Our Intern Experience at SOPHIE COMPANY
What is it like to work at SOPHIE COMPANY?
Hear about the experience firsthand from our interns–Quinne, Eugene, Juyeong and Min Gyu–who spent the past three months interning for the bySophie team.
Photographer: Lena
What did you learn while working at SOPHIE COMPANY?
Eugene: The biggest thing that I’ve learned during the internship at Sophie Company is how to manage myself. I assured myself that I can find what I have to do by myself and manage my time well. However, at first, there was no firm work that we had to do everyday, so I got confused about how to manage my time during the work hours and I did not know what I had to do. But as time has gone by, I could learn how to manage my time better and what I have to do when I do not have any work that was ordered by the manager. Moreover, I learned the importance of SNS impact one more time. Since I already know how social media impacts on marketing and promotion for increasing the profit and the engagement of the customers. Approaching more customers and gathering new potential customers is important to become a bigger company and sustain it.
Quinne: I learned so much during this internship, from technical to communication to interpersonal skills. One of my biggest takeaways is that details matter. I realized that when you’re actually creating things for other companies and content for the public to see, you need to be extremely mindful of small details! Whether it’s properly stylizing a company’s name or tweaking the wording of a caption, there are so many tiny things that need to be taken into consideration. All these details eventually come together and really make the difference between high- and low-quality results. I think SOPHIE COMPANY is particularly good at paying attention to the little things, which is why I developed a habit of doing so too.
How was the internship similar to your classes at school?
Min Gyu: The biggest thing I’ve felt throughout this internship is that there is not much of a difference between school and work. I’m not saying that the work was easy, but the things that I’ve done at school are actually being used at work as well. The reason I’m saying this is because I have been worried that I couldn’t be a good fit for the company and that the skills I learned from school might not be enough for working. Moreover, what I’ve learned from this internship is that since I’m interested in the marketing area, it was the best choice I could’ve made because I was just exposed to the world of marketing throughout the whole internship itself. I was able to learn the whole marketing process for various brands, and how the total planning for certain companies could be different even though those companies specialize in the same area.
Juyeong: There were a lot of similarities between the internship and class. As I am majoring in the fashion business, I had plenty of assignments and team projects analyzing a company, competitors, promotion plan, trend, and so on. During the internship, I noticed that I could adapt the knowledge and skills to the real world. Even though it was not the same format as the project, I had to be aware of how competitors are doing and what is on-trend in the current market to maximize our customer satisfaction. There were a lot of marketing terms that were familiar to me as well. I felt proud that I could understand the meaning of QC (quality check). Therefore, I realized that we learn a lot of things that are actually used in the real field at school.
What was the most enjoyable part of the internship?
Quinne: I had a lot of fun getting to plan marketing campaigns! I’m really interested in marketing and making campaign proposals is always my favorite part of class projects, so it was so much fun to get to do it in real life. I also took pictures for Instagram, so I got to explore the area of product photography as well. I used to do a lot of portrait and fashion photography, so it was interesting to see all the different considerations that need to be taken into account when shooting products instead of people. Additionally, I really enjoyed planning out the magazine for the monthly boxes. I got to help out with the June box magazines. Writing the copy, translating information, and thinking of the descriptions for all the different products was both challenging and fun. It was also really great to be able to work closely with other staff, especially Creative Coordinator Lena! She taught me a lot about editing photos, writing captions, and planning the Instagram feeds.
Min Gyu: The most interesting or fun thing during the internship was how Sophie gave me an opportunity to direct a whole short promotional video for the monthly boxes. I was worried at first about how I could complete this on a professional level, but through the help of the other team members at work, I was able to complete it successfully. One of the videos I have created with Eugene was the Green Energy Box Promotion Video. As the concept was green energy, I wanted to highlight that part the most in the video as well. So, I looked around the office and found that actually, our office is full of plants and that's where I got the idea: to shoot the first scene of the video as if I’m receiving the box from the plants. As I got the first idea, the rest of the scenes were just easy to think of, and eventually I was able to shoot the video right the next day. As I was most familiar with Instagram’s filters, Eugene and I used them for the whole video. Right after the shooting, I was able to edit the video in just a couple of hours, and the video was successfully completed.
What are you most proud of accomplishing at SOPHIE COMPANY? Any favorite piece of work you’ve done?
Juyeong: I am proud of being able to comprehend the overall progress of marketing since SOPHIE COMPANY links brands to consumers. Since I don’t do any SNS, this type of marketing was pretty new to me and I underestimated it unconsciously at some point. I realized that there is a lot of work needed for one post, taking pictures and creating captions. Also, I had to keep engaged with followers and new influencers to maintain and attract new followers. Now, I know that SNS marketing is a necessary and effective method to promote a product, company and even person as well. After the internship, I am planning to make an Instagram account.
