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Liz Kreutz at NBC’s “Today in New York” September 4, 2010
Hey Everyone!
Welcome Week is coming to a close and school starts next week! To wrap up our fabulous Summer Features, here is a little something from Liz Kreutz who spent her summer interning at WNBC’s morning show, “Today in New York.” I’m looking forward to meeting you all at our events this year! Enjoy!
– Andrea
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Liz Kreutz
Senior
Majors: Broadcast Journalism and Media, Culture, and Communications
Internship: WNBC “Today in New York”
Hi all! The countdown has begun to the start of school and so I hope everyone is enjoying their final days of summer. I’m currently writing this from my favorite little coffee shop in my hometown of San Diego where I’m spending the week chilling out after a busy summer interning and working in New York.
This break is definitely much needed…most of my summer hasn’t been anything close to a So-Cal vacation. Starting in May until about a week ago I was interning at NBC for the morning news show, “Today in New York,” or as I like to describe it, the morning show before the TODAY show. So yes, that did mean early, early mornings—I had a wake-up call of 4am everyday—and a pretty low-key social life. But regardless of the constant delirious state I found myself in all summer (I definitely mastered the ‘power nap’) the internship was well worth the early hours.
Absolutely no day at this internship was ever the same. For instance one day there was a shoot and I found myself on the 16th floor of the Hearst building for an interview with an editor at Harper’s Bazaar; another day a car picked me up at 3am to take me to a junk yard in Brooklyn to shoot an early morning segment on the NYC dumpster pools. And then there were Fridays when I would go down to the TODAY show for their summer concert series and help our traffic reporter get the traffic reports so she could go live from the Plaza—where usually Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber fans would be screaming, or rather crying of joy, behind her.
But not all days were that glamorous. Most hours were spent writing scripts for the news show and scripts for their features reporter, Cat Greenleaf, that were then aired in gas pumps around the country (which even my mom back in California actually saw while getting gas!), as well as logging scripts and doing research.
A major highlight of my internship though was recording my anchor reel at the news desk. Since I do want to be an on-air reporter, after this summer of early hours and hard work, it was so rewarding to be able to leave with something to show for it. All of the people in the office were so supportive while I filmed my reel—the main anchor of the show, Darlene Rodriguez, sat in the control room giving me pointers; Greg Campbell, my producer, helped me pick my news stories and proof-read my scripts; the stylists did my hair and make-up (and in case you’re wondering, they do CAKE it on!) and the stage manager and sound guys were at my side directing me when to go.
When I was sitting there at the anchor desk, the main thing I realized at that moment is how it truly takes an incredible team of people to create a good show. I’m so lucky to have had my first experience in a newsroom be with such creative and encouraging people. And as far as internships ago, WNBC is a fantastic place to get hands on experience in a local show, while surrounded by literally the best in the industry.
Overall, it’s been an incredible summer professionally—I’ve grown so much as a journalist and as a ‘New Yorker’ (I finally moved in to my own apartment in the East Village!). And if there are two things I’ve learned…it’s the importance of hard work and a good attitude, and most importantly, to always, always be nice to the camera guys.
Summer Feature: Sarah Chen at the World Expo August 23, 2010
Sarah Chen
College of Arts and Science
Class of 2013
HI to all! Greetings from Shanghai, China! I hope that everyone is doing well in this Summer, and staying cool in this heat! My Summer is going on pretty well so far, as it is always exciting for me to be home. Right now, I am working as a volunteer at Shanghai World EXPO, one of the greatest events over the world. For my volunteer job, I do not belong to any particular pavilion, but mainly assist the on-site events all over the site, and contacting the media at the same time. In July, we have the Folkway series, which are designed to promote national culture, interpret folkways and customs as well as show folk arts; the Youthful Expo series, which feature the theme of Expo 2010, guiding global trends of fashion; and the Community series, which show the unique culture of Shanghai communities and the harmonious interaction between the urban communities in Shanghai. It is really fun to be on site, as all the events could function in a fantastic way to bring young people around the world together to exchange and share ideas as well as express their future dreams via the platform of the Expo. In the past two months, I worked four days a week, sometimes starting early in the morning, and sometimes ending late in night, which depends on the event time. And I also work to contact the media in the city, which really brings diversity to my Summer time. There are still two weeks of work waiting for me, and I will be back in NYC in early September. I will be the Treasurer on the board of WIC this year, and I am already looking forward to all our programs and events in this coming year! So…hope to see you all soon in September after I suffer this extreme hot weather in Shanghai! And enjoy the rest of your Summer!
