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Christel van den Berg
Another student we interviewed is Christel van den Berg who is also a
third year IMEM student who is currently living in New York for her work
placement. She works for the company Maman, which is a French bakery/
café/kitchen located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Toronto. Maman also
operates in the events scene. Thanks to her own networking skills she got
in contact with the company. She send the company an email with some of
her design and photography work on Friday night and Saturday she had the
job. The work placement is marketing oriented and her tasks are mostly
marketing and e-commerce oriented.
What kind of tasks/responsibilities do you have and which are your favorites
and which are your least favorite?
Most of my days are filled with all tasks marketing related such as designing
e-mail blasts, making signage, brainstorming marketing tactics, creating and
designing menus, writing copy for social media usage and delivering items to
press, media & VIP’s. I found out that I love creating digital marketing in the
form of e-mail blasts. It’s a cool tool to maintain brand awareness amongst
your clients.
What does a day at your internship look like?
That depends! When I work at the office, I’m busy with all things marketing
related. When I work at an event, I’ll be responsible for the catering there.
How expensive is it to go and live there?
New York is insanely expensive. I pay around €1500 for my room monthly
which is the size of a closet, my visa was around €1800 and my plane ticket
€500. When I visit Joe & The Juice and order my standard apple/carrot/ginger
juice they charge me $10. Besides that there are the taxes and the tips. I didn’t
save money before I went. I started to lend money which allows me to live here
for 5 months. My work placement is unpaid unless I work events. The most I
earned was when I worked at the H&Moschino fashion show. I made almost
$1000 in one week.
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