Post Internship as a 2024 intern:
Some hopes that I have is to lock in a good internship that has to do with something I personally enjoy such as films, music, and fashion. I also hope to do good on my IPOL ahead of time and overall pass on my internship. Somethings that I am really scared of is not being able to learn much or adapt on any skills during internship or having my mentor yell at me for not being able to do much right. Overall I know that I am going to push myself to be the best intern I can be.
Day 1 Internship Overall:
Unfortunately for the official first day of internship for the 11th grade, I couldn't lock in an internship site to go to for today, but I am hopeful for one of the internships to accept me as an intern as soon as possible. Right now I have 2 options that I am much hopeful for which is Humble Heart OB and Sew Loka. Humble Heart is a music venue in Ocean Beach that is also a thrift store, almost every day of the week there are planned events and shows that you can go to, it is quite beautiful and it is also a small studio for local bands in San Diego to practice in, I always wanted to work for Humble Heart because the community there seems very refreshing and I get to hear day time shows that play in the venue along with help organize vintage clothes. Sew Loka is a fashion Designer place in Barrio Logan, I've heard many good things about the person working there, Claudia. Apparently she makes really cool vintage and any styled clothing just out of fabric scraps and old clothing, she has opened up cool shops for famous brands like Nike. Sew Loka seems like the intern that I have a higher chance getting into because they always had interns throughout the years, I hope this is my year.
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Updated: Throughout this day, I got in contact with Humble Heart, Apparently she is super interested in me interning for their business, I start tomorrow at 11 and I am super excited.
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My First Day of Internship
Today was my first day of internship. It felt like a fast day, despite not much people coming into the store. Unfortunately my mentor comes at 11:00 so that only meant that I ended my intern shift around 6. For the whole day all I did was plan events for the live shows coming in the venue, make band posters for the bands playing, help organize the events and helped create the information of the upcoming events on the official humble heart website and create the presale tickets. Although it might seem like a big responsibility, I enjoyed making flyers because I have a huge admiration for photoshopping and creating zines for the Battle Of The Bands events and also heard feedback from the flyer printer of humble heart and some members from the different bands. Other than dealing with the events, I was also a cashier and also helped around with upkeep in the thrift store and helped a lot with the website and spreading information on social media. Everyone seemed really friendly whenever they stepped foot into the store, I made a few small talks with a lot of the customers.
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Week 2:
During week 2, I realized that I had a lot of development and improvement both as a person and as an intern. For instance, I had gotten way better with socializing and interacting with people around me due to the requirements of customer service during my internship hours .It has helped me a lot with socializing as well as build a community around myself with connections I built with customers and staffs that work at Humble Heart and even people who are in the local music scene .I also built a better connection with my mentor as well, I learned more about her interests as well as the day in life working at Humble Heart and dealing with the environment surrounding her.
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Week 3:
Interview transcript
Jamie: Hi my name is Jamie Toliver and I am currently a Junior at High Tech High Media Arts and I am currently interning at Humble Heart Music & Thrift, here in Ocean Beach, San Diego California, where I will be interviewing my mentor, Christina Riley.
Jamie: What did you want to be growing up?
Christina: Honestly when I was younger I wanted to be a chiropractor for quite a while, but later in life, I definitely wanted to be something having to do with music.
Jamie: And, What sparked that?
Christina: I've always loved music and been very passionate about it.
Jamie: What played the biggest role in you choosing your profession today?
Christina: I would say, I kind of fell into the thrift store business because my family started the thrift store but we incorporated music and selling musical instruments and stuff later on because that's always been a passion of mine and then we started doing live music and started a music school as well.
Jamie: Tell me more about yourself as a person
Christina: Well I was born and raised here in San Diego, I went to Rancho Bueno Vista High School up in Vista and I was a total band geek, I loved band and I was very passionate about it. I played the clarinet and the bass clarinet and after high school, I actually had kids pretty young and was a mom for years, and still am. I also did real estate for quite a few years before opening up a thrift store in Poway and I opened up my own store, kind of joined the family business, but opened my own store in 2018 and then in 2021, we moved to Ocean Beach and that's when I knew it would be a good spot to sell musical instruments and guitar strings and that kind of thing and then soon after we opened, I just knew it'd be a great place to do live music and one day, we kind of fell into a show one might and went from there, there was just a big need for an all age venue, so we started booking bands from all over the place and now it's just become a thing and we have shows like three to four times a week
Jamie: Do you have any hobbies?
