My time at RITTA was both very extended but short lived as well. My high school, Bergen Tech, requires an internship for all seniors to go to every Wednesday during the school year. I study Digital Media in school, so I knew I wanted something in that field. I found the internship early on through Kevin Janosz, known to most as the COO, but known to me as Uncle Kevin. Nepotism was very handy, having an uncle actively working in the field I am interested in.

This made me RITTA’s first high school intern. Being at RITTA only once a week had both ups and downs for me and everyone in the office. It allowed me to work on some long-term projects, my biggest being the redesign of my dad’s company logo. Being able to do something for someone that close to me was very exciting. My internship also allowed me to learn more about the business side of advertising, which was great, knowing I land on the creative side. But it was also a little hard to organize what I did each week, whether it be remembering what I did my last time there and what I would need to do the next time I’m there. It also affected lengths of different projects – something that took a couple of days of work for me ended up taking a couple of weeks.

Everyone in the office was always so supportive of my internship, even though it was only once a week. Walking into the office would immediately inform our trafficker, Damian, of how fast the last week flew by. And even though I would get teased constantly for using Photoshop instead of Illustrator (being told I was “eating soup with a fork”), Jen would still always keep me informed on how to use Illustrator effectively. Jackie always had newspaper ads lined up every Wednesday to show me the difference between good and bad advertising. Tony always kept it light in the office, making fun of the fact that I say “Uncle Kevin” outside of the office. Taylor and I would take our responsibility as interns and make sure there’s no candy in the office at any given moment. Aside from all that, I was always given everything I needed, everyone made sure I was getting as much out of the internship as possible, and they even asked for my feedback on what they could do better. But for that question, I never had an answer, which was a huge luxury.

For my first internship, RITTA was the perfect spot. I got to see what an office utopia looked like, where everyone is friends and work always ran smoothly, even as a virtual workday. The best part about that is everyone there knows how amazing RITTA is. I’ve gotten plenty of comments along the lines of, ‘We know how great this place is. Other places – more likely than not – will not have this environment.’

Just a quick message to everyone in the office: You make it feel like home, thank you.