I’ve been living in LA for three years and still haven’t gotten around to seeing as much of California as I’d like to. I’ve been to San Francisco a couple times, but I never drove south of Long Beach until I started commuting to Oceanside for this internship.

Mike has been coming up to LA with me to go to a bunch of events. A couple weeks ago we went to the Damn Am finals that were downtown at the Nike 6th and Mill facility and last weekend we drove up for the O.G. Jam, which has been one of my favourite events of the summer. It’s amazing to see the old guys still skating.

When we’re finished at an event, we find a good restaurant and enjoy……..

Today we’re off to Venice Skate Park to meet the kids and show off our decks, followed by a trip to a couple of shops. It’s sunny and hot and I’m not too sure I’ll be able to wait for the sunset rehydration hour.

Cheers!

[

I love the fact that I get to have FUN at my job. Making Graphics like this one that I used for a Halloween costume seems more like play than work.

Recently, I’ve made several Birthday Graphics that seem to hype engagement quite effectively as they intrigue ‘likes’ from Friends of the Birthday person!  It’s always nice to see kids get amped on something that you were a part of.
Ideally, this #BambooBounty Hunt will really cultivate a mass following for Bamboo Skateboards and we can continue to share the Stoke!

This weeks lesson: You don’t have to “work” a day in your life if you LOVE what you do

]]> http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2013/06/social-media-anarchy/feed/ 0 http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2013/06/skate-meets-ocean/ http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2013/06/skate-meets-ocean/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:24:45 +0000 Chelsea Ansari http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/?p=5618

This weekend I was in my happy place. I got to bring my work to my playground; the beach! Us interns ran the Bamboo Skateboards booth at the Banning Capps Surf Contest yesterday at Carlsbad State Beach. There was a good sized crowd and it was so much fun getting to watch the contest from our booth! I am pleased to say that we even were able to sell four boards! The beach is my home away from home so this weekend, I was able to bring my workplace to my playground. What a happy Sunday!

This weeks lesson: Never doubt the power of free stuff — Free does not mean worthless!

Side note: Today, I was offered a management position at the Oakley store that I currently work at and I just can’t pass it up! My plan was to move out to California after I graduate but that might have to be on hold for the time being.  I believe this opportunity will help me go farther in the company.  You have to start at the bottom to get to the top and that is exactly what I’m doing. I’m young; I have a long life ahead of me to move out West and see the world.

Bamboo mail update: still waiting patiently for my longboard, deck and stickers.  Hoping this next week they will be under my feet!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas A. Edison

-Bri.

This week I took Bamboo Skateboards to the Mumford and Sons concert in Chula Vista, California. I brought several different decks as well as a demo board and posted them up in the parking lot amongst all the tailgaters! We got so much great feedback on the boards and the crowd loved all of our graphics we used. Taking the boards to the concert was a great way to share and spread the word about Bamboo Skateboards and what they represent. I look forward to bringing boards to more events I’m going to this summer!

X

Chelsea

Basically, the OSF teaches kids the high school curriculum—math, science, english, social studies—with skateboards. Yeah, skateboards. Designed by teacher, Craig Morrison, the school uses skateboards as a springboard for teaching. His students learn things like manufacturing and marketing by making, designing, and selling skateboards.

Mr. Morrison uses Bamboo Skateboards to help create a one-month cross curricular unit about sustainability. The students learn about issues surrounding business and sustainability, and use design to communicate their learning by creating graphic art on the decks. Recently, some of these were on display in an art gallery.

I actually first heard about Bamboo Skateboards a few months ago when I came across this video of Mr. Morrison talking about his program. There are a few things here that I think are relevant to marketing.

First, note the number of times Mr. Morrison uses the word “engage.” He constantly talks about how skateboards help to engage the students in their learning, which motivates them to find success in school.

The word “engage” is the trendy marketing term. We try to engage our fans, audiences, and customers in our marketing endeavors. When I heard Mr. Morrison talking about engaging students, it really made me realize that teachers are perhaps the most overlooked marketing resource out there. While marketers have been engaging audiences for five years, good teachers have been creating lesson plans that engage their students for decades! If you can get a kid to want to learn math, you can sell anything!

The second interesting point is about business and education. Bamboo Skateboards helps the OSF and other schools with its Sustainability Through Art (STA) program. Schools like the OSF benefit from the STA with a fun and engaging teaching opportunity while Bamboo Skateboards extends its brand awareness.

The integration of Bamboo Skateboards into the school is a really great example of businesses adding value to education. And yet it somehow seems wrong or unethical to have a corporate presence in the classroom.

But with reduced funding for schools and a greater need for a highly skilled workforce, I think that we need to start looking for ways that the private sector can help educators. Perhaps now is the time for a new mutually beneficial “educational marketing” that adds relevant and real world content to the school curriculum, motivates young people, and improves academic success while providing brand exposure for businesses.

The indoor skatepark on 6th and Mill is in an amazing area of the city. The design of the warehouse mimics the surrounding architecture and the ‘distressed’ features of the interior reflect many of the popular local skate spots. If you haven’t experienced this side of LA, do it soon. It’s very easy to discount the factories and warehouses in the area as nothing more than a blur of bricks, but if you really pay attention, there’s so much beauty to be found in the decay of industrial Los Angeles.

A

This weeks life lesson: Never miss a sunset or a rainbow because you’re looking down.

Heavy machinery improves the efficiency of carrying large quantities of goods, like skate decks and hardware at this warehouse that I visited today. Thanks to Frank at Starnet for letting me play with his forklift.

Efficiency permeates all aspects of business. Note how this burrito restaurant has replaced a human being with a mechanical sign waving mannequin. The photo just doesn’t capture the perfect form and endurance. Impressive!

The Clash at Clairemont is tomorrow and I am so excited to get out and see so many pro skaters that I grew up watching. I have always looked up to many of these people and to get the chance to meet them will be an incredible experience!.

I can’t believe it has been 1 month already into this internship! This week I decided that I needed to take a break from life.  I’ve been pretty stressed out since I graduate in 2 weeks and have no idea what is next.  I decided that I’m just going to drop everything and take time to relax, have fun, and not have a care in the world so I took myself to the local wakeboarding cable park.  I have not been there since opening day so it was so nice to be back on my board again.  After I was finished with my sesh. I then went to visit the skate park down the road.  It was so funny! There were about 6ish skaters there and when I got out of my car they all just froze like I was a shoebie or something coming into their territory.  I started talking to them about Bamboo and then they started to come around.  The first thing they asked for were stickers, sadly I’m still waiting on those to be shipped to me.  It was really cool though just talking with them and telling them about the company, they were really interested in the products!

Side note: I’m missing Clash at Clairemont this weekend and I missed the Showroom Grand Opening last night…super bummed about this stuff, and of course being stuck in Ohio at the moment, but I’m hoping to make it to an event soon.

-Bri.

7:45 pm: People have started to arrive!!! time to mingle and have fun…..

9:1576:; uhewiLAfeuiagh I LOVE YOU ghaiophoeifjofraiueghpifhenp ……………………..night……………

For the last seven days, I have had the chance to visit  Costa Rica and share about Bamboo Skateboards with the locals! Being here has made me realize how precious our earth is and how we need to continue to take care of it.  Everyone I have talked to loves what Bamboo Skateboards does for the environment and loves the look of the blank bamboo decks.  It has been hard to get work done because of the lack of WiFi and the heat here seems to fry anything electronic. However, I am so thankful for the chance to experience the natural beauty that surrounds Costa Rica!

There are some good events to look forward to in the next couple weeks. This Saturday is Clash at Clairemont and next weekend is the O.G. Jam Series. Both will be good opportunities to have some fun, promote Bamboo, and hopefully meet some cool people.

I’ll post again when it’s all over with some sweet photos of both events! Here’s one from yesterday to tide you over:

-Bri.

Back in Oceanside, it’s hard to stay away from the beach when it’s always in sight. Hopefully I will get a longboard soon and finally learn to surf, but until then I’ve been enjoying the perfect California summer just laying out in the sun. The view certainly never gets old:

Three tips for our next visit:

1. Kids love stickers. The bigger stickers provide more value and make it easer to write the offer and promo code on the back.
2. Bring decks. We left ours in a last-minute vehicular change. You really want to show the kids the decks and graphics. Think tactile product engagement, Apple Store style.
3. Always carry a spare tire. We had a blowout on the I5 and thankfully Kelly had a fifth wheel in the trunk.

So im finally all moved in and comfortable in my new Oceanside residence and I could not be happier. Although this internship has proven to be challenging, things are finally starting to move along a little more smoothly and all the interns have begun to get much closer. We have all already had some great experiences together and I’ve also ran into a few unexpected happenings myself.

This passed Friday I woke up around 8 am and went paddle boarding with a few friends in Laguna Beach. We ended up drifting out to a tiny little island covered in sea lions with tons of interesting caves, it was truly beautiful in all its nature! About an hour later I found myself in the ocean off the coast of San Clemente waiting for a few waves, and just when I thought everything was perfect I ran into my worst nightmare.

I saw a huge fin gliding towards me across the top of the water. Assuming it was a shark, I panicked and headed to the shore. Then, looking back I noticed 2 other fins and saw that they belonged to big beautiful dolphins. They approached me and were so close that if I tried I could reach out and touch them. It was a very humbling experience to be around such incredible animals and I cannot wait to see what this next weekend with bring!

I came across this quote somewhere in the world of Twitter and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It couldn’t be more true! While some days are tough, in general, and you think “How could this happen to me?”, you have got to look at what happened for you in order to get there.
One example is this internship. While some moments can be tough with all the new learning experiences crashing in at once, more times than not, there is no doubt that every second of it is happening for all of us to make us stronger humans after the 16 weeks!

Already, in the 2.5 weeks I have been with Bamboo Skateboards, I have learned better time management, better ways of communication, benefits of different sizes and builds of skateboards, and am gaining a stronger work ethic everyday. If this experience was happening TO me, I wouldn’t be learning anything and I would be left right where I was when I started. No, I am having way too good of a time and learning way too much for it not to be happening FOR me.

I thought I knew a fair amount about skateboard decks but, after coming to Bamboo Skateboards, I have learned that there’s a lot more that goes into a deck than I had known. There are so many sizes and each size gives a different type of ride.  I picked out a retro mini board for myself because I liked that it was small and fun to just cruise around on. However, it’s definitely easy to crash on! Some may prefer mellow and easy-to-ride long boards and others may choose a smaller deck that they can take to the skate park. Just like people, decks come in all shapes in sizes! What’s important is that you learn what type of board best fits you!

