Internship Spotlight: Taylla

Hey! My name is Taylla, and I'm a senior TV and Film student from Montgomery County, Maryland. When you become a Hofstra student, something that you learn fairly quickly is that interning is a big deal. In my classes, I have received a great amount of experience in studios and editing laboratories. However, our professors encourage us to go out and utilize New York City. Therefore, in my four years at Hofstra, I have had the pleasure to intern at three great companies. My current internship is admirably my favorite. 

Telsey + Company is a casting company based both in New York and Los Angeles. The company casts for television, film, Broadway musicals and plays. My title at Telsey is "casting intern," where I work with a team of seven other interns. I've had the opportunity to sit in on auditions for Hamilton and Anastasia and am in the presence of creative teams for projects. The Telsey casting directors, including the founder Bernie Telsey, have taken the time to talk to us about their experience at the company. Being at Telsey has been rewarding for a number of reasons. 

The opportunities to learn and use software like Casting Networks (training provided by Hofstra alumni) and CastIt have benefited me and are a great resume builder. I have had the pleasure of witnessing a project being fully casted as an intern for the entire semester. The relationships I've made at Telsey and with the creative teams have been unforgettable. I am most grateful for Telsey + Company for making me feel like a part of the team. 

Broadway - and some other cool things in NYC

Hi, my name is Marin, and I’m currently a senior pursuing a Biomedical Engineering degree here at Hofstra! I come from a small town in northern Vermont so you could say coming down to Long Island for college was a bit of a change for me. For example, cows don't outnumber people here! I love being here so close to the city...it’s brought me so many opportunities - both educational and recreational. These opportunities have literally brought me to the city, itself. Through various classes and being in the Honors College, you can venture into the city and sometimes earn extra credit! If neither of those sound appealing to you, maybe participating in the Explore Next Door (E.N.D.) trips that Hofstra offer will interest you! Through the E.N.D. trips, I’ve gone to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium (where the Red Sox won!), I’ve been on a boat tour that went around the city, and I went on a trip to the Bronx Zoo.

Giraffes are my favorite animal so I had to take a picture of them at the Bronx Zoo

Passing the Statue of Liberty while on a boat tour around the city!

Another perk of being close to the city is going to see Broadway shows. There are a few ways to obtain tickets: you can go into the city to a "tkts" Booth (they have various locations in the city); you can go on an E.N.D. trip with Hofstra; or you can even enter a show's lottery, which take place a few hours before a show is set to open. You can also just buy tickets the old fashioned way. 

Here's a throwback to freshman year when my friends and I stood on the red staircase in the middle of Times Square! You can see one of the tkts booths in the background.

My favorite (and luckiest) Broadway experience was participating in the ticket lottery for the show Wicked. My friend and I woke up to get into the city by around 10 a.m. to head to the Gershwin Theater to enter the lottery. The drawing happened one hour before showtime, so after we entered we went to grab some food and coffee. When we came back, there was a large crowd of people - all of us waiting to hear if we were one of the lucky 10 to be called. The first five people were called and no luck...neither of us were called. And just when I thought there was no hope, my name was called as the eighth winner!

Upon getting my tickets, I noticed they were front row orchestra seats, and it was my first Broadway show! The ticket lottery was an experience I will never forget.

The set of Wicked!

Internship Spotlight: Cristina Vintimilla

Hi, I'm Cristina Vintimilla, a junior studying journalism in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication. This semester I'm interning in New York City for the first time, something I've dreamed of doing since my freshmen year. I'm currently a Fashion Editorial Intern at Stylight, an online fashion website.

The office is located in my favorite part of the city - Soho. The streets are filled with small, trendy boutiques and Instagram-worthy cafes. I travel into the city three times a week and take classes at Hofstra on the other days. Fashion is something I've always been interested in, and this internship has allowed me to get a closer look into the industry. A typical day at Stylight consists of a morning editorial meeting, where we discuss what topics we'll be writing about that day. Then, sometimes I'll make myself breakfast in the kitchen, typically milk and cereal, or walk straight to my desk for a day filled with writing. 

Throughout the day I write fashion shopping guides for the website, which are meant to inspire and entertain readers as they shop. My topics vary from "4 Reasons to buy a North Face vest" to "How to Style Western jackets" and "Different Types of High Heels." I'm so grateful to work with an amazing editor who helps me with my writing along the way. I receive instant feedback on my articles, which helps me learn about myself and improve the quality of my writing.

NYC office

My favorite part of this internship is our weekly Friday meetings. Stylight's headquarters are in Munich, Germany so we use Google video chat to communicate with our international colleagues. As a team, we sit on the couch and  participate in the meeting using a webcam. This is when all of the departments at Stylight including marketing, business development, engineering, public relations etc. share their thoughts for the week. I find this so interesting because I get an inside scoop on what's happening in Munich. I'm an open-minded person and learning about the different departments excites me and makes me realize how important each department is in making Stylight succeed. Getting this internship was possible due to the experiences I got as a student writer for Hofstra's online magazine, HerCampus and of course, the proximity to New York City. I plan on doing a lot more internships, and I'm excited to see what's next. As of now, I will be studying abroad in Amsterdam during the Spring 2016 semester, so I  will keep you guys updated from there!  

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.. and Pride Guides!

Looking for something fun to do? With NYC just around the corner, there’s always an adventure! This Tuesday, a few Pride Guides were lucky enough to get tickets to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Casey filled us in on their great time in the city.