POWER Internship Milestones, from Slack’s POV

I’m Lauren Miller, an intern at POWER Marketing Company and I love Slack. 

Said no one ever, right?

As anyone who has used Slack will probably tell you, it is a blessing and a curse. The notifications and the channels can be never-ending. But, truly I do love Slack because it inspired this blog and gave me a place to reflect on how far I have come over the past 8 weeks.

Diving into these messages showed evidence that Slack quietly documented some of the biggest moments of growth during my internship in real time. 

The First Ping

“Hi Lauren! Welcome to the POWER Marketing Summer Internship Program!!”

“Hi Lauren! Welcome to POWER!”

When I began my internship, I had no expectations. POWER is my first real internship and I knew I wanted to make the most of it. I set 3 goals for myself before starting my internship:

1. Strengthen my current skillset

2. Figure out what I thrive in 

3. Contribute in a meaningful, valuable way

I was hoping to gain experience in marketing to understand where I fit in and what I am truly good at. Everyone says that there are things you don’t learn in the classroom, and I was eager to find out what those were. I was eager to achieve my goals and make my summer worthwhile. 

My first impression of POWER? Incredibly welcoming and encouraging from day one. It was clear we were valued team members from the start and that they wanted us to contribute meaningfully.

Slack Chats with the CEO

“So you are first getting a Colton voice message.. should we need to jump on a Google Meet or kind of work collaboratively more so, more than happy to do this.”

On my second day of the internship, Colton Hower, CEO and Founder of POWER Marketing Company, reached out to have me work on a pitch deck for TapNPay+. TapNPay+ is a long-time client of POWER, focused on team fundraising and they were looking to explore the NIL space . 

Here I was, barely settled in, collaborating on  a real project with the CEO, something I never imagined would happen so early in my internship. This assignment pushed me out of my comfort zone and also showed the transparency of authority at POWER. It was clear from this situation that POWER operates differently than many other companies. What other company do you know where the CEO is so hands on with the interns?  From the start, I wasn’t just an intern sitting on the sidelines, I was already taking ownership of real projects. 

Ever since this initial collaboration with Colton, I have gotten the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with him on multiple projects. It’s amazing to see the mission of the company in action from the root, and take on that mission myself during the internship.

Search In: #internship-program “Training” (24 Messages)

“It was great to see you during our first training today.”

“We just created a new folder, it's called Resources & Trainings.”

Along with working on projects with the CEO, every week I have attended 1-2 training sessions on marketing topics such as Search Ads, SEO, Canva, Content Calendars, Reporting, Engagement, and much more. The trainings are followed by projects that challenge us to apply our new knowledge. I’m happy to say that with these training sessions I’m already making good on my first goal for my internship: Strengthening my current skill set. 

Now, as of week 8 we have completed 16 training sessions. Here are some of my favorites:

• May 27 Content Calendars- POWER gave us interns the reins and full trust to create content calendars for real clients. I got to fully immerse myself in the voice and style of each of the clients I worked on whether it was the bold, punchy tone of POWER Productions or the witty, friendly tone of Hopewell Windmill. I can add so many new areas of expertise to my resume because of POWER’s diverse client portfolio.

• June 4 POWERList- One of POWER’s many services is social media advertising, but specifically I loved the real estate side of things. Before choosing marketing as my career path I was very interested in real estate, so this training brought me full circle. I love that as a POWER intern, I am able to try new, hard things on my own and then receive helpful feedback to improve. 

• June 25 SEO- SEO is a buzz word that I have heard many times. I had very general knowledge before this training, but afterwards, I felt prepared to take it on. This training was one of my favorites because it was an open dialogue about how SEO works and how it fits in regards to our clients we are working with. The cool thing about this internship is you take responsibility for the clients you are assigned and start to think of them, how services could work for them, and ways to improve what POWER is offering for them. I have gotten to know my clients well. 

These training sessions allowed me to check another one of my goals off my list- Contributing in a meaningful, valuable way.

New Channels, New Challenges

“Lauren Miller was added to #email-marketing-services”

“We are going to be adding you to the POWERList team”

During this internship, there are countless opportunities for growth and, boy, have I grown. Through training sessions and follow-up assignments, we are encouraged as interns to find what we are good at, what we like, and what our strengths are. I have found myself really enjoying creating content, email marketing, and creating ads for POWERList clients. The leadership team has been attentive to my strengths and added me to the email marketing services channel, where the internal team is involved in the implementation of email campaigns. I am also so excited to be added to a full scale effort of implementing real estate listing ads for Pelican and CB Life. Again, for REAL clients- which is unheard of as an intern!

POWER cares about the growth of us interns, and that is how I was able to find things I love to do. Beginning this internship I did not think I would be taking on projects that would propel my skillset this much, but at POWER, you’re not just running copies and grabbing coffee, you’re a real part of the team.My last goal checked off my list- Finding something that I thrive in.

You Reacted with “❤️”

“I had to let you know that I loved your brand kit so much I'm using it as a template because I have to make one for a new client”

“Your content calendar is PERFECT!!!! This is the best one I've seen in months”

“We’ve been very impressed with your work output and all your efforts”

Reflecting on my growth so far at POWER, I looked back on the messages that inspired the concept for this blog- the constant encouragement I’ve received from the leadership team. The positive reinforcement and feedback I have received has been invaluable to my growth, personally and professionally. Zoe and Marissa have been key drivers of my success at POWER because of their willingness to drop whatever they are doing to offer guidance. They’ve been instrumental in my growth here, not just as mentors and leaders, but also leading by example.

Whether it’s answering a question about a new project or helping me navigate through challenges, Zoe and Marissa have been incredibly generous with their time and expertise. Their hands-on, approachable leadership style has made it easy for me to feel comfortable asking questions, seeking feedback, and knowing that I’m always supported in my learning journey.