X

Chelsea

This week I feel like I’m starting to get on the right track and ‘skate’ around easier through all of the files that we deal with on a daily basis here at Bamboo. Since I am part of the marketing team, I have also gotten the opportunity to design some things to post which is always exciting when you get over 100 ‘likes’ on something that you made, which also benefits everyone else as well!  Week 2 moving on, I have also came to terms with living on Pacific Time when I’m living in Ohio…Crazy I know.

During week 2, I learned about a very important aspect in business called Lean Six Sigma. When Geoff mentioned this approach, I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. After our chat, I decided to learn more about this Six Sigmajigger he mentioned, and this is what I learned.

Lean Six Sigma:

When we talk about getting lean it is usually in regards to losing excess weight and strengthening a new body that is lighter and capable of doing more in an efficient way. The same principle applies when Lean Six Sigma methods are applied to business operations in the area of business management strategies. Simply put, this process is all about cost reduction and increased profits.

“A management approach for problem solving and process improvement based on a combination of the different tools of Six Sigma Manufacturing.”

 Lean Goals

• Lean focuses on eliminating waste from processes and increasing process speed by focusing on what customers actually consider quality, and working back from that.

Six Sigma Goals

• Six Sigma aims to eliminate process variation and make process improvements based on the customer definition of quality, and by measuring process performance and process change effects.

5s

• Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain

Anyhow, I can’t wait for the next few weeks to come by so I can continue learning and also soon enough get a deck or two sent to me here in Ohio, so I can officially go out into the world and spread the Bamboo pride with an actual board!

Until week 3 guys!

-Bri.

Okay, okay!  I have been reading a lot of children’s books to my best friend’s nephew.  My favorite one is, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, by Dr. Seuss.  It seems funny to be telling this little 16 month old human-being who calls “balloons”, “boons” and who can only count, “too…fee…too…fee” (two & three) about life situations.  The book talks about the many options of life one will take and that sometimes you will take the wrong one, that you will be happy as can be and “..join the high fliers who soar great heights” but also that you will sometimes fall from your high and get a “bump…” that will likely leave you in a “…slump”.

While I read this children’s book to a child, it seems as though it is actually talking to me!  Life is full of decisions, trials, and tribulations, but because we are challenged and figure new ways of solving problems, we become stronger and more confident adults.  It gives us the strength to recognize the path you are on and the ability to change the path however you choose.  The photo below, is a directional “One-Way” sign right outside my old apartment that someone changed to “One Love”.  While creative, funny…and illegal, it seems quite fitting for today’s blog.

The book ends with, “And will you succeed?  Yes! You will indeed!”  And it couldn’t be more right.  I’m excited to move down the Bamboo Skateboard path into Week 3!

Coming to work for Bamboo Skateboards has opened my eyes to a whole new outlook on skateboarding. I have learned so much about the  industry, including the impact that manufacturing skateboards has had on our forests. I  learned that skateboarding has replaced flooring as the number one contributor to the deforestation of maple trees and once these 50 year old trees are cut down, they are gone forever. By using bamboo, Bamboo Skateboards has been able to reduce deforestation and the number of maple trees that are used to make skateboards.

This internship has already taught me the importance of practicing sustainability. I’ve learned that we can all make a difference even if it’s one skateboard at a time.

X

Chelsea

My name is Kaylee Mikuteit and I was born and raised in the beautiful city of San Diego. I am currently a Junior at the University of Arizona where I plan on double majoring in Communication and Business Management. As much as I love the desert and eating microwave dinners every night, I am glad to be back by the beach, and living at home where I can enjoy my mom’s home cooking everyday.

With that said, this summer isn’t going to be my typical “tan, nap, and sit on the beach.” I have the amazing opportunity to participate in the Bamboo Skateboards Internship. Today is my first day in the office, and it has been hectic. Needless to say, this is going to be one heck of a learning experience. Mike and I have been collaborating all day, massaging out problems, trying to forge a new path, and to create a plan for success in the PR field. Mike and I are riding solo for the PR team, so hopefully we will become the dynamic duo, taking on the challenge of PR one step at a time! I am really excited to continue moving forward and to work with all the great people I have met so far. So far, so good.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for some of his products in our Scavenger Hunts!
[hint hint: Go Follow us on Twitter: @SkateBamboo // Facebook & Instagram @Bamboo Skateboards]
Speaking of which, the main point of my blog this week was to send a big wave of Aloha to all of my teammates because they are all doing a tremendous job! Working with 10 other people is tough — not to mention we’re spread across a few different time zones!  But no one can work alone. Even DMX has the roughriders. You can’t stop drop and open up shop without a team. [props if you can guess which movie that lines from]

On that note, I’ll leave you with some awesome tuneage that’s been getting me through this hectic workweek
To A Friend (Adventure Club Remix)

Im looking forward to getting some more real world experience in Bamboo Skateboards fast paced marketing environment. I can already tell I am going to be wearing many different hats throughout this experience, you are definitely not limited to just one area or department. This is a welcomed challenge!

I’m studying marketing at USC and I’m looking forward to getting real word experience during this internship. Plus the Bamboo office is only a few blocks from the beach.. what could be better?!

Bamboo – Rootical Boom

Here’s my list of things I learnt during the first week:

1. Carry your photo identification AT ALL TIMES. Although I’m flattered at the age of 35 to be asked to prove I’m 21, every single bar and restaurant in Oceanside requires proof. Don’t forget it if you’re like me and enjoy an apres work beer.
2. Watch dropbox. It’s got a mind of its own. Biggest source of stress so far. Let everyone know that you’re updating a file and don’t forget to change the filename date.
3. Ask questions. I had an amazing conversation with Wyatt about how the decks are made. It was super interesting and every intern should really learn about the products we sell.
4. The coconut milk soup at The Wok Inn on Mission Avenue downtown Oceanside is, ahem, to Thai for.  Say hi to Lynn.

Have a good one.

I found this internship on an up and coming action sports careers website called Super Rad.  Three weeks before I became an intern for Bamboo, I was constantly staying up until 3a.m. researching job posts because 1. I am a very determined person, and 2. I want to be in the action sports industry…like, yesterday.

So anyways, I found Bamboo’s internship post and I was automatically pumped after researching and learning more about the company.  This program is literally one-of-a-kind.  The in-depth experience, the culture, and the knowledge that we are going to gain from this is unreal!  I am looking forward to learning more about the industry so I can take as much as possible with me into the real world.

Today, we are slowly coming towards the end of the first week and it has been a crazy ride so far.  There is so much information to take in and keep up with, but one thing is for sure.  I have met (not technically ‘met’, but you know what I mean) so many awesome people and have learned some valuable life

lessons.  I am so grateful to be a part of this experience and I am excited to see what is next for Bamboo Skateboards, our class, and to be able to look back and see how much I have grown as a person after this!

“Today is the start of a new adventure. New challenges to face, new memories to make, and new obstacles to overcome.”     -Nishan Panwar

-Bri.

Check out this song that’s going to keep me motivated to move out West!

California

Late night wake sess.

I am a Midwest city girl from Minneapolis, MN. I attended the accredited University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, MN. Following in both my mother and brother’s footsteps, I graduated with a BA in Marketing.

At 24 years old, my whole world has changed. While I have adapted to it without skipping a beat, last month, I decided it was time that I lead the change in my life. Right then, I contacted Mark Olson, the leader of Sales and Marketing for Bamboo Skateboards. After a nice conversation about their internship program, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity for my first leap towards change! I am working my first several weeks remotely from Minneapolis, but my next leap will be moving out to Oceanside, CA in July. After this first week has gone by and I have met all the other amazing interns, I could not be more ecstatic to continue working with and representing Bamboo Skateboards! I have already learned my first lesson with this internship- adapting to change is good, but taking the reigns and leading your life towards change is thrilling and rewarding.

Minneapolis Skyline

Thomas Jefferson knew that westward expansion was key to the nation’s health. He knew that the move would strengthen our growth as a nation and our freedom. I knew this move would grow and stretch me unlike anything I have ever experienced before and it certainly has given me a broad new sense of freedom. I know this internship will do the same as it is a great step in the right direction for me. I am very lucky to be a part of it. Theres a lot of hard work ahead but the rewards and benefits are well worth it. I’m happy to be here, super stoked to be a part of Bamboo Skateboards and so far I’m thinking this move has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. You have to treat yourself every once in a while, buy yourself something to reward your hard work. It could be a shirt, perhaps a book to inspire you…I think I just bought the first piece to my new life. Happy Friday! Until next time.

Greg

It’s finally the first week of my internship at Bamboo Skateboards and I am so excited to be here. Although it may only be an internship, it is a lot more work than one may think.  There’s a lot more to this company than just skating. At first, I was so overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities but, now I am getting the hang of how everything works. I love everything Bamboo Skateboards stands for and getting to work with this amazing company is an honor! I look forward to learning and growing through this internship! Keep posted for future posts!

XX

Chelsea

It has been a four month blur of building excel spreadsheets, business plans, media packets, creating event fliers, running numbers, finding data, meeting goals, missing goals  and at the same time making some of the best memories of my life. In very few professions you are allowed to show up to work in flip flops, drink a beer with the boss during working hours, watch the ocean sunsets from the roof and promote a business that is more of a lifestyle than a brand in many ways. While this all sounds like it was just play, there was a very clear and important ingredient of business practices in play at all times.

On numerous occasions during the last few months, I was amazed how much was going on at the same time, and as long as they are prioritized and handled properly they were all successful. By managing all the elements involved with running a successful business while organizing many other aspects of my own life, I now have a greater appreciation for those who choose to start a business in such a difficult industry. I cannot express this enough, it is very difficult to run a successful company in these times, and running a successful business in this industry only adds to the struggle. Then add in life and the stresses associated with that and you are bound to run high blood pressure.

Within any given moment, my internship had many responsibilities that needed constant attention. It was not a question of what needs my attention today, but more what needs MORE attention than the other things today? This everyday lesson has taught me a great deal of time management, negotiating levels of importance in a business, and properly disseminating work. By properly planning a comprehensive schedule, efficiencies were fine tuned to a level of success that I had never known before. This was the single most important aspect that I received from the internship.

This last four months has absolutely validated the old cliché: if you want something hard enough, there is nothing that will stop you from getting it. There were many struggles for myself and the other interns, but every time there were difficulties encountered, I thought of one thing: I’m finally working with a company that carries a philosophy and lifestyle that is close to my heart. Many will agree that this brand fuels many things that we find very passionate in my life, and represents an evolving culture that has led the pack in action sports!

Thank you for making my dream of working with the industry come true Bamboo!!

JEB

SIANARA

One thing will always remain certain in life, if you want something you have to go out and get it for yourself. This internship has taught me that you must be willing to make sacrifices, do whatever it takes to keep moving forward, and push until you reach your goals. It may seem hard at times to keep all this up month after month, week after week, day after day, but this is a proven the recipe for success. By staying driven day in and out, no matter the circumstances I remain in a commitment that many others have not been able to meet. It is a great lesson about running a prosperous business; no matter what the daily circumstances may be, it is important to stay focused on moving towards the goals.