Best regards,
Sarah
Wc678@nyu.edu
WIC Summer Feature: Annie Fung teaches English in Hong Kong! August 17, 2010
We’re coming at you full throttle with these summer features. How many of you have thought about teaching English in a foreign country? I know I definitely have. Well Annie Fung, head of WIC’s Web department, is actually in Hong Kong right now teaching English. Read all about her experience in this WIC summer feature!
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Name: Annie Fung
Major: Media, Culture and Communications
Minor: Business & Film Producing
Year: Junior, 2012
Hello guys! Hope you’ve been having a good summer and are ready to be back in school! I had a fun and crazy spring semester abroad in Florence. Now I’m back home in Hong Kong. This summer, I am working at two education centers teaching English. The two centers are completely different in company size and lesson structure.
The smaller of the two education centers is a new start-up company and has only been opened for two months. I teach two small summer classes in oral English, one for 8 year olds and the other for 11 year olds. Each lesson is one hour long and one lesson per week. This education center gives me a lot of freedom in the way I want to teach the class, which I like because I can prepare each class in a way that I think is suitable for the students. These students also take other English classes in the center (grammar, writing etc), so my main focus is to get them to speak English and be confident in using the language. I try to make my classes fun and interactive, so usually at the beginning I would chat with my students for 10-15 minutes or so just to get them to speak up and to form a more personal relationship with them. After that, I come up with a different activity for the lesson so that they are doing something new and are exposed to different vocabulary each time. The activities range from game boards to role-play to arts and crafts. And of course, I join in with the activities, so it’s all good fun for me too!
The other education center is more established and have many locations around Hong Kong. They offer classes from 1 year old all the way to 15 year olds. But most are around age 4 – 7. This center creates their own lesson plan and teaching materials, so all I have to do is follow their lesson plan and teaching style. Before I began teaching, I had a few days of teacher training to familiarize myself with their materials, class style and student management methods. In this center, I work as a summer supply teacher. Work hours are from 10am to 7pm with 1 hour lunch break and some days an extra hour break. Each lesson is an hour long, so I teach around 7 to 8 classes per day. Yea, it can be quite intense sometimes, especially towards the end of the day. There are two different class styles. For the younger classes (age 1 – 3), their parents accompany them in class and lessons are held in a playroom, so they sit on the floor on a play-mat. This type of class includes games, songs and learning of letters, numbers and vocab through listening, speaking and motion activities. The older classes are classroom-based and include a mixture of games, story-time, doing workbooks and teaching of vocab, grammar, phonics and writing. I like teaching the older classes more because I can actually converse with the students and they can be quite funny and adorable!
The kids are great. Most of them are pretty well-behaved and if not, using incentives like giving out sweets and stickers can pretty much calm them down. I had a fun time teaching children and they are all sooo cute (especially the younger ones with their HUMONGOUS eyes)!!
A lot of fresh graduates or college students take gap years to teach English abroad. You don’t have to major in education to teach. Some places do require a teaching degree, but those are not difficult to obtain. There are many others which don’t require that. It’s a great opportunity to travel and meet new people. You might end up loving teaching or the place!
That’s all from me. Hope to see you guys in our WIC meetings and don’t be shy, come up and introduce yourself to me!
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Annie
WIC Summer Feature: Jess Samson with Love from Paris August 9, 2010
Hey everyone! We’re continuing our WIC Summer Features with a post from Jessica Ann Samson, WIC’s head of Advertising. She’s spending her summer in Paris right now (aren’t we all uber jealous?). Read all about her love affair with the City of Romance in this post. And remember, we want summer features from everyone so if you’d like to share your fabulous summer with us, feel free to shoot an e-mail to women.communication.club@nyu.edu.
Peace and Love,
Andrea
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Name: Jessica Ann Samson
Major: Media, Culture, and Communications
Year: Junior, 2012
Hello hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as we count down the days until we all head back to the city. Am I the only one that thinks summer goes by way too fast? It’s almost ridiculous how fast time flies.
Well, my first six weeks out of school were definitely spent vegging out after a jam packed Spring semester-18 credits, extra-curricular activities including WIC, interning at Cosmetic Executive Women, and still trying to find time for a social life. So after Spring semester, I definitely just needed time to relax at home, catch up with old friends, work for my aunt’s smoothie franchise (Maui Wowi hey!) and do the normal family barbeque, beach day, stay up til 4AM wake up at noon type of thing.
HOWEVER, I am currently writing this little blurb from the library at NYU en France. I’m doing the NYU Summer Abroad program and taking eight credits abroad in Paris this summer; I’m taking a French cinema class and an art history class (and believe me, I am such a noob to art). It’s definitely interesting to see how movies and the arts as media reflect French history and society. Since this is my first time in Europe and travelling abroad by myself, I really did not know what to expect. Surprisingly, however, I find myself cheating on New York a bit and falling in love with Paris.
