A wedding is a perfect example of how live music brings people together. I got married last night, but I’m writing this beforehand, so I can’t tell you how good the live music was. But I’ll bet that young and old were hitting the dancing floor together. Since we can’t go to wedding every weekend (though it can start to feel like that sometimes), we have to seek live music elsewhere. Levitt Pavilions is a non-profit organization that provides exactly that. They are a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit that “partners with cities to build and transform outdoor music venues into community treasures.” There is actually a Levitt Pavilion in the town that I went to high school in, though I must admit that I’ve never been. I assumed that it was just a local thing, but today I learned that there are six Levitt Pavilions across the country (Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA; Westport, CT.; Bethlehem, PA.; Memphis, TN.; and Arlington, TX).
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arts,
California,
communications,
Connecticut,
development,
events,
Internships,
marketing,
music,
non-profit,
Pennsylvania,
Tennessee,
Texas
I’ve made it a point to never repeat a company or organization on One Day One Internship. A few times I’ve caught myself writing about companies that sound familiar and then realized that they’ve changed names. I even once published a duplicate post, but quickly put up a new one. But I’ve never intentionally featured an organization twice until today. Back in 2008, I wrote about the Chicago Botanic Garden. I had never even visited at the time, but today I’m getting married there! How could they not be featured today?
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holiday,
Illinois,
Internships,
non-profit
I’m getting married tomorrow! Amy and I are extremely excited to share such a special event with so many friends and family, but we’re both a little nervous… about the weather. There are thunderstorms in the forecast, and I have a bad history with lightning. Whether it rains or not, the wedding will go on, it will be great, and people will take lots of pictures. We have a great photographer who will capture many of the special moments, but our friends and family will do their best to supplement him and his crew. We decided against using an app to collect photos from friends, but we definitely considered it. Wedding Party is a Palo Alto, CA based company that offers an app that allows you to “capture all the amazing photos from your wedding.”
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blogging,
California,
community management,
editorial,
events,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
photography,
social media,
software development,
web development
The quickest way to convince your friends that you’re a nerd is to start talking about safety. There’s nothing cool about smoke detectors, security systems, or locks on your doors, but they’re all extremely important. It’s easy to take your personal security in your home for granted until your house gets broken into (happened to me in college) or your smoke alarm starts chirping in the middle of the night and you can’t turn it off (this is more frustrating than scary). There has to be a better way of protecting ourselves without having to be a total freak. Canary is a New York, NY based startup that is working on that exact problem. They have developed “patent pending technology to bridge the physical world and the mobile world” and keep your home secure.
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engineering,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
online marketing,
paid,
security,
software development,
web development
I hate cheese. I’m not sure when it started, but almost any cheese other than mozzarella completely grosses me out. Although it may be partly psychological now, it’s mostly a smell/taste thing. I swear everybody except me loves cheese–though people start to see my side of things when the stinkier varieties come out. As a result of my peculiarity, it’s a bit uncomfortable for me to write about Sartori, a Plymouth, WI based “fourth-generation family owned and operated” cheese company. How can I encourage you to go work for a company that produces products that I find so offensive? I guess it just shows how committed I am to helping you start a great career.
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blogging,
food,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
photography,
quality assurance,
research,
science,
social media,
Wisconsin
I’ve been working for myself for the past six years, so the only perk that I get is flexibility. But when I interned at Orvis, I got a 50% employee discount. It was a big part of the reason that I went back for another summer (and spent most of the money I made from the internship). While many companies have unique perks that only they can offer, there are all kinds of perks that are available to pretty much any company that wants to make them available to their employees. AnyPerk is a San Francisco, CA based company that puts all of these perks into a single package that employers can get access to for $5 per employee per month. AnyPerk’s goal is “to help businesses attract and retain top talent while providing a rewarding work environment,” and they’ve found that perks are a great way to do that.
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account management,
business development,
California,
human resources,
Internships,
paid,
sales
Memorial Day is first and foremost about remembering those who served (which is why we’ve look at organizations like Hope for the Warriors and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in past years), but we all know that it’s also the official start of Summer and grilling season. Unfortunately, this year the weather has made sitting by the fireplace feel like a more appropriate activity than a barbecue. Either way Duraflame has you covered. They are a Stockton, CA based company that offers “a wide variety of fire-related products, including fire logs, fire starters and barbecue products.” If you need to start a fire, one of their products will help you avoid the frustration of never having been a boy/girl scout.