As this journey comes towards an end, I have acquired some very useful information and lessons that will carry on with me in my new employment, new experiences, and new life challenges. Every tribulation that is faced today prepares me for the future, and how situations are handled today dictates how well I can control the outcome of future circumstances.

Recently, Bamboo skateboards warehouse was moved to another location in Oceanside. During this move, there were not much more than just a handful of people helping. It is absolutely amazing how in less than 2 weeks there was such a transformation for the company. It was humbling to find with a little bit of help, some great will power, determination and eagerness from a small pool of talented individuals, this transformation was nothing more than a healthy heartbeat for the company. there was not any one moment that I had heard comments of how this may affect the company or even the individuals lives in a negative way, but rather a feeling of fresh air. This change had happened to become something better, something that the company was ready for.

Because of demonstrations like this, it has become apparent to me that no matter how pre-determined or busy my life may seem, it absolutely needs to be open to changes. Just as the company had done with a little bit of help, some great will power, determination and eagerness to become something better, I will become something better. Thanks to Bamboos core capabilities to acclimate I have seen to become something better, you must be enthusiastic to change.

JEB

Bamboo Skateboards is an ecologically-based skateboard brand and manufacturer of high quality skateboards made from sustainable bamboo from managed forests.

• We are social entrepreneurs who believe that giving back to our communities is as equally important as profits.
• We service core shops, brands and individuals around the globe while providing a solidified partnership and unique experience with each.
• We have been a part of action sports and skateboarding our whole lives and now passionately hope to inspire others to take actionable steps towards our preserving our natural environment.

What is the success rate of your internship?

In almost every class out of 14 classes so far, at least 1 top candidate has gained employment directly in the action sports industry while others gained other non-endemic positions.  A few of the companies include Fox Moto-X, Rock Star Energy, Haro Bicycles, Nixon, Dark Horse Distribution, Action Sports Group, as well as 4 prior interns having been employed by Bamboo Skateboards.

When does the internship start and end?

Internships are 16 weeks and class 16 will officially start on May, 6th 2013 and end August 26^th, 2013.  Class 17 will then start in September-December.

What is the time requirement per week?

A minimum of 20 hours are required per week.  If you live local, we require one full 8-hour day in the Oceanside office but highly recommend at least two.

Is the internship available to those outside of California?

Yes.  We have had international interns from Finland, France, Germany, Scotland and Australia, as well as interns from Florida, Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, Illinois, etc.

Can college credit be earned?

Yes, class credit can be earned for college.

Is this a paid internship?

No.

What are the details of the internship?

Internship is graded on 400 total points involving weekly duties such as managing your commitments/goals file, writing weekly blogs, updating your philosophy and charters, providing mentor feedback, intern matrix grading other interns, mid-term exam, final exam, communication with team, etc. The last month of internship is devoted to improving your resume, interviewing practice and other key actions to maximize your opportunities for job growth. The style of the internship is disciplined with a syllabus, “intern-bible”, and weekly files that are all accessed on Dropbox and Google Docs. This style of internship is based on an MBA, business school program and is unlike your traditional internship. People can actually fail out of the program for not meeting the minimum requirements.

What are the core responsibilities and requirements?

Internship-in-training Responsibilities:

• Marketing – daily management of the FB, Twitter, HOOKIT, Instagram, YouTube accounts; analyze Google analytics; create contests

• Sales – visit skateshops; visit skateparks; manage alternative websites; find new sales leads and manage through salesforce.com; push online sales

• Public relations – updating database of contacts, writing press releases, finding positive publicity, pushing YouTube/Vimeo videos, handling event coordination

Internship-in-training Requirements:

• Applicants should be active participants with a thorough understanding of the skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding youth culture; prefer skateboarding-focused

• Applicants should be outgoing and personable with good social and conversational skills; communication that connects!

• Must be analytical, process driven, detail oriented and be trusted to get the job done

• Must be able to manage your time with outside life, work, etc.

• Must be a leader and a self-starter…but also maintain the ability to work independently

• Creative people with photography, video-editing skills are a bonus!!!

• Prefer college graduates, but others can receive college credit

Questions you will be asked:

1. What are you looking to get out of an internship in relation to your future goals?

2. What do you feel makes you a UNIQUE qualified candidate?

3. Why have you chosen Bamboo Skateboards specifically?

4. What days of the week are you available to come in and work a full day?

5. Are you financially stable to ensure that you can do an internship up to 4 months?

To apply, please submit your resume and answers to the five questions above to:

info@bamboosk8.com

Engaging with the students and staff alike, it was evident that SDSU is a campus that is at the forefront of living sustainably. Every vendor that was present was making steps towards revealing ways to improve lifestyle while doing a part of preserving the future. It was not only a great event, but a great venue. For anyone that has not been to the SDSU campus I would recommend visiting for the simple fact of viewing great architecture in a stunning setting.  Awesome art, design, and scenery coupled along with great weather and many like-minded students, sets the tone for becoming educated in both general studies and sustainability at a SDSU a synch. It is no wonder this is a preferred University amongst many students living in Southern California.

While working this event, I informed others about business practices that will not only generate business for Bamboo skateboards, but healthier consumer decisions  on what products leave less of an impact on future generations. Overall, I would say that this was a great success for Bamboo Skateboards and other products/services that promote sustainability!

JEB

The band is called Minor birds and they are on a 2-3 month tour with another great artist named Kat Jones. Thanks to Mark in the marketing and sales department, they are riding new Bamboo Skateboards in somewhere around 30 states of the United States of good ‘ol America!  After the bands tour had a stop in the San Diego area, Bamboo skateboards had the pleasure of hosting them to a few hours at the warehouse, showing them what it’s like to run a great skateboard company while they showed us what it’s like to run some great instruments! Please follow them on their journey across the great states, and make sure to support their valiant effort to support Bamboo skateboards and methods of sustainability through great music and art in any way that you can!

Thanks so much Joel, Chelsea, and Kat Jones for making the stop to see an old friend. Love you guys and your wonderful musical capabilities!!

Keep reppin the BOO and make us proud out there!

Jeb

This year had a lot at Damn Am. I saw legends of skateboarding, girls and rad skaters but by far my most favorite part was the free food and Red Bull. They set up a full buffet of gourmet food each day and at the same time they had Red Bull Girls going around passing out free Red Bull. Nothing Makes Me happier then free food.

Mikee Brown and Damn Am Video Video Coming Soon.

Long story short, the midterm challenged me in every way.  Not only had my brain already mentally checked out of school mode after graduating from LMU in May, but forced me to relearn and touch up on my Excel skills that I haven’t used since my business computer classes.  (One of my LEAST favorite classes throughout college; almost as painful as accounting).

Although the midterm did challenge me, it allowed me to take away things I had not known about small businesses, such as warehouse logistics.  Since this is my first time in this type of setting I was able to understand when to order shipments, the type of payments you make throughout the transaction, and what companies compare when looking at two third parties when choosing one to work with.  Although tests are typically no bueno in my book, this midterm did help in areas I did not think it would.

Equidistant through the internship marks a good point to begin a new approach. From this point onward, I am dedicated to learn as much as possible from this internship using every aspect of running a action sports business. By asking many questions from all angles, this company will become more and more transparent in how it functions and operates. It is important to keep a focus on exactly what is expected from my position as an intern, but inquiring about other facets of the company can do nothing more than benefit myself, and ultimately the company in a healthier way.

I welcome the second half of this internship with open arms, and cannot wait for the opportunity to show what I have learned thus far about how to make a business thrive in such a saturated and difficult market. By using a very fine tuned set of tools, there is a way to compete with the ever evolving market of progressive brands out there. It is merely figuring out what tool is appropriate for the job at hand. This is my opportunity to show that my sets of tools are ready to be used! ]

Jeb

For me, this week’s schedule felt like one of those moments. Having only a very limited number of hours in a day makes it difficult to find even time to sleep. While I used to plan out my days in hours, planning now comes in durations of minutes and seconds. Time management is possibly the most important thing that this internship has taught me. By sacking up and waking up every weekday at 5am and moving nonstop until approximately around 11pm.

At times similar to that of being caught in a snowstorm or stranded on a ledge embankment, autopilot takes over and you do what is only absolutely necessary at the time. While this is a skill I have recently acquired, it is one that should have been practiced many times before.  One can say that my situation is much like being stuck on a ledge outcropping without a rope or in a snowstorm without a jacket. The morale of the story is to do whatever it takes to get through the situation and make sure to be better prepared next time.

Ok this week I am doing my blog on the blacks service road. This is one of the best places to longboard in all of San Diego. It has everything you could want from big windy turns to long steep straight aways. At the bottom one of the best and most well known surf spots around “Black Beach”. On this visit to the service road I shot some Brazilian friends of mine that kill it on longboards both on land and in the water. For me bombing big hills has always been fun but I have had my fair share of gnarly wipeouts and pavement hurts a lot more than water. I am always having a good time until i get to that point where im going way to fast and in my head i go WHOA DUDE YOUR GOING WAY TO FASY, This is usually followed by some speed wobble and my face hitting the pavement. That is why i take pictures and leave the shredders to do their own thing. Check out some of my shots from that day and follow me on Instagram #mylesthedirtygringo.

This past week I was stoked I got the privilege to help critic student’s board designs from Oasis Skateboard Factory in Canada. This is such a rad program that brings  academics and skateboarding together.  The school offers students a different learning environment that is fun and interactive and tailoring academics around the world of skateboarding. For example, students can fulfill academic requirements for classes such as a design or production class where they learn beginning to end how to produce a skateboard.

Even though this was the beginning stages of the project, the students had great work and I’m so excited to see what they are going to create. All of them had their individual touch to it and made me realize how much I have missed art classes. Can’t wait to show you the finished pieces, but check out their blog site or Facebook and see what you think!

Unfortunately, at times even while doing these things I feel guilty about not working on some paper or spreadsheet, and think about how quickly and easy it is to fall behind. However, this feeling ultimately motivates me and allows a sense of accomplishment. Can I balance it all? Can I get a raise at work, and be one of the best interns all at the same time?

One phrase that I can most definitely agree upon: you only get out as much as you put in. That’s why I’m going to use my any free time off to study, research, update and repeat.  Friends, and fun can wait for a little bit longer and some would be miserable in a similar situation. But I have a very simple quote for those people:

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
Wayne Dyer

Let’s do this…

Jeb

Elaborate on the role of purchasing inventory?  What is the risk of not purchasing enough inventory or over purchasing and sitting on too much inventory?  How do the lead times affect a small business?  What type of detailed planning and/or forecasting would go into purchasing the right mix of goods?  Take me through an ideal situation from the time you order the goods to the time it arrives and you’ve received it in full.

