Read about our Kollaboration Summer 2010 Interns experience.
Davina Dan – Summer 2010 Intern
Long drives sitting through traffic, running through the streets of ktown putting up posters and handing out flyers in the hot summer sun, and excel sheets on top of excel sheets, adding links to every single one of our YouTube videos to spread the word about the upcoming show, as well as numerous questions from ticket buyers that all need answers in a timely manner; sounds miserable, right? Right. :P Well... that's what one would think, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I honestly had the time of my life this past summer doing what I love.
I had heard about Kollaboration years ago, but was never able to make it to a show because I was always working on the weekends. But this year I had finally freed myself from the shackles of my job and decided I wanted to do something that I loved, and Kollaboration was exactly that. I was able to meet tons of awesome people and had a great experience at all of our events. KA4 was especially memorable, it was my first Kollab show and the fact that it was a sold out show made it that much better because it seemed to emphasize that all of our hard work paid off. All the labels that we put on each of the flyers by hand, the time we spent planning and marketing, the numerous emails we had to answer, the tickets that we had to organize, everything was well worth it in the end.
My time as an intern at Kollaboration was definitely unforgettable; it was a fun learning experience. Not only did we prepare for the show, we had special meetings where we got to meet with people in the industry which was cool and interesting; and we did a little presentation marketing a certain pocket video camera with our own twist- this was probably the most school-like task we had, and not in a bad way, it was actually pretty fun preparing for it. I loved that I was able to get a lot of hands-on experience. We got to see all the steps in preparing for a show, even meeting with the people at the Ford Amphitheater. Then there was also the SMTown Live After Party and the Tully's Grand Opening, all of these events were different learning experiences and a lot of fun, but that doesn't mean it wasn't stressful, there were a few stressful times as well, but when is life ever stress-free?
Furthermore, the Kollaboration internship reinforced my belief that happiness is way more important than money, I wasn't making any money being an intern but I was really happy being involved, I was much happier being broke and doing what I love as opposed to making a decent amount of money but being absolutely miserable. Kollaboration has taught me a lot, and not just in relation to concerts and the Asian American community. I look forward to being involved in all the shows to come, (Christine, you won't be able to get rid of us! Connie and I will be your interns forever! :] ) even though I'm not in the country this year, I will without a doubt help out again once I get back!
Connie Luu – Summer 2010 Intern
Uplifting live music, breezing cool air, and working with an amazing group of staff members. That was the night of Kollaboration Acoustic 4. Looking back, it was truly an unforgettable summer.
I remember the first day of my internship; I had mixed feelings as to what I was getting myself into. I was going to school, working part time and taking on this internship. I really didn’t know what to expect and I was worried about how my summer would turn out. Little did I know, I learned a lot about myself, met some pretty amazing people and developed friendships throughout the experience. I was even fortunate enough to work on Tully’s Grand Opening (where I found my love for caramel frosting) and the SM Town After-party. I also found my partner in crime during the process of these events.
As a KA4 intern, I got to see how the planning, ticket tours and ticket sales all happened. At times, we would have outings and they were interesting and fun. We always had a good time taping, posting, and laughing despite the heat. Aside from the show, the interns were given a marketing project to work with. On the first day of the assignment, all of the interns were in this big conference room thinking of the concept for our project. Within 5 minutes, we were shooting out ideas and compiled them together. It was really a fun experience that all of us worked on together. Since the interns were split into 2 groups coming in the office to work on the acoustic show. We didn't have much of an opportunity to get to know the other "group." Working on the marketing project really helped us get to know each other better.
Kollaboration has really taught me to come out of my shell and not to worry about the unexpected. I’m grateful to be a part of the Kollab family and given an opportunity to be a part of the movement.
