’ve especially enjoyed making our first IGTV and reels videos, some of which received over 3000 views!

To do all this, I’ve had to learn how to use a variety of software such as Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop, After Effects, Canva, Squarespace, and Hootsuite...to name a few.

I’ve also had the chance to write blog posts and really enjoyed the one I wrote reflecting on ‘Owning It’, a documentary programme for Radio Wales which asks why do so many girls give up sport in high school and how can we inspire them to carry on?

This was one of the projects I’ve been involved in, and it’s been a really great experience to learn how to market and promote an upcoming show and everything that goes along with that.

I also got the chance to be involved in the recruitment process for our videographer role and I enjoyed being able to support the directors in the admin that comes with hiring. As well as that, I’ve appreciated the chance to put forward ideas in meetings, and really value the responsibility that’s been given to me at times in researching and planning for these projects.

With that in mind, I want to share with you the 5 things I’ve learned from my time here.

You have to make mistakes to be more awesome.

I hate making mistakes. I hold myself to high standards and get embarrassed if I’ve done something wrong as I’m conscious of always wanting to impress. But at the same time, I’ve had to accept that I’m learning new things every day, so of course it’s not going to go right all the time!

Making mistakes is a way of improving, it doesn’t mean I’m rubbish. Easier said than done for the perfectionist in me but it improved with time and I’ve learned to really appreciate critique as it makes me better.

When I first started, the ESM motto “don’t be shit”, felt like a lot of pressure. But now I see it as a challenge to create bigger and better things than I did last month or even last week.

Have you ever seen anyone look so nervous in a team meeting?

Graphic design is really hard.

When I started, I was having dreams about graphic design every night, just moving logos and text around a page in my head! Thankfully I got over this although spacing has probably been my biggest challenge.

There’s been a lot to figure out in terms of this, thinking about fonts, logo placement and adding branding to corporate materials. Having not done much of this before, I had a lot to learn and it was frustrating when I missed things that became obvious afterwards. That brings me onto my next point.

Don’t overthink things.

Sometimes simple is best. Especially with caption writing which needs to be like talking to a friend as opposed to the Queen! I definitely experienced some caption writer's block at some points, I don’t know if that’s a thing but I’m saying it is anyway!

As one of life’s overthinkers, I’ve been learning to question myself less and trust in the process. This is where I’m grateful that I’ve had the safety net of Alex to check my work and make sure it’s as good as it can be before it reaches your eyes!

I’ve learned so much from his feedback, which has shaped my ideas and the way I approach each task.

Ask for help when you need it.

Especially towards the start I didn’t want to feel like I was bothering anyone by asking questions, but actually everyone has the same goal in mind (oh hey I finally managed a sports pun!). Anyway it’s better to ask and get it right than sit there like a lemon… a stressed lemon.

To believe in myself more.

In the last 12 weeks my brain has been challenged more than during 3 years of Uni. Can I really say that?

My degree gave me a foundation of knowledge, the theory behind everything. What working at EatSleep Media has given me is the practical skills to actually produce content, be part of campaigns and come up with creative ideas.

I’m really bad at downplaying everything I do, so hearing that I’ve actually done a good job at something from someone who isn’t a family member and therefore not slightly biased (sorry mum), has meant the world to me.

No matter what I go on to do next, I will always have EatSleep Media to thank for giving me the courage and skills to be my most awesome self.

No, they didn’t pay me to say that!

My advice to you:

To any future people starting at EatSleep Media, these are the things I’d recommend…

- Don’t be too attached to your name as they will change it. I’m going to find it weird being addressed as Megan rather than ‘The Bish’.

- They might seem scary at first but they’re actually the loveliest people and only ever want you to succeed.

- Be open to learning new things all the time, and don’t beat yourself up for not getting it on the first try.

- Be brave enough to put forward ideas, everyone is given a voice, so do the research and come to ideas sessions prepared. There are no bad ideas!

- If you have a problem, it’s always better to speak about it and get help, we are all human after all! There are no stupid questions, only stupid people afraid to ask.

- If you don’t remember there is no space between ‘eat’ and ‘sleep’ in EatSleep Media, you will be shamed… you’ve been warned!

Overall, I’ve had the best experience here!

Although I felt like I was in the deep end to begin with, I’ve realised that’s how you learn to swim (that was really cheesy I’m sorry). It’s true though, I’ve been pushed and challenged and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’m going to miss this lovely bunch a lot, but I know they are going to continue to achieve great things.

"I finally managed a sports pun!" - Interning at ESM