Eugene: Shooting promotion videos for monthly boxes to influencers and directing was one of the most interesting works during the internship. Because it was the first time to direct the marketing method which is used for real customers, I was excited that what I made and shot was going to be seen by the actual customers. By doing it, I learned how to deliver the characteristics and information of the products effectively to the customers during a short time. Moreover, understanding completely the overall concept of the box was essential to direct the marketing video since we had to contain the overall mood and concept virtually inside the video to deliver to customers effectively. The other work that was my favorite was writing articles for Sophie’s blog. Even though I did not enjoy writing, writing what I wanted to say and my opinion and showing it to people was more exciting than I expected. To be specific, the fashion article was my most favorite article since I had never had an opportunity to write about my own fashion style. It is ambiguous to deliver via words what is my own fashion style and how I usually wear daily outfits. However, by writing the article, I could think more deeply about my own fashion style characteristics and my styles. And giving suggestions to people who will read my article is such a worthy experience to me since someone can refer to my styles to build their own fashion styles.
How did you like testing and writing reviews of all the different products? Any new favorite brands you discovered?
Juyeong: At first, I felt some pressure, but as I kept writing, I got great opportunities to experience eco-friendly and safe brands. I also felt like I was able to gain tips about how to write an article through feedback from other team members. It was a good chance to enhance my writing skills depending on the products. My favorite product I reviewed was the Everydaze Collagen Mask. It’s one of the best sheet masks I’ve ever tried. It’s really good. Since providing enough collagen to the skin became essential as I got older, it is a perfect item for me. The sheet itself is so soft and adheres well. Also, the leftover essence isn’t sticky with a light finish. I wrote a review on it for the blog, but I wanted to mention it again because I love it so much.
Eugene: SOPHIE COMPANY gave us an opportunity to use the actual products which were sent out to influencers. After receiving the products, I checked my skin condition after using them, and then wrote review articles. While writing those articles, I could learn more and think more deeply about the products as they are. Therefore, I think I could get a broad insight to evaluate the cosmetic products.
What’s the best thing about SOPHIE COMPANY?
Eugene: I like the familiar atmosphere of the workplace since I worried a lot about the strict mood of the office at first. A lot of domestic companies have strict hierarchy systems among employees. I was assured that it would never happen here, but at first, I worried a lot. However, the atmosphere of the company is more comfortable than I thought and the best thing is that there is no regulation for clothing. There are also some companies that have a regulation for clothing which should be formal every day. The overall comfortable and familiar atmosphere makes me more easily get into the new environment.
Quinne: There are so many things I sincerely enjoyed about my internship here. The vibe in the office is relaxed yet everyone works so hard. I’m so inspired by the other four amazing women in Sophie’s team, always keeping a positive attitude even through juggling so many different jobs–and I mean so many. They do everything from coordinating with companies to creating content to sending out shipments. It’s the ultimate display of girl power! Thanks to the startup environment, I was also able to do a variety of tasks rather than one set job, and built up a lot of experience that I will continue to use in the future. I was really grateful for the amount of trust that Sophie and the other workers put in us. We weren’t just tasked with typical busywork–we were given responsibilities that required us to apply our knowledge and creativity to produce a result that was actually seen by people and could be added to our portfolios as well. I love that I could take pride in what I was doing at the company.
Any last thoughts to share?
Min Gyu: I want to talk about how free the company’s overall atmosphere was. It didn’t feel like I’m going to work, but to a place where I could work with my friends when I had projects from school. Thanks to this atmosphere, I was able to feel comfortable at work and didn’t feel burdened to be “the perfect guy” at work. This led me to be more creative while doing work and actually enjoy the work given to me. In fact, there were sufficient amounts of food and drinks in the office, especially we had a coffee machine, which really was a big help for me since it took about 2 hours from home to the office. Lastly, I want to thank the whole team members of the company for being so kind and always giving us thorough instructions on the works that needed to be completed.
Juyeong: Actually, I am going to be an official intern after graduation since I love the company and colleagues. As all of the other interns already mentioned how amazing the company and people are, I want to point out the brands working with Sophie company. During the internship, I had to review many products from diverse brands so I worried about what if the product is not good enough to promote. However, I was surprised that all of the products are mild as well as efficient and it increased the reliability of Sophie company. I am so excited to experience other brands during the internship. One thing that makes me sad is there are only two of us who will work since two of the team members are going to New York. I already miss the internship period with the four of us working together. Yet, I will do my best to fill the void and look forward to being a member of the company!
