Live From New York: An NYU Student’s NBCU Internship Story

I had always dreamed of working at NBCU and started applying to their positions that interested me during my sophomore year. I had many virtual interviews, but nothing fell into place. During my junior year, I had three interviews for a late night opportunity I was really excited about, but ended up not being selected. At that point, I was so discouraged. I had been rejected time and time again.

However, that didn’t stop me from working towards my goal. In July of 2024, I was working a tour guide shift at NYU when I received a call from my NBCU recruiter. She told me I was offered an academic year internship in the PR department, and I was beyond thrilled! I cried tears of joy and accepted the offer the next day. My story is one of many that goes to show the right opportunities are out there for you. If you work hard and stay resilient, you will be successful in achieving them.

The NBCU internship program is awesome because it is flexible with academic responsibilities, offers hands-on entertainment experience, and teaches you valuable industry information. I love the PR team! They have put trust in me to contribute in meaningful ways and have given me immeasurable guidance. My main role as an intern is to keep track of daily press for Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. I clip print, broadcast, and digital mentions to publicists, so they have a consistent idea of people’s impressions on the shows.

Being on top of the news cycle is fun, especially since I work in entertainment. I get to read a lot of cool articles from trades like Deadline and Variety, as well as interesting outlets like Vulture and Vogue. In addition to clipping, some of my duties include building press lists for upcoming SNL hosts and informing the team about competitors’ coverage. This role keeps me on my toes, so it is necessary and exciting to get to help with anything that may arise.

One of my favorite parts of being a PR intern at NBCU is working special events. In November of last year, I got to talent escort at The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Nicole, the amazing Page on our team. The entire experience was surreal. I received my first press badge, which I geeked out about, and took a car on the company card uptown. I felt so official! Around 7:00 am, I arrived at NBCU’s home base and got to see all the balloons ready to go on W 77th Street. After we talent escorted, we watched the entire parade—it was awesome. 

The most recent event I worked was, without a doubt, the most insane experience of my life. Getting this internship offer must have been divine timing because I had the chance to see SNL’s Homecoming Concert at Radio City Music Hall and talent escort and seat fill at SNL’s 50th Anniversary Special. To prepare, I went shopping with my roommate at Macy’s for a long black dress and my first pair of heels. I was at 30 Rock most of the week leading up to SNL50 weekend and got to help in the chaos of it all, running placards to guests’ hotels, printing face sheets for press folks on the carpet, etc. The concert was unlike anything I had seen. Lady Gaga was my favorite performer, and ironically enough, I sat right behind her in Studio 8H when I seat filled during the special. Even writing about this experience months later, I am baffled and so immensely grateful it happened.

Beyond the hard and soft skills I have adopted, this internship has grounded me professionally. It has solidified my belief that life moments big and small happen when they are supposed to and that the right opportunities will find their way to you. I am confident that each experience leads to the next and that, whether or not they fulfill you, they clarify and inform your journey.

My first three internships were completely remote. I liked the work I was doing, but I loved the work I did at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and and am doing at NBCU. Ultimately, if you are persistent and open to learning, you can accomplish what you set out to do. Sometimes these sentiments are difficult to believe. As someone figuring out post-grad plans, I completely get that. However, trusting that you are capable and strategizing steps that look towards the future is the perfect place to start.