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California,
holiday,
Internships
Your face is how you interact with the world (even though the Internet is doing its best to change that). Like it or not, how you look matters whether you live in New York City or a small village in India. Cleft lips and palates not only have a tremendous cosmetic effect that can cause shame and isolation, but they can also greatly inhibit the ability to eat and speak. Luckily, clefts are very easily repaired. Smile Train is a New York, NY based non-profit that believes that “every child born with a cleft – anywhere in the world – should have the opportunity to live a full and productive life.” That’s why they’re working towards making one million smiles (they’re already 88.29% of the way there).
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health care,
international development,
Internships,
medicine,
New York,
non-profit,
program development
I find marketing extremely interesting because the tactics change rapidly, while the basic principles never do. If I was hiring an agency, I’d want a team that brings together the old and the new, even though I often have a strong urge to go with whatever’s new. Adpearance is a Portland, OR based digital marketing agency that crafts “campaigns that launch from the solid foundations of traditional marketing, but with the added benefit of statistical analysis.” They’ve taken the best of both worlds and combined them into a complete offering that is focused on the most important thing: client ROI.
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advertising,
blogging,
design,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
Oregon,
sem,
seo,
social media,
software development,
web development,
writing
I downloaded my first MP3 from an AOL chat room. I was an extremely early adopter when it came to “file sharing,” but after the lawsuits started and some of my favorite services were shut down, I gave up. Torrenting became all of the rage, and I missed the boat. I’ve heard a lot about BitTorrent, but I never realized that they are a real company with more than 100 employees. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they are “passionate about building a better, smarter Internet through distributed computing.” That may sound like an unattainable mission for such a small company, but it’s not. BitTorrent’s protocols account for 20-40% of the Internet’s traffic, which means that the company has a ton of influence..
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account management,
advertising,
analyst,
California,
copywriting,
creative,
design,
Internships,
marketing,
mobile,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
sales,
software development,
user experience,
web development
Cupcakes are supposed to be a miniature version of cake–a more reasonable and practical dessert. Yet as they moved from grade school birthday celebrations to being a culinary trend, they seemed to get bigger and more unhealthy–with some even pushing towards 1,000 calories. Tons of businesses popped up and seemed to offer more and more decadent cupcakes, and then the bubble burst. So how did one cupcake company continue to grow despite tons of competition and fading interest from consumers? By offering mini cupcakes that won’t instantly make your pants feel tighter. Baked By Melissa is a New York, NY based company that was started with “the idea that people should be able to taste more flavors without that post-dessert guilt trip.” Three cupcakes from Baked By Melissa add up to 140 calories. It’s still not health food, but it’s a reminder of what cupcakes were originally meant to be.
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creative,
culinary,
customer service,
design,
food,
Internships,
New York,
paid,
retail
In the 80s and early 90s it was popular to foretell that we were only a few years away from having robots ingrained in our daily lives. That obviously didn’t happen. Even with today’s technology, a seemingly sentient robot like Screech from Saved by the Bell’s Kevin is unrealistic, but we’ve made a ton of progress. There are robots that sweep floors, wash floors, clean gutters, clean pools, dispose of bombs, and lots more. iRobot makes robots that do all of those things, and much more. The company is based in Beford, MA and “was founded in 1990 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists with the vision of making practical robots a reality.” That reality is finally here.
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business development,
communications,
engineering,
Internships,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
product development,
public relations,
robotics,
software development,
systems administration
Last night we celebrated my fiancée’s cousin’s ninth birthday. I found out that his latest interest is professional wrestling, so I spent most of the night body slamming him into a beanbag chair. I’m no wrestling connoisseur, but I know a few moves–it was just about the best birthday present I could have given him. When I was growing up, it was a semi-open secret that professional wrestling was stage. Now it’s fully acknowledged. If you want the real stuff, you go to Ultimate Fighting Championship, a company that “revolutionized the fight business, and today stands as the world’s leading MMA promoter.” UFC is based in Las Vegas, NV, and has developed from a fringe sport that got its start in the early 90s to a mainstream sport that gets coverage on ESPN. The story of how UFC went from being outlawed in most states to being widely accepted is fascinating, which is why I highly recommend that you read the Wikipedia article on UFC. It’s a long story, but it will give you insight into both politics and business.