What is inventory?

Inventory are essentially the goods and materials that a business holds for the purpose of reselling it.

There are three basic reasons for keeping an inventory:

1. Time – The time lags present in the supply chain, from supplier to user at every stage, requires that you maintain certain amounts of inventory to use in this lead time.  However, in practice, inventory is to be maintained for consumption during ‘variations in lead time’.  Lead time itself can be addressed by ordering that many days in advance.  In skateboarding, the lead times for building new skateboards can range from 4-8 weeks or wheels from 4-6 weeks, and are a function of the production times to build the goods and the time to ship the goods.
2. Uncertainty – Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties in demand, supply and movements of goods.  In skateboarding, January and February are typically very low sales months whereas May, June and July are very strong months.
3. Economies of scale – Ideal condition of “one unit at a time at a place where a user needs it, when he needs it” principle tends to incur lots of costs in terms of logistics. So bulk buying, movement and storing brings in economies of scale, thus inventory.  As volume goes up, shipping costs go down overall per unit.  This same rule applies to you as a customer when you order goods and pay UPS or FedX or USPS shipping.  For example, if you are in England and want to order a bamboo skateboard, UPS shipping will cost around $40 for 1 deck.  But if you order 2 decks, cost will be around $50, which reduces the per deck shipping cost to $25 = $50/2.  By the time you reach 100 decks, you can get it down to around $10/deck, but you will need to use a LTL shipper.
4. Appreciation in Value – In some situations, some stock gains the required value when it is kept for some time to allow it reach the desired standard for consumption, or for production.

All these stock reasons can apply to any owner or product.

Special terms used in dealing with inventory

• (SKU) or stock keeping unit is a unique combination of all the components that are assembled into the purchasable item. Therefore, any change in the packaging or product is a new SKU. This level of detailed specification assists in managing inventory.  It’s always good to use a consistent numbering and alphabetical system for goods.
• Stockout means running out of the inventory of an SKU.  This is never good for business because your customer will be very upset!  Think about when you want to order that brand new hot skateboard graphic and it isn’t available because too many people purchased it (demand=high) before you.
• “New old stock” (sometimes abbreviated NOS) is a term used in business to refer to merchandise being offered for sale that was manufactured long ago but that has never been used. Such merchandise may not be produced anymore, and the new old stock may represent the only market source of a particular item at the present time.  Typically these type of goods are liquidated resulting in the price going down significantly.  Many companies exist by just reselling this old stock – companies such as overstock.com and even Groupon.com.

Typology of Inventory

1. Buffer/safety stock
2. Cycle stock (Used in batch processes, it is the available inventory, excluding buffer stock)
3. De-coupling (Buffer stock held between the machines in a single process which serves as a buffer for the next one allowing smooth flow of work instead of waiting the previous or next machine in the same process)
4. Anticipation stock (Building up extra stock for periods of increased demand – e.g. ice cream for summer)
5. Pipeline stock (Goods still in transit or in the process of distribution – have left the factory but not arrived at the customer yet)

Inventory examples

While accountants often discuss inventory in terms of goods for sale, organizations – manufacturers, service providers and not for profits - also have inventories (fixtures, furniture, supplies, etc.) that they do not intend to sell. Manufacturers’, distributors’, and wholesalers’ inventory tends to cluster in warehouses. Retailers’ inventory may exist in a warehouse or in a shop or store accessible to customers. Inventories not intended for sale to customers or to clients may be held in any premises an organization uses. Stock ties up cash and, if uncontrolled, it will be impossible to know the actual level of stocks and therefore impossible to control them.

A great accounting/financial system for managing inventory is using a program called Quickbooks.  At any point, you can run a physical inventory worksheet and go out and count the physical goods versus what is in the system.  Let’s say your system shows 100 skateboards but you only have 99.  In this case, you will want to look at all sales and ensure that the inventory was accounted for.  In this case, a logical example might be that someone came in off the street to the office and asked for a 8″ skateboard.  An employee went to the warehouse and grabbed one, but didn’t complete the paperwork yet, which once done, would remove that from the system.  Since nventory is an asset, just like cash, accounts receivables, etc., it is very important you manage it properly.  Many companies do what is called “cycle counts” to ensure that the inventory is being managed properly.  There is nothing worse than waiting until the end of the year, only to find out you’ve lost a few hundred items, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars of lost goods.

From accounting, the balance sheet states that assets = liabilities + stockholders equity.  What this means essentially is that when you put cash into your company, you have a balance equal in value called equity.  Now, if you had borrowed that money from a bank, that would be a liability, not equity.  When you convert that cash to inventory, you are only changing the assets side.  As you sell your inventory, the inventory is deducted.

On the income statement, if you sell 1 item, you recognize the sale of that one item and the cost of that item.  For example, if you sell a skateboard for $30 that costs you $12 to make:  $30-12 = $18.  $18 is the gross profit.  If you take $18/$30 = gross profit margin %.  If you had $30 and $15 cost, you would get $15 gross profit and a $15/$30 = 50% gross profit margin.

While the reasons for holding stock were covered earlier, most manufacturing organizations usually divide their “goods for sale” inventory into:

• Raw materials- materials and components scheduled for use in making a product.  For skateboards, this might be the veneers, glue, grip tape, bolts, bearings, wheels, etc.
• Work in process, WIP – materials and components that have begun their transformation to finished goods.
• Finished goods – goods ready for sale to customers.  Completed skateboards with wheels, trucks, bearings, grip tape, deck, bolts that are shrink wrapped and ready to go.
• Goods for resale – returned goods that are salable.  An example might be a longboard with a small scratch on the graphic.  In this case, the item would be sold for a little less than a regular one.  There are many customers who prefer to buy goods that are discounted as it saves them money.  Plus the skateboards are going to get scratched eventually anyways.

Principle of inventory proportionality

Purpose

Inventory proportionality is the goal of demand-driven inventory management.  The primary optimal outcome is to have the same number of days’ (or hours’, etc.) worth of inventory on hand across all products so that the time of runout of all products would be simultaneous.  In such a case, there is no “excess inventory,” that is, inventory that would be left over of another product when the first product runs out. Excess inventory is sub-optimal because the money spent to obtain it could have been utilized better elsewhere, i.e. to the product that just ran out.

The secondary goal of inventory proportionality is inventory minimization.  By integrating accurate demand forecasting with inventory management, rather than to past averages, a much more accurate and optimal outcome.

Integrating demand forecasting into inventory management in this way also allows for the prediction of the “can fit” point when inventory storage is limited on a per-product basis.

Applications

The technique of inventory proportionality is most appropriate for inventories that remain unseen by the consumer, as opposed to “keep full” systems where a retail consumer would like to see full shelves of the product they are buying so as not to think they are buying something old, unwanted or stale; and differentiated from the “trigger point” systems where product is reordered when it hits a certain level; inventory proportionality is used effectively by just-in-time manufacturing processes and retail applications where the product is hidden from view.

The use of inventory proportionality in the United States is thought to have been inspired by Japanese just-in-time parts inventory management made famous by Toyota Motors in the 1980s.

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Here’s what the interns wrote this week:

The ability to control inventory and make appropriate and intelligent purchasing decisions is the key to keeping customer relationships intact and increasing profitability.  If you do not purchase enough products and have to wait on product you may be losing out on a lot of money. This money can be lost by missing an opportunity for a sale, operating costs for running a business that may have little to no commodity, and potential future sales by making customers shop elsewhere. Having too much inventory is essentially money with a a shelf life. With too much stock, money is potentially wasted as well. The money caught up in having an excess of inventory is money that could have been spent on other avenues of running the business.  Lead times can make or break a small business. If the company cannot afford to carry an abundant amount of overstock, then they plan on a more conservative model that often times allows just enough product to be left to get the next shipment. When the lead times on some products take longer than originally expected, it causes ripples in the fluidity of the rest of the business. If there is an expected delivery date, but the product does not show for days or weeks following, then money is lost. A small business typically has a large amount of its cash tied up in inventory. With such a large financial investment in his business, the small businessperson must make every effort to reduce the risks associated with carrying inventory.  One way to protect from inventory shortfalls is by building a safety margin into basic inventory figures. To figure out the right safety margin for your business, try to think of all the outside factors that could contribute to delays, such as suppliers who tend to be late or goods being shipped from overseas. Once you’ve been in business a while, you’ll have a better feel for delivery times and will find it fairly easy to calculate your safety margin.  The ideal situation would involve a very simple process free of changes, delays and returns. Initially, the customer has a Product Inquiry which will turn into a sales quote. Then the sales quote will turn in to a formal order placement. After the order has been placed, there is an order confirmation that is sent and soon thereafter the customer will be sent a bill. Then the company sources where it will pull the product from. The distribution center fills the order and sends the shipment. Finally, the delivery of the product finds its way to the customer.  -JD

Purchasing inventory is extremely vital to any organization. Companies need to factor in many components when deciding quantities to purchase. This aspect is extremely important so inventory is not too short or overstocked.  If a company doesn’t have enough inventory, a company can suffer substantially in customer service, higher payments on rushed shipping, unreliability, decrease in client relationship and revenue. On the opposite hand, if a company has over bought, it has a sunk cost from the payment of the unsold goods, but can be seen as an opportunity for PR and discounts for customers.  Lead times can be helpful to have with third parties.  For each shipment, the company would know the status of their goods with the third parties and if they meet benchmarks to be on track for deliveries. Coming from another point of view, lead times can help when looking for third parties to work with.  For example, how quickly you could get inventory and how much, could be some determining factors. In addition, small companies could gain traction if they have the fastest lead time compared to competitors while still having quality products.  When looking for the “right mix” of goods, one must create an effective plan and forecast in advance of the market they anticipate to work with.  Companies must plan which products and quantity they need to meet the requirement to fulfill their order and uphold their quality and brand.  Companies must also create a timeline of their best and worst case timeline scenarios to know how much room they have to shop around and negotiate with buyers, if necessary. When looking at third parties, one must factor in lead times, prices, long term benefits, quality, etc. Once these plans have been made, the company must next consider countries and companies they would like to work with. In the case of working with foreign companies, one has to forecast the market and understand the politics, exchange rates, laws, and similar prices in relation to the location.  There are many factors that would create an ideal situation for working with a third party.  Once I ordered my products I would want a timeline of what to expect in terms of timeline of product production and final delivery time and quantity. I would like to be updated weekly, of the progress of the goods and have the company be on time for delivery or ahead of schedule. Ideally this would happen with no setbacks or errors. – NB

