Today was the first day of many over the course of these next four weeks. It was nerve-racking, exciting, and a reality check all in one.

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Today was my first day as a Product Management intern at HaveYouHeard, an influencer marketing agency based in Cape Town, South Africa. As a “newbie” on the job, I was welcomed with open arms by Co-Founder Jason Stewart and the rest of his vibrant team, quickly easing me into comfort alongside my iX peers.

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Jonathan Louie at his internship at HaveYouHeard, Cape Town

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After running through the details of our tasked project, the other PM interns and I went right to work, utilizing the big collaborative space to map out our objectives and a plan of action. I’m going to be honest in saying that we struggled at first, as questions piled up in a cluttered Google doc.Upon touring the office, I came to notice the unique balance of fun and professionalism, as the floors were lined with enormous bean bag chairs, filled with marketers and advertisers plugging away at their laptops. Needless to say, everyone was approachable and was thrilled to have us there.

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We nervously asked Jason, our manager, for some guidance, knowing that as the head of operations, his plate was already full before we arrived. However, he graciously and eagerly answered our queries, communicating his vision for the project and promising more clarification going forward.

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HaveYouHeard Offices, Cape Town

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Now with a better understanding, we interns moved along with the project in an efficient manner, divying ourselves up into groups of 2 and 3 to tackle the tasks at hand. The ten of us, along with our class TA, capped off the first day with a quick bite at a local café, discussing our enthusiasm and ambition to working on a challenging project at a fantastic company for the upcoming weeks. One day down, eleven to go.