Internship Spotlight: Anna Hardcastle & Strategy Red Sports

During the 2022 Summer Intersession, senior Anna Hardcastle completed an internship with the Providence Bruins. Read on to learn about her experience!

If you’re interested in doing your own internship but don’t know where to start, make an appointment with your Career Advisor by going to Handshake.

What was your internship? I worked at a full service marketing company that specialized in sports and sporting equipment. Specifically, I was at Strategy Red Sports as a Sports Marketing Intern.

Why were you initially interested in this internship? One thing about this opportunity that stuck out to me was the flexibility of my position. While I knew that I wanted to pursue marketing I had no idea where in the industry I would fit and I felt this opportunity would help me discover what areas I am drawn to by providing me different experiences.

How did you find your internship? I have always valued the importance of building a relationship with your professors as it is always beneficial in one way or another. Fall semester of my Junior year I was taking Financial Accounting with Professor Tracy Scott and we talked before and after most classes and became close. One day we were discussing how I was in search of an internship and she let me know that she works as a CPA and has a client that has a marketing company out of Bristol. I thought nothing of it until I was put in a group chat a few days later with the owner of the company and my teacher introduced us to each other. Him and I went out to coffee with no expectations just to meet and talk about what they do at his company. By the end of the meeting he had told me that they wanted to offer me an internship. From this interaction, I was able to truly see how important and impactful networking can be in this industry.

What did you do as part of your internship? As I said earlier, I was able to try any position within the company that I was interested in ranging from social media manager, content creation, analytics, sales, and beyond. Any aspect of the creation of digital content I was able to be immersed in and taught about, which gave me endless opportunities to learn more about what field of marketing I can truly find myself thriving in.

Has this internship helped you work towards your future career goals? If so, how? Prior to this internship the only other work experience that I had was within the restaurant industry. Finally being exposed to this new world of work I have a much better idea of what it takes to be successful both working under someone and even starting a company as I was working directly with the company owners that saw success right out of college. I am hoping to get a second internship before I graduate and I feel much better prepared for interviews and my ability to present myself confidently in business settings because of the CCPD and this internship.

What was your biggest lesson/takeaway from the internship? Overall I think a major lesson I learned is to speak up. At the beginning of the summer I wasn’t participating too frequently and I would not voice my opinion because I felt everyone else in the room knew better than I did so I would stay quiet and do as I’m told. I eventually realized they brought me on as an intern for a reason and I started speaking up more and more. It is very easy to get walked over in business settings unfortunately especially as a female so learning ways to stand my ground and voice my opinion made a huge difference in my confidence and success this summer.

What advice would you give to someone interested in a similar internship opportunity? Never underestimate the power of networking, I have gotten job offers at bars in New York CIty, opportunities are always there if you are looking and open. By following the traditional path you will remain a piece of paper in a stack of resumes on someone’s desk. Put yourself out there, especially in the business world people are always looking to make connections, confidence is key. I started out college in a different major I wasn’t interested in and since I have switched majors to marketing, something I love and am excited to do for the rest of my life things have been falling into place. I’m excited to talk about it and people can see that passion. Find what makes you passionate and pursue it, the rest will follow!

By Kevin Deeb
Kevin Deeb Career Advisor