Inventory is an essential part of business that can either make a company thrive or go up in flames. The importance of inventory also varies from business to business. For example, in the meat and produce industry inventory control is extremely important. If at the end of the day if a company is left with an overstock of goods then the meat or produce is most likely to go bad. If a company doesn’t order enough produce then the business will lose out on potential revenue.  In other markets it can be less costly to overstock something like skateboards because there is no expiration date. However when a small company struggles to break even each month then inventory then becomes very important. For example if Bamboo orders too many decks then styles may change or tastes in the consumer market and they might get stuck with inventory that won’t sell. However if the order to few then they run the risk of losing potential customers.  In order to purchase the right mix of goods for one it takes experience. It takes knowing the market and what will sell and what still needs to be tested. The steps you should consider however is how many boards did I sell last month? Was there a shortage or a surplus at the months end? Did a certain model appeal to more customers? What are other companies doing, is another skate company about to launch something big that might take away from my market power?  An ideal situation when ordering goods would go something like this. Order the goods FOB destination therefore the seller will pay for the shipping. When good arrive unload truck and stock warehouse shelves neatly and efficiently in order to speed up the process once a transaction is made. A buyer orders a product online or by phone or any other means. Then the order is processed and package for shipment FOB shipping point. That would be the ideal scenario for shipping and receiving inventory. -BB

Proper inventory control is the key to running a successful business. There are many factors to take into account when thinking about your inventory. Insufficient inventory, lead time and excess inventory are the top three things to look out for. I have worked a lot in the service industry and have been constantly dealing with inventory and the problems that come with it. Understanding everything there is to know about inventory control can make a huge difference in any business whether it is a small privately owned business or a giant chain.  The first step to creating inventory control is setting up a business plan. Your business plan will help you find out how much inventory your business is going to need and when you need it by. Your inventory should have a variety of your business’s products and you should have enough to cover normal business. The biggest and most common mistake is having insufficient inventory. This can cause huge and unneeded problems. For example if a major skateboard distributor were to run out of inventory, it will not only affect the customers and the reviews they put online but will affect the workers at the warehouse.  The workers will have nothing to do in the warehouse so you will be paying them to do nothing. When the stock finally does arrive you will end up paying over time while they catch up on the delayed orders. This can cause you to lose a lot of time money and effort and make you look bad to your customers and employees.  When calculating basic stock, you must also think about your lead time or the the length of time between reordering and receiving a product. For instance, if your lead time is 6 weeks and a particular product line sells 10 units a week, then you must reorder before the basic inventory level falls below 40 units. If you do not reorder until you actually need the stock, you’ll have to wait four weeks without the product. This can lead to insufficient inventory and then you run into the same problem we discussed above.  Excess Inventory can also hurt your business. When running low on a particular product it may make sense to just order one huge shipment that will last you longer. This can really screw up a business such as Insight with seasonal clothing. If you order to much of a particular product you can end up sitting on excess products and end up having to try and get rid of it any way you can. The first idea that may come to mind might be to lower prices or add a discount to get the product out of there.  This will actually cause you to lose money in the long run and force you to totally change your entire business plan.  Inventory can make or break a business. This is why it is so important to keep an eye on your inventory and make sure you are always staying on top of it. If you pay attention to inventory, your sales and have a well thought out business plan your business can be a success. – MM

Here is a video I made for the Boy’s at DTA make sure you watch through the credits!

Myles

Also check me out on Instagram: mylesthedirtygringo and my website Dirty Gringo Productions

I just got back from a super fun trip up north. I little weekend getaway with two of my good friends. We decided to head north for some waves and meet up with some buddies who go to school up north as well. We definitely scored some waves, especially at the lane! Not only that though we had some wild nights in Santa Barbara…the evidence from that night has been burned haha but the memories will stick around.

The local skate scene is pretty rad up there as well. It seems like everyone owns a cruiser and pushes around. I made a few connections and have stayed in contact with some people and hopefully will be able to ship some boards their way. here’s a couple pics of the lane and some other beaches up north.

I have also had a solid week for sales. I sold 3 decks and a longboard. But what you should all be looking out for is the penny boards. Those things are hot off the press and looking for some shredding!

It was great to see the turnout at the event. Bridge to Skate had awesome sponsors and great people. All ages were shreddin’ and trying out new and old tricks for the competition. I hope to see this event next year and continue to grow, since it is such a rad event.

Thanks to all involved for an amazing day, can’t wait for the grand re-opening! Till nexrt time….JEB

Apart from taking skate pictures I also spend a lot of time standing on the beach taking pictures of surfers. For the past few weeks I have been working with a local Pro name Mike Sturgeon. Mike’s a local boy and is always out killing  it.  He is sponsored by some really cool companies and is always posting some rad photos on his instagram (MikeSturg).  Even on a two foot day when Mike throws a snap  the spray goes three times above his head. Here are a couple of shots taken over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Taking surf pictures is a funny thing. Sometimes when your watching through the view finder it doesn’t really look like much, this was a shot that I didn’t think was going to be as cool as it was. If you look he throws his whole body into every turn making the spray huge.

Alright hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget New Products from Bamboo out this week with the rad Retro Mini finally here. Stay tuned for more pictures next week. Check out my Instagram: mylesthedirtygringo and my website www.dirtygringoproductions.com

See Yah Next Week!

Myles

From an intern’s perspective, it is a much needed break from the work in the office. At times it’s easy to get wrapped up with internal mechanisms of running this company, but it is also very important to realize that this is not only a company, but a lifestyle. With this lifestyle comes some good times that include great friends and awesome experiences.  This weekend’s experience will include but not be limited to: beer, sun, music, skateboards, and awesome food right near the beach. With a lineup like that, I can’t believe that there are not more people enjoying the skateboard lifestyle near the beach. Thank you Bamboo Skateboards for providing just one more aspect of the lifestyle that I love so very much.

Got my first sale this week and of course had to keep it in the fam. My older bro bought a sick Sutsu logo deck with the new colorway that drops the 15th! Sales has proven to be quite the challenge, the most important thing I have learned about sales is remain persistent. Pick a strategy and stick to it. I also hit up Carlsbad skate park this week with fellow intern Myles and slapped some stickers up. If your in the area cruise by and skate the park..We have a good crew of Boo riders that shred there on a regular basis.

Yea Dude! Another week flew by here at Bamboo Skateboards and oh boy we are having a blast. This weeks spot checks are an abandoned spot and my two favorite local parks.  The first one is Carmel Valley  Skate Park the second is the classic MLK Skate Park.

Carmel Valley: This park is so Rad, it has everything you could possibly want. The street section is amazing it has three or four big hubba’s, a fun step up, brick pyramid and a HUGE POOL!

There are always some rippers here!
 

MLK Skate Park: This park is awesome! There is a High School and Middle School just up the street so its hard to skate here without a buttload of people.  The “street” section is pretty tiny but you can flow around the whole park and there is a ton of fun tranny’s. Oh and BOODUH showed up for some fun!

   

 

The last spot for today’s adventure is called ” THE PIT” its a secret spot that until recently was awesome and had ledges, quarter pipes and what ever else the local kids could throw together to skate. Now its an empty pit with nothing to skate but still has some really  cool graffiti.

             

 

Alright Kids! That’s all for me this week. Don’t forget new Bamboo Skateboards Drop on Feb 15th and Visit DirtyGringoProductions.com for  more photos and video’s.

 

Keep Shredding!

Myles

 

The biggest aspect I have taken away from this week is there are ALWAYS positives in any given situation, many in the past I had overlooked. This internship has taught me many things you didn’t find on the job description and given me a place within my life I can come into with no drama and where you work together instead of competing against each other. Even yesterday, the other interns and I had a mini photo shoot to enter a contest on Intagram and everyone helped each other with the contest, instead of only having the mind on the prize mentality. (Check out the awesome pictures below!) The culture of this office is none I have ever experienced before and for that I am thankful. Thanks for keepin it real Bamboo!

My opportunity to work with the bamboo skateboards company has completed much of what I have wanted for a large part of my life. There is nothing like living minutes from the beach, good surf spots, good skate spots, hours from camping and hiking, and only steps from magnificent sunsets. What can be the icing on the cake to that you might ask? Working with a skateboard company committed to preserving the future of the earth. This internship has allowed me to become aware of how everything done today has an effect on the future. From working behind a computer it is hard to appreciate the beauty that nature holds. That is spending a moment in the evening to enjoy the sunset and the beauty nature holds is very important. Make sure that you are involved in something that safeguards that natural beauties are preserved so that other generations can appreciate the small things in life. Thank you Bamboo for doing your part to preserve nature and allowing me to be a part of it!

Jeb Durgin

But back to J-town. Everyone should definitely stay tuned after our editing and check out some of the shots we were able to get on our social media pages: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. (Also, if you’ve got a shot you think should be featured on our sites, tag us and you could be!) J-town offered so many great shots like full wall murals and colorful lettering. We also stumbled across an awesome rotating sushi bar that I think Boodha, the Panda, would love. Probably misses the home-like food. After spending a day out exploring for cool shots I am excited to go with other interns and get some more promo shots, possibly at the beach?

Excited to go into week 4 and see what awesome ideas, events, and people I’ll meet. Stay tuned

There is something about that panda that makes the wanderlust in each of us come out.  After being in LA for the past four years, I’m excited to cruise the streets with Boodha around the city to different skate parks, grubbin’ spots, events and introduce him to SoCal snow and beaches.  Since I was born and raised in Northern Cali, feel its my duty to drag him out of bed at the butt crack of dawn for a daily sesh at Mt. High and end the day with chillin’ on the beach and watching the sunset to enjoy the City of Angels.  If you have an idea of what Boo can do let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and if you wanna kick it with Boodha don’t be shy.

I will be doing a couple spot checks along my intern journey: highlighting new spots and skate parks with local skaters shredding.

Spot #1: Carlsbad Skate Park

. The first stop on my  tour of skate parks and spots  in San Diego was Carlsbad Skate Park.  Its located at 2560 Orion Way in Carlsbad, CA. Yup if you Google the address you get a Police/Fire Department and then hidden in the corner is a pretty rad little park. Its outdoor and all concrete. If you don’t ride a scooter I recommend you go a little earlier so you miss the crowd. During my visit to C-Bad one of the local shredders let me take a couple photos. Turns out Dylan is a fan of Bamboo!

These giant heads were really cool.  They are dedicated to the fallen Policemen and Firemen.

Spot #2: Super Secret Spot

This spot is hard to find and can rarely be skated. I really can’t say much but what I can say is the rail looks like something you would find in a skate warehouse somewhere. One of the nicest rails ever!

Check it Out

Here is my friend Beau Blue showing us some of his dumb tricks he LOVES to do.

Check back next week for more.

Myles

Friday, 6:09pm

Till next time..

