Intern: Chloe Thepenier
Major: Design
Supervisor: Anthony Towey (Head of Media Operations) and Maggie Awad (Marketing Director)

Ms. Awad and Mr. Towey, tell us about United Fray — what are the organization’s goals?

Mr. Towey: To make fun possible. We started as primarily social sports for a while until we became more lifestyle-oriented. We build a whole community around fun things to do.

Ms. Awad: That’s the mission. We want to expand the brand and expand the offerings both on sport and event sides. We have individual targets we are trying to hit. We come in with a people-first goal as opposed to a revenue first goal. My specific goals are to build our marketing team. This branch is DC Fray and we also have other branches in Phoenix, New Orleans, and Jacksonville.

Mr. Towey: My goal is to run our media. We purchased On Tap magazine and we’re rebranding that behind the scenes and figuring out if we should have that in all our cities.

Chloe, how is this internship related to your career goals and has it informed your future career decisions?

Chloe: It is my first internship in my new major field I chose so it is a stepping stone for everything else. It’s showing me all the different opportunities and fields I can go into — web design, editorial, graphic design — so it’s very informative.

How many interns does United Fray usually have and what skills or qualities are you looking for when you hire interns?

Ms. Awad: I’d say around thirty a year. The social spots side is very much a small business so we need a lot of interns to help.

Mr. Towey: [We look for] people that vibe with our culture. I’m looking for people that want to learn, who are self-directed and who really want to get hands-on experience. 

Ms. Awad: You need people who can jump in even if you don’t give them a lot of direction. 

Chloe, what have you found to be the most rewarding and challenging aspects of your internship?

Chloe: It’s my first design internship — I used to be a science major six months ago. It’s really different from school. Here I get to design every day which is great but also very challenging because you have to create something new every day and several times a day. What I do ends up somewhere, on the website or in the magazine, so seeing your work is very rewarding.

How has Chloe done in her internship thus far?

Ms. Awad: We are down a full-time designer, so Chloe has been our step-in. For me, it’s been valuable because I’m new to the company as well, so being able to send her something and get a fast turn around, or connect with other employees [is helpful].

Mr. Towey: We want people with a certain level of maturity and a certain level of motivation. We want ones who really want to be here. Chloe’s done a lot of work on banner ads for our site, for river tubing, speed dating, bar partners. [She’s worked] with very minimal hand-holding which is important because we get busy.

How does your internship differ from your initial expectations?

Chloe: When I first came here I thought I would have a graphic design mentor to show me what to do. When I got here, I was trained by another intern, but in a way, it was better because I got to do a lot more things and try more things.

What advice would you give to students seeking out similar internships?

Chloe: I would say keep an open mind and get ready to work a lot and try different things. It’s an amazing experience. Do the work and don’t be afraid to try different things even if you’re not very familiar with it.