Christina: Yes! Music, of course, and I love to play piano and I am learning ukulele and guitar and then of course, I just love hanging out with my family and hiking and being outside and at the beach or some of my favorite things.
Jamie: What's your biggest future goal?
Christina: My biggest goal for the future would definitely be to open several different locations that offer live music in the evening and you know, music store and music lessons during the day and to just keep involved in the local music scene and encourage young bands and young musicians to keep doing what they do.
Jamie: What do you like most about your work?
Christina: I love working with different musicians and just hearing people's raw talent and creativity and then I also love working with kids and teaching music.
Jamie: What is the most challenging about your job?
Christina: Probably time management and just juggling everything between the store during the day and the lessons and then music venue at night, I would just say time management and juggling everything.
Jamie: It is chaotic, especially places like here in OB. Do you feel successful?
Christina: I wouldn't like, tell people that I'm successful but I do feel like we're doing something great and just opening up different avenues for young bands and musicians, so when I think about it that way, yes! I do feel successful.
Jamie: I do believe it is a good place to be at. What regrets do you have or what would you have changed going into this?
Christina: I probably would have started the music side of the store a lot earlier than I did cause it's been pretty recent, we've been doing the music for about a year and a half now, so I would definitely would have started that years ago.
Jamie: How did you transition from selling instruments to going into live music?
Christina: Well, It's kind of a funny story. I always knew it would be a great place for music because where we were located and the sounds of my daughters playing music when they were jamming out every once in a while, went into the street and people were always looking and peaking in wondering what was going on and where the music was coming from, so I always kind of knew I wanted to do live music but we inherited our first show because, One time, I was cleaning the store down one night and I was going down a few doors to an old venue called the Rassell House because there was some live music happening there and my oldest daughter was there and so I was going over to catch the last band and I guess someone called the cops for a noise complaint or something which so the show got shut down and I happen to be talking to the bass player's girlfriend and told them that we had a little PA system and a drumkit over at our place and if they wanted to continue the show at our place they could, so they did and a bunch of people started heading over and about a week later, I got a message from Trevor from Fieldrush that they wanted to do another show with three other bands so we just figured out how to make the band some money and make us some money and then I was getting messages like every single day on Instagram, from different bands, asking if they could play at our place, so we knew, we definitely had to get our permits and all of that kind of thing, to make it legit because I would hate to want to have a show and I traveled far to make this show happen, just for it to get shut down, so I'd say, about six months later, we got all of our permits and everything to do live entertainment and its been a success ever since and we do three to four shows a week and sometimes more and sometimes less, but usually about three shows a week.
Jamie: If I were to pursue a career in your profession or if anyone were to, what advice would you give?
Christina: I would say definitely do it because you love it and you find joy doing it ,not for the money because some days we don't make a whole lot of money but you know, it helps to enjoy your job and enjoy your profession and be passionate about it.
Jamie: What about life advice?
Christina: If you have a passion for something, go for it, don't ever settle for less just do something that you know for sure is going to make you happy and even like I said earlier, if you're not making a ton of money, at least you won't be miserable doing the job you wanted to do every single day because you would have to work for a long time before you can even retire, so definitely pick a path or career that makes you happy and brings you joy.
Jamie: What did you want to be growing up?
Christina: Honestly when I was younger I wanted to be a chiropractor for quite a while, but later in life, I definitely wanted to be something having to do with music.
Jamie: And, What sparked that?
Christina: I've always loved music and been very passionate about it.
Jamie: What played the biggest role in you choosing your profession today?
Christina: I would say, I kind of fell into the thrift store business because my family started the thrift store but we incorporated music and selling musical instruments and stuff later on because that's always been a passion of mine and then we started doing live music and started a music school as well.
Jamie: Tell me more about yourself as a person
Christina: Well I was born and raised here in San Diego, I went to Rancho Bueno Vista High School up in Vista and I was a total band geek, I loved band and I was very passionate about it. I played the clarinet and the bass clarinet and after high school, I actually had kids pretty young and was a mom for years, and still am. I also did real estate for quite a few years before opening up a thrift store in Poway and I opened up my own store, kind of joined the family business, but opened my own store in 2018 and then in 2021, we moved to Ocean Beach and that's when I knew it would be a good spot to sell musical instruments and guitar strings and that kind of thing and then soon after we opened, I just knew it'd be a great place to do live music and one day, we kind of fell into a show one might and went from there, there was just a big need for an all age venue, so we started booking bands from all over the place and now it's just become a thing and we have shows like three to four times a week
Jamie: Do you have any hobbies?