When I’m not working on this internship, I work as a sailing instructor in the Bay Area. While it’s a pretty sweet gig, I’m not looking to make a career out of it. I’ve already reached the ceiling of what’s possible in that realm and I’m looking to obtain a job which I find more rewarding. I’ve always had a passion for action sports and that’s what drew me to Bamboo Skateboards in the first place. Hopefully, I can turn the skills and knowledge I learn here into a full time job within the action sports industry.

In my free time you can usually find me outdoors. I love skiing and snowboarding, surfing, and I even try to skate a little from time to time. Other activities I enjoy are camping, hiking, cooking, playing music and exploring San Francisco. Anyway, that’s enough about me as I have plenty to do getting ready for our team’s first Skype call and finishing all of this week assignments.

I’ll update you each week on what’s going on during my internship and hopefully I can share some triumphs, struggles  and lessons I learn along the way.

Catch you next week!

-Andrew

Throughout my childhood I also played soccer. I stuck with that as well. I enjoyed the freedom of the sport; the game never stops and when you’re on the field there really isn’t much coaching involved. I ended up playing in high school and later at my local community college, OCC. My passion has continued for soccer and I ended up getting some offers to play at the University level. I have committed to UCSD and will be playing in the fall of 2013.

You may be wondering about why I have chosen to do this internship. And well the answer is simple, it’s an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up! No other internship I have heard about offers this kind of in depth learning experience. Everything about it is hands on. You are right there in the warehouse will all the Bamboo decks just piled to the sky. It is also extremely well structured and covers all aspects of business. I have chosen to do sales and will be out in the field working on my smooth talk and hustling skills. This blog will be used as a way to tell all the Bamboo Skateboard followers about my amazing journey and document everything from the good the bad and the ugly. I am a huge supporter of this brand and plan to represent it well. If your not already shredding the Boo, what are you doing!? Get on board dudes this company is going to be huge!

Until next time guys heres some sweet pics from today!

All the best -Brandon

My name is Myles Messinetti  I am originally from Tampa Florida but currently live in Carlsbad, CA.  I moved to California for two main reasons to work in the Action Sports Industry, to surf and when the surf is flat to skate. Growing up in Tampa means I skated a lot. The only way to get waves on the gulf coast of Florida is either to drive a couple hours to the east coast of if you’re really lucky a hurricane passes close to the coast and you get chest high waves.  So I moved out to California in search of my dream, to be able to surf or skate everyday and to start a career in a job that I truly love.

These days when I’m not shredding it up at Tamarack I’m driving around taking photos and video of anything action sports related. I recently got to shoot a professional off-road race, Rage at the River 2012 in Laughlin, NV.  This was a rad experience to see these huge trucks jumping as high as my head.  I will be posting my photos and videos on this blog for the next 4 months but if you would like to see a few more check out my website www.DirtyGringoProductions.com.

I am stoked to start my internship here at Bamboo Skateboards and everyone in the office is super cool. Although there was this one weird guy, he claims his name is Boo and he is the company’s mascot:

He seems cool although this is how we found him at 9am this morning:

Boo is not camera shy either:

Boo was so excited about the new interns he pulled us away from a hard days work and had to show us his sweet tricks on the Bamboo cruiser:

For Your Viewing Pleasure a Short Shred Sesh at The Carlsbad Skatepark:

The next four months are going to be a blast!

See you next week

Myles

What’s going on guys!

We have officially started the beginning of this internship!! Week one and two are already behind us! Well almost week two, and I can tell you is that this is going to blow all other internships out of the water. Coming into this bamboo world I thought I might have chewed more then I could swallow.

Lets begin with the best part of the internship, I get to sit in traffic on the 5 south for a good hour and fifteen minutes on a good day… I guess that’s what I get for living in orange county, buy hey ill make this commute all the time if I’m given an opportunity to work with a company such as Bamboo. But beside the traffic part this internship has been hectic with information overload and has already brought a great experience to what I will face.

Week two is almost done and thanks to the religious dude above that I get to work with 5 other interns for the next 4 months. I’m super stoked to have this opportunity to intern at the Panda Factory and be a part of the sales team. I’m looking forward to the road ahead and ill fill you in with how we do!!

Signing out      

-Sean
 \!!!/

Concluding the second week of the internship, I feel like it is still rough waters, but it’s much smoother than the first week. You may think that a marketing internship in today’s action sports industry has to be nothing more than posting a few pictures on instagram and sending messages to friends on Facebook. Let me assure you, this does not even scratch the surface of what a successful marketing team does for a company in this industry. In every transaction of data, articles, templates and spreadsheets comes with absolute critical thinking and focus. I suppose it’s much like learning how to swim.  The first time you are in too deep to touch something familiar; you panic and think you are going to drown. However, as long as you stay focused and take a deep breath, you will slowly learn how to stay afloat. I’ll let you know how I’m doing next week, until then it’s all about staying focused on one deep breath at a time…

The last 4 months have been such an amazing experience for me not just educationally but I came out of it with some amazing new friends and incredible memories. Whether in the office or out of the office Class 14 tore it up and enjoyed every moment we could. I know I personally learned a lot about time management, the intracies of business accounting (I know there is still a ton to learn but personally I will probably avoid the nitty gritty of it) and a ton of new tactics for social marketing. I must say though the biggest of them all is that I learned just how much I like about combining my love for creativity with my skills with lots and lots of data. Marketing, PR and Sales all utilize so many unique creative approaches that when we are in the trenches working through we forget that all these approaches have tons upon tons of data backing them up and if they don’t already we should start tracking it in order to show how effective our new idea truly was.

Other than knowledge learned and good times the internship did serve a nice little beating to my outside life. There were definitely days where I found myself working late into the night on a project for the company completely blowing through plans I had made with friends and on the flip side I had family events that came up last minute that I could not miss making it so that I missed an important company event. I realized quickly though that finding this balance between internship and life was never going to be perfect but thankfully I pulled from my experience of working a more than full time job to give me a good start and the rest I had to fake it until i made it work. Moving on though I feel like I was able to get a pretty good balance of life and work combined with an enourmoss amount of growth.

That all being said I am really going to miss all the days working in the intern cave, pounding our heads to try and figure out ways to complete our projects, followed by a must needed few drinks later that night as a group. Since I am still working on eCommerce and warehouse stuff for Bamboo I still get to see all of the staff so I don’t miss them quite yet but I know once I move on from Bamboo Skateboards I will miss this office a ton.

What is next you may ask and well its pretty simple, scour malakye.com for all companies’ postings, in fact resumes are already being sent to every company with an opening that I feel I could excel at. Fingers crossed that I make the cut and am able to show off my interviewing skills!!

As I close this post and say farewell I have to thank Mark, Jackie, Geoff, Wyatt and all the other Interns (Alex, Sean, Jonathan and Ashley) for making these last 4 months ones that I will never forget!

These past 4 months will forever hold a special place in my heart. We had our downs but they were always followed by surpassing ups, making it all worth it. Giving you the cliff note version, this internship provided me with the ability to grow both professionally and personally. I developed invaluable skills, but more importantly invaluable relationships.

Before coming into this internship I wasn’t sure what I wanted career-wise. Where in this world did I want to get involved: non-profits, business professional, events, graphics? I had no clue! However, after working with the people I worked with I found my niche. The action industry balances the best of work and play. It incorporates a high level of professionalism, but at the same time allows you to wear jeans and plaid to work everyday while accomplishing business goals with great bosses and peers.

Prior, I was always the creative type. I was scared to leave the creative world, but this internship pushed me to leap headfirst into the business side of companies. The midterm and final were no fun in any way, shape, or form, but I am all the better for them. Being able to collaborate with the other interns helped ten-fold and we were able to learn together because of it. Our weaknesses and strengths balanced out perfectly and together we were able to overcome such a tough challenge.

Expanding upon that, I can’t give my fellow interns enough praise. Everyone put in so much work over those 4 months! If I were ever forced to chose a team of people to work with, they would be the first on my list, hands down and I can rest easy knowing if I were to ever need help I could always count on one of them.

Currently, my future plans are in the works. I have been applying and getting callbacks from a couple marketing firms, as well as smaller companies. I plan on working the 9-5 hull for a year or two to gain experience, networks, and credentials, but will eventually sell my life here in the states to move to Honduras and own a dive shop with some friends of mine where I plan on living until I either get shot or macheted. It seems a bit backward, I know, but its a dream of mine and that’s a lesson I learned at Bamboo: put in the work to chase your dreams and you will get back more than you ever imagined.

Lets take a photo stroll down memory lane of some of my favorite Bamboo moments from Intern class 14. Enjoy.

First of all, I learned a great deal about the daily functions of an action sports brand. I was able to view and participate in various activities and learn about which ones I was and wasn’t cut out for. It helped me better realize where I fit into a company and industry such as skating and start to imagine what kind of positions I wanted to pursue. Plus, working with my rad teammates helped me realize how important it is to have others striving for the same goals as you.

Furthermore, since my focus in this internship was on sales, I really learned what it took to close a sale and to get your clients attention. After multiple potential accounts were constantly forgetting about my offers and products I finally decided it was time to buckle down and really get a shop to remember me. I stayed on them for two weeks straight and finally got our boards in their shop. I had a great feeling of accomplishment after that and it drove me even more.

I was also a huge fan of our midterm and final. While it was difficult, I really loved seeing the decision making process involved in the development and manufacturing of a product. I feel like having done that exercise, I am more ready to think in that sort of realm than I ever had been before.

Personally, however, I really felt myself grow as a responsible person and a business person. I feel more driven now, especially because I feel like I have more of an idea of what needs to be done to reach my goals. Before I started this internship I tended to wait for opportunities to show up for me. After attempting sales and making multiple connections through events and calls, I have realized that I have to put myself out there and work hard for what I want. While I knew that had to be done before, I never really felt comfortable putting it into action. With this internship, I had to put those thoughts into action and it helped bring out a more confident and outgoing attitude in me.

This internship can start out pretty difficult if you are not great at time management, like I was. However, if you are one of those people, it can also be the best thing for you. Ever. When I first started I was working a couple part time jobs and had quite an active social life. I would work on getting much of my internship work done in the beginning of the week so that I could push things back to the end if I didn’t have time that day. However, I was quick to learn that was a horrible system. I began really utilizing and following the system this internship works with and planning my activities throughout each week knowing what I could and couldn’t achieve for each day. As we progressed through the internship I learned to focus certain days on certain types of activities (Shop visits one day, Marketing other days, etc.). I began to really improve my time management and I know that from here on out I will use that type of system to plan out what needs to be done. I feel like I am much more in control of my responsibilities now that I have a system to work through and I believe this is one of the greatest things I could have ever learned.

