Interview with the 2020 Summer Interns

We sat down with Heather Kipniss and Daniela Kolkebeck, our Sales and Marketing Interns at Logo Brands this summer, to learn more about their internship experiences.

Heather is an incoming senior at the University of Tampa and hails from Alpharetta, GA. She is a Sports Management major with a minor in Exercise Science and is the captain of the Women’s golf team at UT. Heather is one of the top female student athletes and her team has ranked top 5 in the nation the past two years.

Dani is also an incoming senior at the University of Notre Dame and hails from San Antonio, TX. She is a Marketing major and Collaborative Innovation minor pursuing the International Business Certificate. This past spring, she studied abroad in Puebla, Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.

What do you do as an intern at Logo Brands?

Heather: As the Licensing, Sales, and Marketing intern, I do a little bit of everything. One of my main roles is to pull information from the company’s internal database to create proposals for exclusive agreements with schools using Excel and other templates. I also serve as the point of contact for many licensing directors and bridging our resources with their marketing initiatives to execute different tailgate promotions and campaigns. I have monitored the Logo Brands social media platforms and pushed to boost our media presence. I also work closely with the Sales Team to keep everyone up to date on the University's licensing approvals, help input orders, and step-in whenever they may need help. Throughout my internship, I have been given the opportunity to dip my toes in many different departments of Logo Brands and every day seems to bring on something new and exciting.

Dani: As a Marketing intern at Logo Brands, I’ve gotten the opportunity to work in a few different areas at Logo. I’ve gotten to develop real world projects that directly impact consumer marketing and continue to enhance our brand recognition, from the Big Orange Ticket concept in conjunction with Academy and University of Tennessee to a putting together a 4th of July line of products to uploading products to Follett and Barnes and Noble to creating mask and product mockups. The whole time, I was able to see the fruits of my labor with the resulting hundreds of thousands dollars in product sales (which was SO crazy). A lot of what I’m doing is producing graphic and informational output, like product mockups and flyers for Logo Brands and Logo Med, using Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Microsoft Excel.

What is your favorite part about working at Logo Brands?

Heather: My favorite part about Logo is how much they have allowed me to do. This has been the farthest thing from just “getting the boss their coffee” kind of an internship. From week one, Logo has allowed me to dive-in completely on some big opportunities and given me the reins on several projects. Comparing this experience to those of my peers, I have never heard anything even near to the hands-on experience that I have had at Logo. Getting this kind of experience is far more than any college student could ask for and it has let me exponentially increase my skills that I have only been able to scratch the surface on in the classroom setting. 

Dani: My favorite part of working at Logo Brands is the collaborative setting and the never ending learning curve. I personally enjoy bouncing ideas off of the people around me, so I loved our weekly conference meetings, monthly donut meetings, and just being able to feel comfortable enough with my coworkers to reach out to them for help or just to catch up. I’ve truly felt like family here! I also appreciate going into each week learning something new - be it new Logo terminology, how to work SAP, setting up deliveries in the warehouse, utilizing new Excel docs for image transfers, etc. Never a dull moment at Logo Brands!

What all have you learned this summer at Logo Brands?

Heather: That is a LOADED question. So much! I have learned that the real world ain’t so bad!! I have learned that it is possible to find work that doesn’t feel too much like work. I love to learn and at Logo I can honestly say that I have learned something new every single day.  I have learned so many things about business and operations that I have always wanted to dive into. Like how the word “Sales” used to make me squirm, but it does not mean cold-calling people all day. Silly me! Most importantly, I have learned a lot about myself throughout this internship and I have gained confidence in areas that I would normally steer away from. I have gone outside of my comfort zone and been able to capitalize on many situations because of that.

Dani: This summer I got my first ever experience with SAP, FileZilla, Adobe, InDesign, and Asana - which was so useful day-to-day. I also am able to take away so many life skills from this experience: from time management skills to people skills to creative skills and more.

What surprised you most about working at Logo Brands?

Heather: I was very surprised, and sometimes shocked, by the opportunities I was included in. One of the greatest aspects of this internship was that I was trusted to take on a wide variety of different tasks and duties. I was also surprised with how respected I was as “just the intern.” My supervisor, the executives, and all of my coworkers, were nothing short of outstanding when it came to how they treated the interns. They spoke to us like we were actual employees of the organization, listening to our suggestions rather than ignore the college students with little experience. We were always encouraged to “Don’t Hold Back” even as interns.

Dani: Probably how I was immediately so welcomed and respected, despite still being in college. From the beginning, I felt like I was part of a team where everyone treats me like an equal - not an intern. Heather and I were even allowed in on executive meetings week two! But the most surprising part of working at Logo Brands was definitely how I got to model in three different campaign shoots, with pictures used on their website, alternate websites like Groupon, and on our social media as well - which was so much fun and so unexpected.

What's been the hardest part of your internship?

Heather: The hardest part has been trying to juggle all of the different areas that I have been involved in. I am the kind of person that will not stop until the work is done. So, I sometimes struggle trying to leave my work at work, so to speak, when I know there are still things on my to-do list. This also keeps me on my toes because I know there will never be a dull moment when I am in the office, which I love! 

Dani: I know I also mentioned this was my favorite part haha but the hardest part has been the learning curve as well. Learning new concepts and tasks each week has kept me constantly on my toes, but I love the challenge.

What will you miss the most about Nashville?

Heather: I will miss getting to live with my sister here in Nashville. This has been a blast!  I will miss the everyday atmosphere at Logo and the culture in the office. I have never seen such a hardworking group of individuals that work just as hard to serve their customers in the best way possible and care so much about what they do. Logo Brands is different; the GOOD kind of different, in so many ways. I will also miss the second best intern, Dani, and all of the other homies that I have made in the office. It has been one heck of a summer and I just might have to come back for more after I finish up this college thing!

Dani: The people and the food! Southern hospitality is real and I’ve definitely gotten to experience that with my coworkers at Logo, which made my summer move across the country so much more enjoyable. OH and the food here is unreal - hot chicken, tacos, donuts, barbeque - you name it. Also I will definitely miss all of the Southern accents.

Do you have any advice for future interns?

Heather: Be open to anything that might be thrown at you. At Logo, it is more about your work ethic than what your past experience might be. If you are willing to grind it out then you will succeed. Personally, when I came to the University of Tampa, and decided to be a Sports Management major, all I knew was that I wanted to work in sports. I had no idea in what capacity, where or who it would be for, I just knew I wanted to be somewhere. Being open to the fact that Logo wasn’t a traditional sports industry position, landing here for the summer has been an absolute blessing. Until this summer with Logo, it never crossed my mind to consider the sales and business side of a sports influenced organization. Being on this side has made me realize how much I enjoy building relationships with people and having meaningful interactions with schools, clients, and athletic departments. So future interns, just be open-minded, LISTEN, take notes, and work hard!!  Oh, and more importantly go to Dunkin’ at least 3 times a week, find yourself a good Happy Hour near the office, and if you want to take up golf.. good luck :)

Dani: Learn from me and don’t show up day 1 in a blazer lol. Business casual to casual is more the Logo Brands style. Get weekly dates with the other intern(s) to catch up! #friendterns Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions - there is so much to learn in so little time so capitalize on that where you can. Be sure to swing by Maggie’s candy dispenser at least once a day (a must). Don’t be afraid to tell someone what you’re interested in - even if it’s not what you’re interning for - and they will help you get the most out of your experience. Sit in on executive meetings wherever possible, it’s such an awesome opportunity that we’re even able to go to these as interns so definitely take advantage of it!


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