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analyst,
analytics,
business development,
data,
design,
finance,
graphic design,
Internships,
marketing,
Nevada,
sales,
sports,
unpaid
Latin America is a region with amazing economic potential. I haven’t spent a ton of time there, but I’ve spent enough to know that the business climate is very different from the U.S., and can vary significantly from country to country. Still, the economies of Latin American countries are very closely tied to each other, and that makes it extremely important that there is cooperation and communication amongst the business community. The Group of Fifty is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is made up of select “business leaders who head some of the most significant and forward-looking enterprises in Latin America.” The organization provides “a forum for the leaders of the region’s most important companies to address changes as they appear in different sectors and markets, to hear from their peers in other countries about alternative business strategies, and to compare experiences and exchange ideas about the future of the hemisphere, its economies and its politics.”
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bilingual,
economics,
foreign relations,
international affairs,
Internships,
non-profit,
policy,
program development,
public policy,
unpaid,
Washington DC
If there’s a time to get out and enjoy your city’s parks, it’s right now. The weather is beautiful, everything is in bloom, and most people will be in a good mood as they enjoy the first few weeks of great weather. While a nice park is great on its own, it can be even better with some top notch programming to bring the community together. City Parks Foundation is a New York, NY based non-profit that creates “programs in parks throughout all five boroughs of New York City.” They got their start in 1989, and since then they’ve been enriching and connecting “New Yorkers through free and accessible arts, sports, education and community-building initiatives.”
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arts,
community development,
education,
grant writing,
Internships,
marketing,
music,
New York,
non-profit,
operations,
photography,
program development,
sports,
theater,
unpaid
I enjoy when companies include essentially useless numbers on their websites. It’s fun to see how many cups of coffee they consumed last year or how many left-handed employees they have, but it doesn’t really tell you much. Capstrat has one really important figure mixed into their “a few things you should know” section–they’ve increased employee headcount by 23% over the last year. That’s a big number in any industry, but it’s especially impressive at a full-service ad agency. I’ll bet it has a lot to do with being a leading name in the growing Raleigh, NC market. Capstrat calls itself “the agency helping companies succeed at critical moments,” which lines up perfectly with their top billed skill of finding the perfect way to say exactly what needs to be said.
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account management,
advertising,
analytics,
copywriting,
design,
Internships,
marketing,
North Carolina,
online marketing,
production,
social media,
unpaid
I use a credit/debit card for almost all of my purchases. It makes it extremely easy to track where, when, and how I spend my money. I actually get annoyed when I have to pay cash. Unsurprisingly, I’m not the only one who likes to collect data on my purchases. Pretty much every business that could potentially sell me something would love to have more data about me. Datalogix is a company that collects that data. They are based in Westminster, CO, and they “leverage the power of purchase-based audience targeting to drive measurable online and offline sales.” They started by collecting offline purchase data, but now they’re mixing that data with online, direct mail, e-mail, and mobile. That’s an amazingly powerful combination.
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advertising,
analyst,
analytics,
Colorado,
data,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
rotation program,
software development,
web development
I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve been working hard to get in shape for my wedding. So far I’ve lost about 35 pounds while adding muscle. All of my success has come from the Paleo diet and a personal trainer. I like sticking to the basics when it comes to health, but some people are looking for an answer in a bottle. NutraClick provides such answers. They are a Boston, MA based natural products company that builds “brands by developing winning products and leveraging the power of online marketing to drive offline demand.” So far they have products in Sports Nutrition, Natural Health, Age-Specific Skincare, and Beauty (with a side of social selling), and I’m sure more are on the way.
