Semester TWO, Blog #3

Bobbie Brown looks back on internships, decisions, and life

"I did a lot of exploring"

Balboa Park is just one or two streets away from the building, so you can still catch a glimpse of the tree tops when you park in front of the San Diego Woman’s Club. “What a beautiful building, looks just like the white house only miniature size” I though as my sister drove away leaving me between a parking lot and a Union Bank. My stomach wasn't helping with my anxiety, not knowing what to expect scared me. But when I enter the colonial-style clubhouse I felt at ease. The San Diego Woman’s Club (SDWC) is a very generous club that host fundraisers for charities and rent out the clubhouse for parties, weddings, Sweet 16, etc. The inside of SDWC reflects the outside very much: colonial, a lot of wood, and very bright. The carpet definitely dates back a little bit but that’s what makes it so unique, it preserves the essence of when it all started, 1888. But the definite stand out is the beautiful well-maintain hard wood floor; it reflects the shine that is coming through the windows perfectly. The office in the other hand, reflect a normal office: two wooden desks, fax machine, desk chairs, and calendars.

My mentor welcomed me with an inviting warm smile, I suddenly felt like I had just begun my journey and Bobbie Brown was here to help me. I could already feel the bright energy that she was radiating with her presence. She looked like she was ready to start working, holding her cup of coffee with one hand and holding her laptop with the other one. My mentor’s job is being in charge of all the events taking place at the clubhouse, marketing, press releases, etc.

Bobbie Brown was born in Texas, and was the oldest from her brother and sister. Bobbie like many other people, mentions in an interview conducted by the end of the second week of internship that her biggest challenged was “Deciding what to do, what I wanted to do” And when I asked how she decided she responded. “I took a lot of classes, wasted a lot of money, did a lot exploring”

Why were you interested in business? How you got into that?

I don't know, I guess marketing because I will always see those logos and were well done. I will think about the process of arriving at that point, where the logo was really good and came across well. And when people saw it and responded, I was real curious, even commercial, real curious about how they knew what I would like, I could feel them talking to me, like they were inside my head. So I got curious, then I wanted to do a four year degree in marketing but my school was too small and didn't offer that, they only offer business administration emphasis in marketing so I did that instead.

And when I asked her about her own personal experiences on internship and lessons she replied “I learned that I work well independently, well I was responsible for all the media and all the PR and I didn't need anybody else to help. I mean one of the girls, she was really nice like actually had something to offer, she was kind of a go getter too. I really liked working with her, but the others really didn’t contribute that much. I enjoyed the team work when everything was going well and everybody pitch in, everybody did there work load but not when certain people slacked off and get lazy and not care. You always have to have the company’s interest at heart because that’s who you work for”

Bobbie’s story is very easy to relate to , I know I did. I can relate to the fact that she didn’t know what she wanted, career wise. She taught me that it’s okay to be indecisive; it doesn’t mean you are a failure like I use to think before.