Melissa Amasse completed a 3 month Marketing Assistant internship with our Masterclass team. You'll recognise Melissa as the face of our socials over the last few months, and the person taking your photo at our recent events! On Melissa's last day we caught up with them about their time at Masterclass!

What did my Marketing Internship Include?

My marketing internship included a wide variety of things: taking pictures and videos at Masterclasses and events to use later for promotion; taking interview videos with important theatre industry members; making and producing countless social media posts for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok; learning all the different image and design sizes for different social media apps; looking at social media analytics and recording all Masterclass achievements; making, editing and proof reading Masterclass emails; using the back end of the website to upload Ticket Offers, blogs and other relevant information; making use of apps such as Bitly and Mailchimp; using myself and my face to create promotional videos for Masterclass; expanding all my knowledge on social media and marketing. But above all, I made real relationships with my colleagues which allowed me to feel comfortable and confident whist learning, which resulted in the best possible outcome I had imagined for this Internship. I cannot thank the Masterclass team enough for aiding me through this internship and allowing me to succeed and progress in my chosen field.

What was my biggest challenge during my internship and how did I overcome it?

The biggest thing I struggled with throughout my internship was my memory. As I was completing a lot of online, manual tasks with some tricky steps, I would forget exactly how I had just done something, making it difficult for me to get on with my work when asked to repeat the task again. I decided to bring a notebook into work, and began writing step-by-step points on how to do certain things, website names and any other guides to help myself. On top of this, I began writing down all the tasks I was completing daily, to remind myself how much I was doing per day and how to fit more things in.

What skills have I developed during my internship?

I have officially become a pro at multitasking quickly and efficiently, which means I can complete work in half the time now. A bonus! From watching all my colleagues interact, and seeing how I was treated, I learnt the meaning of what teamwork really is, and how smoothly and easily a system or organisation can run when there is real collaboration involved.

What do I hope to do next?

Although before completing this internship I was barely aware of how massive and amazing the theatre industry is, Masterclass made it so I had the opportunity to experience a venture I hadn’t set foot in before. I had a few stigmas about theatre growing up, due to coming from an area where theatre opportunities were barely accessible, and it was something I never thought in a million years I would get into, or could. However, during my internship, I attended Masterclasses, I watched and heard actors and writers perform scripts, I woke up to the realities of the immense world of creatives, and most importantly, I took it upon myself to attend many theatre productions, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Therefore my next steps over the summer entail working in the theatre industry in any and every way that I can. I am extremely excited to see what the creative world holds for me, and to make my mark on this industry in the future would be the end goal. I doubt I’ll find a venue as mesmerising and captivating as Theatre Royal Haymarket, but I’m extremely excited to see what is waiting for me out there.

What advice would I give to young people looking to work in marketing within the Theatre Industry?

My advice to a young person looking to work in Marketing in Theatre is simply, go for it. Marketing is becoming one of the biggest industries in the world, and especially if you like theatre, mixing a passion and skill will serve you wonderfully. Innovative ideas, new styles and captivating posts will enable success in this industry. I would definitely recommend getting internships, placements and doing volunteering to get the best possible hands-on experiences, and the chance to work with smaller teams to concentrate your learning. Theatre is continuously growing, and everyone in this day and age has a need to market their work and get it out there to be seen.

What was my favourite part of the Internship?

My favourite part of the internship was definitely working with the team, getting to know them and the building of our professional and general relationships. I am sure that if the Masterclass team were not as amazing and compassionate as they are, I wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did and wouldn’t have learnt and experienced as much as I did. I looked forward to going into work every time I had to because of who I was working with, which put me in the best position to work to the best of my abilities. I owe everyone in the Masterclass team the biggest thank you for treating me so well and enabling me to get the very most out of my internship. However, I cannot even begin to explain how attentive, patient, and supportive, Rosie, Head of Marketing, was towards me for the duration of the whole 3 months. She made me feel useful, smart, and made me want to succeed and bring my all to work every week, and it was an honour to work with such a talented and humane individual so closely. I have learnt so many skills that will aid my marketing career in the future and which set me up nicely for future Internships. Skills including Adobe, Office applications, photography, editing and making content videos, and tonnes of social media skills. This is way more than I would ever have imagined and I will be forever grateful for the time and energy used to teach me.

This marketing internship was generously supported by University of East London.