On a different note, this internship isn’t all about work. One of my favorite things was the opportunity to represent Bamboo Skateboards at events. Especially with other interns and employees. It is an absolute blast! It gives you the opportunity to not only develop your selling and promotional skills, but to network and make connections outside of the company. I can’t even begin to explain how many relationships and connections I was able to gather through these events. You hear all the time it’s not what you know, but who you know. Well, events will get you to know plenty of people in the industry and open up even more opportunities.

Moving on from this internship I plan to take the skills and connections I have made in the last 4 months to find a job in the industry. I’m only a month out and I already have some opportunities that have presented themselves. This internship has given me the confidence I always needed to push for what I want and I could not ask for anything more.

Bamboo Skateboards for life.

Adios for now.

Sean

While all is moving forward in the PR and sales areas, my points are seriously hurting. I think the biggest challenge for me is just trying to juggle working at my restaurant job, this internship and all my own personal errands. I also find that the 20 hours minimum of straight tasks is a lot of work. Again, my points are my biggest roadblock right now, and as stated above I am really working on my sales and PR to try and bring my points back in the game. I just hope its not too late. That is another challenge, in most companies I believe there is a 90 period where new employees are expected to be training and learning about the company. With this program, you really need to get things rolling at a much more accelerated rate.

What better way to let Thanksgiving leftovers digest than with a little blog post? Black Friday is in full swing, but this entire week has felt like one gigantic week of madness!

For starters, we had an event last week in Los Angeles which Alex, Sean, Thane, and myself all attended and it went a little like this… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx9O6q0pDAU&feature=relmfu

A few week’s ago, Geoff informs us his friend Rebecca Mink creates these beautiful, vegan shoes and she needed a bit of help getting a fashion show together. Signal the Bamboo Skateboard interns to the rescue! We arrived at Green Fest early to help unload and set up the day before the event, and to rehearse a brief run through of the fashion show. That night we stayed at Alex’s went out, played some pool, had fun.

Next day at the event our main job was to keep everything relating to the fashion show flowing. This meant putting outfits together, keeping the models happy (Thane and Sean’s favorite), and prepping the different areas with racks full of clothes, shoes, hats, and interestingly enough trash as well. We had a bit of down time too and if we happened to use it on free massages, so be it. Boo made an appearance, but I’m sure one of the other interns will touch on that in more detail.

My favorite booth at the event was Coco Loco. Their jewelry is amazing! It’s tribal, made of island style material: coconut, shell, bone, etc. All the jewelry is hand-carved by 1 of 50 local islanders around the world and profits go to maintaining their culture, a common goal close to my heart. Their jewelry promotes fair trade, environmental responsibility and the promotion of unique island cultures to those not previously exposed to it in western civilizations. Check out their website here: http://www.coconutjewelry.com

After a day of prep work, it was time for the fashion show, but first I had to get into fashion show mode which included getting some gnarly neon make-up done and tribal dots to fit in with the models. The fashion show lasted about 30 minutes but literally felt like no more than 5. Seriously. Everything was FAST! I would see a model run in, help them change, and send them out with less than a second to spare. Once the show was over though, everything else was done and we packed up to go home. Rebecca gave us bath bombs from Lush and you bet I used mine that night!

Get what I mean by a busy week? That was only 2 days!

Monday we had our final; 4 hours of excel sheets and questions. Thanks to he midterm prep and the midterm we were much more prepared this time around.

The rest of the week has been focused on getting promotion work out for Black Friday. We had $65 decks, a Today show promotion, as well as our promos through Roozt.com. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the wine guzzling Kathy Lee and Hoda checking out our decks!  http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49930427#49930427

Hope everyone has a great remaining holiday season. It’s officially now ok to mount up those Christmas trees and light up your houses. One last thing, when you send your wish list to Santa be sure to include a Bamboo Skateboard on there! Be good boys and girls ;]

First we will start with the Intern assignments and to start that off lets talk about the final! I am so happy to have made it this far in this intense program and I really did NOT want to take that final. I worked all day in the warehouse, got home, got a terrible headache, grabbed some pills, and dove in. This was crazy, all the prep we had done during prior weeks, our midterm, the ibeprophin I took, nothing truly prepaired me for what I had in front of me. None-the-less I stuck my headphones in, turned up some music and destroyed that thing. I know I am 10,000xs happier that it is behind me.

Second up is our new priority, Skate Shop Research, and it has really been going well. We have all been flying through our given regions and have almost gotten (what we think is) every skate/surf shop in the United States. Sean and I have been working hard to make sure our salesforce.com account is setup properly and have been transferring all the interns (past and present  findings into it. I think we have all been killing this assignment!

Third big thing is HookIt, we have been working hard as a team to figure out what about HookIt just isn’t working and have come up with some awesome re-structuring to make sure that it works to our full advantage and is really a win-win for all parties involved (BBS, HookIt, our Athletes  and of course you future Interns). Big things from team HookIt!!!

Forth big project we worked on the past few weeks is making sure all of the files we use on a weekly/daily are in perfect condition and are optimized so that when new interns start they have an even easier time than we did with the files. Crazy good work being done on that front and I must say, thank you to all previous classes for giving us a great starting block, and futur classes I sure hope you can keep improving these files for futur classes to come!

OK, on to the fun stuff…….

Green Festival and Fashion Show.

Last Friday most of the intern crew jumped into a few cars and drove up to LA for a huge Green Festival in wich our Bamboo boards were going to shown as a part of an Eco Fashion Show put on by Rebecca Mink. The drive up was horrible, traffic, traffic, traffic, and then we got lost. Once we got there however things turned around and they turned around fast. That first night not much was needed since we showed up a bit later then we had originally hoped to so rather than sit around and do nothing we all went out on the town! And by town I mean the Malibu Inn in Malibu since that was where we were staying for the night. A few (several) rounds of drinks, paper bags, awesome live music, and some truly professional level pool playing and we decided to call it a night and prepare for our long day to follow. The team woke up bright and early, showerd (some of us), brushed teeth, got dressed, and jumped out the door and back into the car for yet another drive to DT LA. We arrived and the fair was already going so we headed straight to our booth to check in. Rebecca was busy taking care of some PR so we wandered around and got a glimpse of some of the booths then in a moment of pure bliss we decided that Boo should probably join us on this stroll. We went back to our room (the models changing and prep room) and woke Boo up from his nap so he could say hi to his soon to be fans. Wandering around Boo took loads of pictures, practiced a little yoga, and even voted for some pretty cool city art programs, then it was back to the room for him to nap a bit more. During the down town a few of us dissapeared and we later found out they were busy getting some awesome massages FOR FREE!!! At this point the models were in the room, clothing, hair, and makeup was flying everywhere as the designers prepped their lines, makeup and hair artists prepped the models, and interns made sure there was plenty of water to keep everyone happy. Faster than we knew it was time for the show, we guided a long train of models and garmet racks behind the main stage and got everyone into position. A slight change in music and off they went, one after another they hit that runway. After the runway they jumped back into the backstage area, threw off one set of clothing and magically through on another set and off again to that runway. In what seemed like 5 minutes top the fashion show was over, later we were told that it was almost 30 minutes long and to be honest none of us would have guessed that. We quickly cleared out the backstage area and headed back to our room, a lot of goodbyes to all the amazing models we worked with that day, farewells to the designers and artists, and of course a ton of groups pictures and big thank yous to our awesome host Rebecca. After that it was back in the car for our long drive back to SD and the end of an epic event.

Black Friday!

Well today is that day well known as Black Friday, the friday after thanksgiving, the unholy day of rediculous sales and people waiting in line at midnight the night before to get them deals! We worked hard all week (and by we I mean Mark did some awesome PR work and we just did what he told us to do) prepping our big BF sale as well as got ready to share the awesome clip of us on the Today Show the morning of. In a few short hours after our spot on TV our sale was flying off the shelf and we were all so extremely stoked to be seeing BBS spread to all these new people and fans!

Cyber Monday

In the same fashion as BF the staff over at BBS with the help of us interns setup some amazing deals for next week that should keep people flocking to our online shop and hopefully lead us to land several big skate shops in the near future.

Thanks Giving

Yes I know I am going a little out of order now but I wanted to save this for my parting note. This year (as I have done for many years) I drove up to San Luis Obispo to be with a few of my friends on this wonderful day of glutony. Food was plentiful, drinks were ever flowing, and I feel like I gained a good 10-20 pounds in those 3 or 4 “servings” I injested. The thing I love most about the gathering of friends is that no matter who you are, where you are, wether you are with family or friends there is really nothing better than a group meal to warm you up and get that pep back in your step.

Until next time, Happy Holidays and go skate!!!

The next day started at 11. As everything was already set up we basically just had to wait for everyone to show up. While we were waiting, we decided to get Boo, our panda mascot, some green festival action. I threw on the outfit and we hit the floor. Boo was an instant hit and we got tons of pictures with all kinds of people. He even got to vote for a cause! Who knew pandas could vote? Finally we reached the back where there was an open yoga class going on. Naturally, Boo joined. He was in desperate need of some peaceful meditation and exercise. Unfortunately, with all that fur, Boo started overheating and could not stand it anymore so he had to bail. Everyone was sad to see him leave but a panda’s gotta do what a panda’s gotta do.

We got back to the room just as models, designers and make up artist started showing up. One by one they arrived until our room was packed with beautiful people! Our job (the interns) was to assist with anything Rebecca or any of the models needed. I can’t really complain about that. It was quite a good time getting to hang out and work with all of the models. I was almost overwhelmed meeting so many beautiful ladies, but I kept my composure and did my job. Haha! We went on multiple runs finding water, talking to security and staff, going to find models that were lost finding the place, and whatever else was needed from us.

After about 5 hours of prep time (I had no idea getting ready could take so long), everyone was just about ready for the fashion show. We started heading over and getting everything set up. My job during the show was to stand by the stage entrance and remind all the models to watch their head as they walked through since there was a low bar and they all had crazy hair and hats on. I also had to assist them up the steps, which, again, I could not complain about. The show went great and lasted about half an hour, which is crazy because it honestly felt like it was 5 minutes long!

After the show was finished, Rebecca made some ending comments and thanked everyone for coming out. We cleaned everything up and said our goodbyes. There was supposed to be an after party but it ended up not being what we thought and nobody went, which is alright with me because I was exhausted after that whole day. It was an awesome experience and I would love to do something like this again (especially working with the models…). Rebecca was wonderful and did a great job putting together the whole event also.

That’s all I have for now! Good times!

-Sean

I put the suit on and it enveloped me. I’m only 5’3” and that thing is definitely made for people much taller than me. The legs took over my feet and cascaded well past my hands. The gloves were so big that my dexterity was definitely at an all time low, evident when I tried to grab at some sunglasses but instead fumbled them 2 feet away. As for my vision…that’s a whole other story.