Paris is absolutely gorgeous. The museums, the monuments, the people, the FOOD-everything is more than I expected. I wake up every morning, grab a piece of a baguette, go to class, and just have time for myself to explore this amazing city. Touristy things like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are definitely a must thing to do, but it’s the things that I’ve discovered myself-like finding my favorite patisserie and going out and meeting new people-that really make me feel like I’m a part of this city.
If anyone is interested in studying in Paris or needs a few tips and recommendations about this gorgeous city just let me know! I definitely recommend it, I’ve learned so much in these almost six weeks and I know I’ll be sad to say goodbye. It’s okay though, I’ll be reuniting with my first love, New York, soon. =)
Au revoir mes amis!
Jess
Summer Feature: Martina Lee at the Movies August 1, 2010
Hello, hello WICers! Martina here, and I am so excited to be your new president for the upcoming school year. By way of introduction, I’m a rising junior in Steinhardt’s Media, Culture, and Communications program with a specialization in entertainment business. I’ve been participating in WIC since freshman year, so I hope to use that experience and collaboration with the lovely ladies of the board to bring you lots of great events this year.
I must say it is quite nice to step back, breathe, and recharge a little this summer after having spent a very eventful spring semester abroad. Aside from a couple of days interning in the city, I have been doing a lot of hanging out at home in New Jersey and preparing for another year at NYU.
First things first. I secured my internship at Scott Rudin Productions before I left for Florence. It’s the film and theater development office of Mr. Scott Rudin, one of the most noted and successful producers in the industry. His credits include everything from Doubt, Closer, and Revolutionary Road, to Zoolander and School of Rock, as well as many incredible theatrical productions – most recently, the Tony-award winning Fences starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. No big deal. Being in such an office is a really great opportunity because you get a glimpse into the industry from the highest levels. Granted, as an intern, you get that glimpse only briefly between scanning books, binding scripts, running errands, and compiling research, but it’s a valuable experience nonetheless. A lot of the work done in the office is development – which essentially means a LOT of reading. A lot. The books, scripts, and plays to be read for potential productions are endless. And then after they find a project they want to pursue, there is a ton more work to be done before the cameras ever roll. The script goes through numerous drafts; the director, cast, crew, etc, all have to be assembled; all the details have to be ironed out…this stage is where things occasionally don’t work out – what is sometimes called “developmental hell”.
In short, making a movie is big undertaking and there is much, much more to it than actual production. All very exciting stuff. Even though I’m not sure that development is ultimately my calling, this internship was definitely a worthwhile experience to have.
Another exciting part of my summer has been signing up with a casting agency for background actors (aka extras). It’s my part-time job substitute, as well as a cool introduction to a working set. My first job was on an episode of Law and Order: SVU, so look for me milling in the background this fall when it premieres!
I hope everyone is having as fun a summer as I am, but don’t forget that the semester is coming up more quickly than you may realize. Something to think about now is starting the hunt for that amazing internship for the fall. A lot of companies have put up their call for interns already, so don’t forget to polish up your resume and cover letter and send it on over.
That’s all from me for now. Looking forward to seeing everyone in the fall!
Martina
WIC Summer Feature: Andrea Lontoc in the Newsroom July 16, 2010
Hope everyone is having a great summer whether you’re taking a much-deserved break, pursuing an internship, taking a few summer classes, or working. Our new board at WIC is hard at work cooking up another exciting year beginning this fall, so get ready! Meanwhile, we wanted to roll out a summer feature on Lit Up to introduce ourselves a little and give a glimpse as to what we’re up to this summer. First we’ll hear from our new vice president, Andrea Lontoc. Of course, this is open for submissions as well, so if you’d like to share your summer activities, feel free to send your piece on over to women.communication.club@nyu.edu .Without further ado, here’s Andrea!
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Martina
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Name: Andrea Lontoc
Major: Media, Culture, and Communications
Year: Senior, 2011
Hey everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying your summer break so far 🙂 My summer has been incredibly busy – I’m interning full time at PIX11. It’s the station affiliate for the CW, so home of Gossip Girl, Top Model, etc. But I’m actually interning in the Newsroom – a completely different story.The Intern Program in the News department involves three shifts: 9am-5pm, 2am-10am (for the Morning News Show), and 3pm-11pm (for the News at Ten). We spend about 3-4 weeks on each rotation so that we get the full understanding of how a newsroom works. It’s crazy, I know.
