Daisy's Intern Experience

My name is Daisy Hernandez, I am a Senior at Valley High School and apart of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism Program. In the summer of 2014 I was given the amazing opportunity to be a business development Intern at Vegas.com, an internship I gratefully received through my program at Valley High School. This internship gave me a real hands on experience of what it is like to work in the business industry and what kind of things I should look out for whilst heading in the direction I want to go in for my future.

Before I started my internship at Vegas.com I was absolutely terrified, all these thoughts about what kind of things I would have to do and many stereotypical ideas began to cloud my mind. For a while I began to doubt myself and my abilities thinking that I may not be good enough to have such a privilege but quite honestly I knew that no matter how much pressure I put on myself I would not back out of it, no matter what. I can honestly say joining Vegas.com was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It made such a positive impact on my life, and it gave me a sort of insight of what my future could possibly be like if only I work hard and fight for what I want to do. Even though there were many positives being there it does not mean there were not challenges that I had to face, for example, many projects I needed to do were very tedious and time consuming but the best part of all of it was that every assignment my supervisors gave me was an essential part of what they needed for their own work and knowing that they had so much trust in me helped me strive to accomplish each and every one of them to the best of my ability.

At Vegas.com I found myself performing skills that I did at Valley High School on a daily basis like listening and taking many notes on what my supervisors and sometimes our president, for example, when the president came into the office about the launch of the new Vegas.com logo and brand I took down dates, important points, and things that needed to get done. I was also very thankful when it came to public speaking and making small talk with very important people because I had just enough lessons from my Hospitality and Tourism program teachers to know what I could and could not say, it helped me make an exceptional impression to very important people. A main skill that I realized I used a lot of was my observation skills truly adapting and sinking in the look and feel of the environment around me which really helped me focus and feel more comfortable to my surroundings when I arrived I had all the knowledge necessary to apply myself to my work environment. The best thing about our company is that everyone is connected within the vegas.com emails so the ability to contact one another was strong and very simple. Although my experience there was amazing if I would have had more time I believe I would have been able to have a better and more efficient chance of finishing what I started instead of only doing it halfway through but I am grateful for what I was given and will not forget it.

The time being at Vegas.com was absolutely amazing but the best part for me was being able to actually interact and meet some of the clients that my colleagues worked with, and being able to see how they handle situations and how they try to persuade them to buy positions on their website and for some that are new to partner with them. Over the time period I was there I was able to witness many things but the most interesting situation I came across was a dispute that a client had concerning their position in the website; they began to grow very obnoxious and yet through the whole process my supervisor maintained a calm and collected impression which I found to be very impressive and inspirational. The time I spent at Vegas.com was an experience that not many people get so being there I really took advantage of it all to help me figure out who I am and who I really wanted to be and the one thing that I know I want to be is a business woman in the marketing industry no matter where I am or who is around me I will not falter from my goal and while sitting around my colleagues I vowed to myself that I would not take one standard road but a multitude of roads so that I may experience every opportunity that life has to offer.