Buzz

Buzz, buzz, buzz … was the noise I kept hearing my first couple days at Envoy. No, my fellow blog readers, there was not a bee flying around the office. It is simply part of the lingo here and used to indicate one of the aspects of the high-tech intercom system. Maybe Sally buzzes Zach to come upstairs, or perhaps Liz buzzes me to run to a local bakery for a client meeting. “Buzz” is just one of the many new words I have added to my vocabulary since starting my summer internship a short 10 business days ago.

My time here actually got off to a rocky start when Penny asked me for the packet of papers that was sent to my house, which I was supposed to have already signed. I had no idea this packet even existed because my roommate — most of the time I call him “Dad” — tends to hoard the mail in his office. Day: 1, Hour: 1, Strike: 1.

After the initial shock, I have settled down to really enjoy this job and opportunity. Although I have spent the last three years learning the advertising and marketing process in the classroom, I feel I’ve learned more in these past two weeks than I ever could reading a textbook. It is truly about the clients and their needs, not about us.

I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with the account executives my first week. They may have thought I was biding my time, but I was actually a Spongebob-ette soaking up everything. What caught my attention was that these execs know all of their clients by first names. John and Sandy sound like great people; I just wish I knew them as well as the others do.

I thought team sports were done for me when I played my last basketball game this winter, but at Envoy it is truly a team effort. Everyone plays their role, and no one’s job is more important than another’s. Each project is taken through steps that multiple people have put their imprint on, so when the result is a success, they all share in it.

I hate to use an old cliché, but I really do learn something new every day. Without Envoy, or Mo, how would I have known that I share a birthday with Lenny Kravitz and John Wayne?