Christina: Yes! Music, of course, and I love to play piano and I am learning ukulele and guitar and then of course, I just love hanging out with my family and hiking and being outside and at the beach or some of my favorite things.
Jamie: What's your biggest future goal?
Christina: My biggest goal for the future would definitely be to open several different locations that offer live music in the evening and you know, music store and music lessons during the day and to just keep involved in the local music scene and encourage young bands and young musicians to keep doing what they do.
Jamie: What do you like most about your work?
Christina: I love working with different musicians and just hearing people's raw talent and creativity and then I also love working with kids and teaching music.
Jamie: What is the most challenging about your job?
Christina: Probably time management and just juggling everything between the store during the day and the lessons and then music venue at night, I would just say time management and juggling everything.
Jamie: It is chaotic, especially places like here in OB. Do you feel successful?
Christina: I wouldn't like, tell people that I'm successful but I do feel like we're doing something great and just opening up different avenues for young bands and musicians, so when I think about it that way, yes! I do feel successful.
Jamie: I do believe it is a good place to be at. What regrets do you have or what would you have changed going into this?
Christina: I probably would have started the music side of the store a lot earlier than I did cause it's been pretty recent, we've been doing the music for about a year and a half now, so I would definitely would have started that years ago.
Jamie: How did you transition from selling instruments to going into live music?
Christina: Well, It's kind of a funny story. I always knew it would be a great place for music because where we were located and the sounds of my daughters playing music when they were jamming out every once in a while, went into the street and people were always looking and peaking in wondering what was going on and where the music was coming from, so I always kind of knew I wanted to do live music but we inherited our first show because, One time, I was cleaning the store down one night and I was going down a few doors to an old venue called the Rassell House because there was some live music happening there and my oldest daughter was there and so I was going over to catch the last band and I guess someone called the cops for a noise complaint or something which so the show got shut down and I happen to be talking to the bass player's girlfriend and told them that we had a little PA system and a drumkit over at our place and if they wanted to continue the show at our place they could, so they did and a bunch of people started heading over and about a week later, I got a message from Trevor from Fieldrush that they wanted to do another show with three other bands so we just figured out how to make the band some money and make us some money and then I was getting messages like every single day on Instagram, from different bands, asking if they could play at our place, so we knew, we definitely had to get our permits and all of that kind of thing, to make it legit because I would hate to want to have a show and I traveled far to make this show happen, just for it to get shut down, so I'd say, about six months later, we got all of our permits and everything to do live entertainment and its been a success ever since and we do three to four shows a week and sometimes more and sometimes less, but usually about three shows a week.
Jamie: If I were to pursue a career in your profession or if anyone were to, what advice would you give?
Christina: I would say definitely do it because you love it and you find joy doing it ,not for the money because some days we don't make a whole lot of money but you know, it helps to enjoy your job and enjoy your profession and be passionate about it.
Jamie: What about life advice?
Christina: If you have a passion for something, go for it, don't ever settle for less just do something that you know for sure is going to make you happy and even like I said earlier, if you're not making a ton of money, at least you won't be miserable doing the job you wanted to do every single day because you would have to work for a long time before you can even retire, so definitely pick a path or career that makes you happy and brings you joy.
Week 4:
I plan on helping out in the site once internship is over, I got a hold of my mentor's contact information and she stated that she would love for me to help her with flyers and decorating.
Advice that I would give to the future juniors during this internship program is to treat this internship opportunity like an actual paying job . transition into the professional setting, and to always check your emails.
Advice that I would give to the future juniors during this internship program is to treat this internship opportunity like an actual paying job . transition into the professional setting, and to always check your emails.
Last Week !!!
I am very grateful that I had this opportunity to be able to adapt and have a feel of a work space outside of school. It helped me a lot improve skills that needed areas of improvement. Internship has helped me be more motivated, helped me socially, and helped me more with my managing skills, like time management and my overall organization. I thank my mentor for helping me out with this project. I was lucky to have an open-minded and kind-hearted mentor like mine. She helped me a lot adapt to a different environment that I an not so used to and I an very appreciative of if.