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accounting,
analyst,
beauty,
brand management,
business development,
copywriting,
design,
e-commerce,
engineering,
finance,
graphic design,
Internships,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
nutrition,
online marketing,
paid,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
social media,
software development,
web development
While I really enjoy reading about entrepreneurs’ personal journeys, I don’t take much interest in their personal lives unless it’s especially relevant to the business’ story. A divorce would typically be completely irrelevant in one of these posts, but today’s it worth talking about. You’ve probably heard of Tory Burch, an extremely successful fashion brand named after its founder (who is now a billionaire). Tory Burch, the person, got divorced from J. Christopher Burch in 2006. After the divorce, Chris Burch decided to start a chain of retail stores called C. Wonder. His ex-wife obviously left a lasting impression, since it’s widely cited that New York, NY based C. Wonder has taken a lot of inspiration from Tory Burch’s designs, while selling the “preppy” goods at a much lower price. There were a few lawsuits and some bad blood, but all seems to be settled now.
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design,
fashion,
furniture,
hom,
Internships,
jewelry,
marketing,
New York,
paid,
planning,
project management,
real estate,
retail,
sales,
style
Happy Mother’s Day! I’m lucky enough to get to spend today with my mom. She’s in town for some wedding planning stuff, so we’re enjoying our first Mother’s Day together in years. While I have great memories of all of the amazing things my mom has done for me, some of the most important things that she did happened before I can remember. Good mothering is most essential in the first few years of life, and that’s why the National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition was started as a response to the US Surgeon General’s conference on infant mortality. They’re an Alexandria, VA based non-profit that “is a recognized leader and resource in maternal and child health, reaching an estimated 10 million health care professionals, parents, and policymakers through its membership of over 100 local, state and national organizations.”
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communications,
data,
health care,
holiday,
Internships,
non-profit,
outreach,
public health,
unpaid,
Virginia
College students have a reputation for being broke, yet they always find a way to buy the essentials (most often that seems to be beer). In fact, most students borrow money to pay for their education, so it seems a bit odd to consider them a lending source. Yet that’s exactly what Lend for America is doing. They’re a New Brunswick, NJ based non-profit that believes that “with the right tools, college students can change the lives of their communities’ low-income families and gain a broader social perspective.” The tools they are talking about are centered around microfinance–a way that people even on college student budgets can make a meaningful investment.
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fellowship programs,
Internships,
microfinance,
New Jersey,
non-profit,
paid,
program development,
social investing,
software development,
web development
As an online publisher I understand how difficult it is to balance ads and content. I’m lucky in that the job search space allows a little more flexibility–most job postings are technically ads, so people don’t really differentiate between “editorial” and paid placement (though I still try to). The toughest part for most publishers is that ads perform best when they blend in with the content. This is really hard to do in an honest and unobtrusive way, but that’s exactly what Vibrant Media tries to do. They are based in New York, NY, and they are “the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology that gets brand content and advertising discovered across platforms.” With a network of more than 6,000 publishers they are able to reach upwards of 300,000,000 unique visitors every month.
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account management,
advertising,
California,
creative,
customer service,
human resources,
Illinois,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
recruiting,
sem,
seo
Right after I graduated college, I started investing in the stock market. I’ve more than doubled my money since then, which means that I made some pretty good decisions. One stock that I was considering at the time was CWTR. It was around $45 back then, and I thought that I had a few good reasons to believe that the stock would go up from there. Luckily, I didn’t buy. The stock is now at less than $4 per share–and that’s after a 4 for 1 reverse stock split. I’m glad that I avoided that -98% return on investment. While Coldwater Creek, which is based in Sandpoint, ID (with a design center New York, NY), has certainly struggled over the past 6 years, that doesn’t mean that you should overlook the potential opportunity. The multi-channel “specialty retailer of women’s apparel, jewelry and accessories” started as a one-room mail order business. They obviously had an amazing growth period that took them to going public, and now it’s time for them to get back on track.
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analyst,
apparel,
buyer,
design,
e-commerce,
fashion,
Idaho,
Internships,
inventory control,
merchandising,
nationwide,
New York,
product management,
retail,
software development,
sourcing,
user experience,
web development
I made a big mistake in sixth grade. I decided to take French instead of Spanish. In the time since, the Spanish speaking population in the United States has skyrocketed, while whether the French speaking population has grown or shrunk is pretty much irrelevant. Here’s a stat that tells you all that you need to know: almost 10% of all U.S. based Google searches are done in Spanish. Bilingual marketing is becoming a huge business, and we all know that local marketing is already huge. YaSabe is a Herndon, VA based company that is brining the two together. They are “committed to connecting businesses, Latino culture, and community allowing users to be ‘in the know’ and confidently make choices about how and where to spend their time and money.”
