I was an intern once

The summer between my junior and senior years at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I was an intern at LIDA Advertising. An agency in Des Peres, mere minutes from my parents' home. How convenient! How terrific for my future resume!

Let's just say I was in college before the days of Google. If I had done a search, I would have done declined the offer.

Turns out, LIDA was a yellow pages agency, owned my LInda and DAvid. How adorable.

On my first day, I got someone fired. Because when DAvid shared my 3.9 GPA with one of the ladies in the office, she bragged that she had graduated with a 4.0 from La-De-Da University. So like a true yellow pages advertising specialist, DAvid looked up her alma mater to verify. She had never attended that school. Good bye, Liar Pants.

The other LIDA intern that summer was also from Mizzou. Her name was Kimmer. I'm so thankful that Kimmer was there. Because LIDA was dreadfully boring.

You see, we weren't creating ads. We were verifying listings! DAvid was big on verification. All day every day, we'd call doctors to see if their numbers were still correct. The highlight of my first month interning was getting my request played on a radio station that Kimmer and I listened to during lunch. "Brand New Lover" by Dead or Alive. Good times.

Then, quite magically, DAvid found out that I could draw. I sketched a one-panel comic of people walking on their fingers. (For you youngsters, the yellow pages used to have a jingle that suggested, "Let your fingers do the walking, it's a snap.") 

Boom. I was in charge of creating comics for a newsletter. In addition to my daily verification calls, of course.

Did I get anything out of the experience? Nothing I could put in a portfolio. But my internship did introduce me to office life. And what giving up on being a Real Copywriter might look like.

Today, I'm a VP Creative Director At Momentum Worldwide. And on July 8, I will be a Group Creative Director at Group360.

Boom.