However, the crazy hours are all worth it because PIX does an incredible job with their internship program, allowing interns to take on responsibilities that most new stations wouldn’t. I’ve gone out with reporters several times and shadowed them on their stories, I’ve gone out on stories on my own (with just a cameraman) and field produced for local events, press conferences with politicians, and even stakeouts on breaking news stories like drownings or car accidents. Along with that, I’ve sat with assignment editors at the Newsdesk, taking calls, screening pitches, and looking on line for other breaking news stories. This was all during the month of June, when I was on the 9-5 shift.
I’m currently on the Morning Show, which is why I’m writing this at 3 in the morning! This show has been a lot of fun – the people are hilarious and really nice. There are a lot more lifestyle features and the occasional celebrity guests. I’ve said good morning to vampire mama Esme from the Twilight Saga, and newborn army creator Riley from Eclipse (can you tell I’m a lame Twihard?) And yesterday I chit chatted with Molly Sims about how bad our complimentary coffee is! I’ve only been on this show for a week, but it’s been a lot of fun. In August, I’ll be switching to the PM show which involves a lot more hard news. I’m hoping to be able to put a reel together of me on camera, so we’ll see how that goes.
If anyone is interested in interning here, you should definitely reach out to me. I’m VP of WIC so if you want my insider advice, I’m expecting you to come out to our programs first – no i’m totally kidding. If you want to know more, feel free to shoot me an email. But you should also come out to our programs – we’re definitely going to have an amazing year!
Peace and Hair Grease,
Andrea
andrea.lontoc@gmail.com
Opening Ceremony Takes a Walk on the “Wild” Side October 4, 2009
By Colleen Hagerty
You’ve read the book. You’ve seen the trailers. You’ve heard the entirely tailored soundtrack. And now you can… wear the clothes?
To help tide fans over until the debut October 16, Opening Ceremony has just released a limited-edition line inspired by the beloved children’s book and upcoming film Where the Wild Things Are. The line—designed in collaboration with the film’s director, Spike Jonze—debuted in Opening Ceremony stores and online this past Monday, September 28.
I admit I was entirely skeptical when I first heard about this idea, as adorably drawn monsters do not exactly scream “fashion” to me. But I was very, very wrong. Against all odds, the line is edgy, unique, and even (for the most part) wearable. With pieces ranging from vests and jackets for women to coats for men and even a unisex version of Max’s iconic animal playsuit, there is definitely something for anyone looking to make their wardrobe a bit “wilder”.
So whether you are looking for a great, trendy piece to add to your daily wardrobe or even to find a Halloween costume early (as I’m assuming most of us wouldn’t wear that playsuit on a daily basis), Opening Ceremony is definitely the place to go to satisfy your cravings for fashion and fun.
Over-The-Knee Boot Round Up September 29, 2009
By Alix Turoff
Some may say leather is my middle name. My father once commented that the only thing I need is a leather bag to go over my head and my look would be complete. I romp around Washington Square park in my leather motorcycle jacket, I hit the town in strapless leather dresses and I walk the stairs to the tents of Bryant Park Fashion week in Jeffrey Campbell’s Opening Ceremony inspired leather cut-out wedges.
With the strange not-quite-summer but definitely not fall weather, I’ve had a dilemma getting dressed in the morning. I’m not ready to put away the Kain tanktops or breezy summer dresses but I can’t wait to start working some of this fall’s trends. So, I came up with an alternative: I would pair my newly purchased over-the-knee boots (Wanted’s Babel Black $99- A steal when compared with similar styles) with all the summer clothes that I’m not quite ready to part with.
Okay, so I “die’ over Taylor’s Stella McCartney thigh-highs that she pairs with everything on the Rachel Zoe Report but let’s be honest, an unpaid intern can’t really afford a pair of $1500 boots so instead I did what I do best: bargain hunted.
Here are some of my favorite picks to fit every budget:
- STEAL: Babel in Black – $99
http://www.wantedshoes.com/shop/Boots/babel/Black
- SPLURGE: Jimmy Choo – $1,195
http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/48691
- STEAL: Verbana – $35
- SPLURGE: Chloe – $1,295
http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/48554
- STEAL: Furge – $33
- SPLURGE: Stella McCartney – $1,385
http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/48898
Lit Up 
Shopping Goes Social with Plurchase October 28, 2009
Plurchase Site
By: Tiffany Siu
Shopping and social media effectively combine on Plurchase. Love to shop online, but wish you can take all of your friends with you to get their opinion? Well Plurchase is your answer. While shopping on Zappos, you can ask your friends if they think you’ll trip on that four-inch heel or if you’ll really look like your grandmother with that loafer on. When you go to the Pluchase site, it will direct you to Zappos and provide you a link that you can share with your friends. Once your friends click on that link, they will be able to log on and see that boot, heel, flat, or sneaker that you are trying to decide which credit card to put it on. Go check it out and let us know what you think!