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account management,
advertising,
analyst,
bilingual,
business development,
customer service,
Internships,
local,
marketing,
project management,
sales,
sem,
seo,
software development,
unpaid,
Virginia,
web development
My soon to be wife and I are planning on moving to a new place in July, which means that we’ve been spending a lot of time on real estate websites. One thing that I’ve learned in the process is that many real estate agents have no idea how to use the Internet. The web is an amazing medium for showing off a property, yet time after time I come across terrible listings for really nice places. Why would you make the first photo in the slideshow of the bathroom? I have no idea, but real estate agents do it all the time. Apparently, they need all of the help that they can get, and that’s exactly what Market Leader offers. They’re a Kirkland, WA based company that provides agents with “tools to effectively generate, manage, and close more transactions.” They even go so far as to guarantee leads for their clients.
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account management,
analyst,
Colorado,
customer service,
finance,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
real estate,
sales,
Washington
When I was growing up, if we wanted food delivered, it pretty much had to be pizza. For a couple of years, there was a service called “Bring Me My Dinner” where a guy in a tuxedo would bring you a meal from a higher end restaurant, but it didn’t last very long. Then I went to college and the delivery options got more diverse (I could even get cookies delivered after midnight!). Now I live in a big city, and I can get nearly any type of food delivered to my door. But there’s more to delivery that just food. What if I want flowers, groceries, or something from the hardware store? Delivery.com is a New York, NY based company that has been “connecting people like you with merchants in their neighborhoods” since 2004.
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business development,
Internships,
market research,
marketing,
online marketing,
research,
sem,
seo,
social media,
software development,
unpaid,
web development
It’s extremely important to surround yourself with ambitious people. Unfortunately, that much easier said than done. Where do you find people who can challenge you? Even if you go to a great college or have impressive parents, it can be hard to find the right kind of people to push you. It gets even harder if you come from a low-income community. That’s why iMentor “builds mentoring relationships that empower students in low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.” They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that was founded in 1999 and has connected well over 10,000 students with mentors.
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education,
Internships,
New York,
non-profit,
paid,
product management,
program development,
software development,
tutoring,
web development
I come from an extremely artistic family. My Dad is an architect, my mom is a graphic designer, and my sister is a painter, yet I have almost no artistic ability. Still, I realize how important it is for every person to engage in some form of creative expression. For me it’s building websites and cooking, but for many people it’s some type of art. Art Enables is a Washington, DC based non-profit that has found that “often people with developmental disabilities are better able to express themselves in images than in words.” The organization fosters this creativity by providing a group of about thirty people (the program is open to those “18 and over from throughout the Washington metropolitan area who are diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who have the desire and the discipline to work at becoming professional visual artists”) with “the resources and supports they need to become visual artists.”
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arts,
Internships,
outreach,
program development,
unpaid,
Washington DC
There used to be three places that you could buy video advertisements: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Now there are millions. Nearly every website has the capability to sell video advertising, though very few have a team to sell the ads the way a tv station would (and that’s not even the best way to do it necessarily). SpotXchange is a Westminster, CO based company that makes buying and selling video advertising easy. In fact, they claim to have “the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory, reaching 110 million unique visitors each month in more than 35 countries.” It allows publishers and brands to link up that might never have connected without SpotXchange.
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advertising,
business development,
Colorado,
communications,
community management,
engineering,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
social media,
software development,
video,
web development
It seems that geek culture has finally become mainstream. Maybe it’s the fact that engineers are in high demand at companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google. Or maybe it’s the upsurge in popularity of sites like Reddit. Or maybe it’s shows like The Big Bang Theory. I don’t really know, but for the first time in my lifetime, it’s good to be a geek. So good, in fact, that many of the “popular” kids are now claiming geek status. Whether you’re a true geek or a poser geek, you need geek gear, and ThinkGeek is the place to go for that. They’re a Fairfax, VA based company that started with the “simple idea to create and sell stuff that would appeal to the thousands of people out there who were on the front line and in the trenches as the Internet was forged.”
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design,
e-commerce,
engineering,
industrial design,
Internships,
Manufacturing,
marketing,
online marketing,
paid,
photography,
product development,
software development,
user experience,
Virginia,
web development