While in the suit I got to get away with basically whatever I wanted. First line of business, was to own the place. I got to kick people out of seats, style them mid-interview and hit them with skateboards. The grand finale was when I got to paint Wyatt’s face like a panda. Not many people get to say they’ve done that!

It has been nice getting to go to the office now since I live in the area. Live is a relative term since I’m still technically homeless, but should be moving in to a place this coming week, fingers crossed. Best part is it’s only a block from the beach! Getting to spend my Thursdays with the interns has helped lift my spirits considering all the mishaps with the move so far. I’ve only been here 2 weeks and I’ve managed to get caught in the throws of a coffee chucking war at Starbucks (of course I had on my favorite white shirt), become a run away from a bad situation leading to my homeless-ness, and when I tried to help a random stranger at a park they in turn asked to hire me as a prostitute. I honestly don’t know how I get myself in these situations, but weird stuff like this happens to me all the time.

This coming week is looking promising. We have an eco fashion event with Mink shoes. These little beauties are absolutely gorgeous! They’re vegan, made with all plant and recyclable materials. They’re Italian engineered and actually hold up better than their leather predecessor. Looking forward to seeing these heels walk down the runway accompanied by our bamboo decks! I will be writing a blog on that event for sure to keep you all up-to-date on such an exclusive opportunity.

Till then, keep it grassy San Diego!

Personally the last two weeks were pretty hard. I spent the entirety of week 9 up in NorCal (where I am originally from) with my family and had to work remotely. That being said I do not envy any intern that ever has or ever will work remotly, it is not as fun as working in office, I spent most the week feeling as though I was missing out on all the amaizing and awesome things that were happening in office without me. Plus, to make it even worse, Geoff decided that while I was gone it would be a perfect time for him to swing by and say hi to the crew (obviously myself excluded).

On a more positive note this week has been a lot of fun. Mark has been working hard at landing us some pretty awesome PR (more to come in later posts I am sure) and on Wednesday Jonathan, Mark, and I spent a good solid 5 hours picking up shortboard trucks, finding the best of the best shortboards, gripping them, building them, shrink wrapping, packing, and finally (in the knick of time) pushing them out the door for our trusty UPS man to take them away.

We also had our Mock-Interviews this week and I felt really  onfident with the outcome of mine. I did miss a few keypoints due to the fact that I have never done a Skype interview before but it really was great practice. From what I have been told by friends that now work at amazing companies, Skype interviews happen, they happen often, and more than likely they will happen to you so make sure you practice getting comfortable talking into that little dot on your computer. Practice building a relationship with an image and a dot even though there is no one around (ya that sounds a bit creepy).

We are all super stoked for the upcoming week as we have a fashion show up in LA that we are participating in and most of the team will be heading up there for that. What’s better than beautiful people, eco events, and Bamboo Skateboards!!

Im sorry I don’t have much more to discuss this week but I can promise you that a lot of things are in the works and Bamboo is growing so very very fast!

Next weekend we have an eco fashion show event that we all get to attend, which is going to be rad! Ashley and I were looking at the shoes produced by the designer Rebecca Mink. They were B-E-A-UUUUUUUUU-TIFUL! But when we looked at the price reality hit us…….. hard. Lets just say neither of us will be owning a pair of those shoes anytime soon :/ . BUT those of you who actually are getting paid should definitely check her stuff out.  SO CUTE!  All and all it was pretty successful week. That is about all I got for you. I will talk to you soon!

Ciao,

Alex

Our tarp surfing was immediately a hit (especially considering it was a 12 and under surf contest). Everyone was hitting it up, from dads to little five year old groms. It was a site to see but it got tiring running back and forth all the time so we finally handed it over to the kids and they had an absolute blast. Later on, a news crew stopped by and interviewed one of our employees about us… and thats when Boo (the panda mascot) made his way out. He started getting mischievous during the interview then decided to take it to a whole different level and actually pull into the green room.

The camera crew loved that and wanted to film a couple more runs of Boo getting shacked. So we ran a few more then everyone was out with their phones and cameras trying to get a little bit of panda shredding action. The rest of the day was pretty packed, from managing the tarp surfing, to talking about Bamboo Skateboards at our product tent and selling some decks.

The only bummer about the whole tarp surfing event was the painting I did on it the day before got absolutely demolished. I’m stoked I got to spend the day painting though. Plus, you could tell everyone that hit up the tarp surfing because they all had paint chips in their hair and all over their clothes.

All in all, I would say this was one of my favorite weekends/events of the entire internship. From preparation to execution, the whole experience was an absolute blast. I wish we could do this every weekend!

That’s all I have for now folks! Until next time.

Sean

In my last blog I left off talking about how we were prepping for the Cardiff Surf Classic. Well we made it down there first thing in the morning, we got all set up and it was into the flow from there. We had a tarp wave shacking little groms from all over, we had a skate obstacle course with a drop in ramp and a sweet little lounge for attendees to relax and enjoy the cool breeze by the beach. As soon as that tarp wave got all set up, it was a non-stop ride all day. Kids just couldn’t get enough. Even the panda had to get in on the action. We also helped out with a board swap, which allowed attendees to bring their boards, and either try to straight swap them for another board, or sell them to any interested buyers.

Near the end of the event we hosted a raffle, which stoked out families with some fresh new gear, including shirts, grip tape, stickers and a deck. Overall, the event was a great success. Everyone was pumped just to be a part of such a forward thinking movement. My prediction is that the Cardiff Surf Classic will continue to grow and inspire the minds of people all over San Diego.

Just last Friday we were shooting a video for a fundraiser that we will be hosting. It was a really cool day, everyone had their interviews, some of the team riders were skating around the warehouse, and of course boo was causing a little mischief on scene. We can’t wait to see how this video turns out. So far it is looking pretty sick if I must say so myself.

Talk to you soon!

Monday was Midterm Monday. We have been stressing over this thing for the past 2 weeks, at the least. Between getting the Excel formulas right, using the correct formatting, figuring out the math and determining what exactly to do with that frickin’ shipping cost, we have collectively spent days in terms of hours working on this thing. Every collaborative effort was met with a remark from someone saying, “I can’t even look at this anymore!” Shockingly, thanks to all the practice, the midterm in and of itself wasn’t too bad. The preparation had done its part and 4 hours after receiving the file we were all done…until the final that is.

The rest of the week had been a big game of catch-up. We can finally prioritize other internship items into the equation and – fingers crossed – boost some numbers!

What has made this whole week hard for me is balancing the internship and quality time with my family and friends, because on Wednesday I began the 4+ day road trip from Miami, FL, to San Diego, CA. Wednesday I watched one last Atlantic sunrise before packing up my car and heading out. I ran it for the state line that day, but it still took 10 hours to get out of Florida, and come Alabama I had already listened to all the CDs I could find in my car.

Thursday was a day full of swamps and marshes. I marked Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana before stopping in Houston to hunt down some Wifi for the weekly intern Skype meeting. Timing was perfect, because as soon as the meeting was done it was off to meet some friends from Honduras who just so happened to be in Houston at the same time. One of the guys, who is essentially my big brother from another mother, had no clue it was me he was meeting for dinner. You would have thought he had seen a ghost when I jumped out from behind the hostess stand; the look on his face was priceless. We ended up chatting until the restaurant closed and I was reminded just how refreshing a talk with good friends can be.

Now it’s Friday and I’m continuing the drive through Texas. This has been the hardest day for me in regards to the internship solely because I’m driving through the desert and there is no hope of me getting any sort of wifi, 4G, 3G…nothing. I can’t get on Twitter or social media, I can’t work on my Hookit, I can’t download files; I’m helpless and listening to my CDs again for the 6^th time since there’s not even radio out here. This is why the team is so important. I may be completely paralyzed right now, but luckily I work with an amazing group of interns who are working their butts off right now. Staying on the positive side of things, I’m getting this blog prepared along with a few other files to upload as soon as there’s even a shred of Internet connection.

I’m almost to New Mexico where I will be stopping for the night. Highlight of the day was when a trucker at the gas station informed me I was no where near a body of water, only for another car with a surfboard attached to the roof to pull up next to mine. Great minds think alike I guess. Tomorrow I’m going to go check out Roswell to meet some aliens if I’m lucky. Wish me luck in not getting abducted, but who knows, maybe I’ll be able to interest them in buying some BambooSk8 decks.

Last few weeks I have had less time for Bamboo Skateboards, last weekend I was Best Man at a good friends wedding way up in the boondocks of NorCal and brought back exaustion and lost work time. While I wouldnt have changed anything about my trip I must admit my body still hates me a bit.

We all turned in our midterms this week and everyone killed it!! All that preperation really paid off for our team and I couldnt be prouder of all of us. We have also tweaked things around a bit to focus our goals on a bigger picture and to spread Bamboo across these United States. If you have a shop you want to see us in please feel free to harras us and we will get it done.

On a lighter note we were on the news!! Our fearless leader Mark was on the news a few days ago to help promote the Cardiff Classic tomorrow and Jonathan and I were there dressed as our Panda mascot Boo. If you live in San Diego you may have seen us on around 9:00am on Channel 6 SD. There were 2 segments, one about a museum and their haunted house style events and another about the Classic. Jonathan took care of the first segment jumping around and dancing in the background giving everyone there a good hard laugh and I followed with our segment hanging out with Mark. After filming they let me run into the studio and attempt to interrupt another segment but alas I just missed it. No worries though the two anchors were so stoked on the costume that they took photos with me in their chairs talking to them and the even let me film a promo with Kristen (the female of the duo). All and all it was a pretty awesome day for all of us, especially Boo!

Tomorrow is the annual Cardiff Surf Classic & Green Beach Fair here in Cardiff by the Sea and I am stoked. We have been working on painting a BA tarp for tarp surfing, a kicker for a skateboarding obstacle course, and priming Boo for his next big appearance see he co-anchored the news with Kristen Xetv of Channel 6 News here in San Diego. Be sure to make it out tomorrow and say hi as we melt in the sun, weather channel says its going to be an amazing 84 out so you really have no excuse not to make it.

Just yesterday Mark, Thane and I went down to San Diego’s CW 6 for their San Diego Living segment. We joined a couple of other companies who will be attending the Cardiff Surf Classic this Saturday. Before we went on I asked the group if I could put on the Panda suit and get in their shot, and they were all about it! I was super stoked because I got to give the reporter a big panda hug. Then we did our segment, and Mark killed it. He pitched all of the cool stuff we have going on with iRide, Eqo Optics, the trophies and everything. Then, I asked the producer if we could get the Panda in the studio, and they were all about it! The woman reporter couldn’t stop laughing when as she posed like she was having a serious interview. It was great. Overall, the event was a tremendous success.

Now, we are getting all set up for our event at the Cardiff Surf Classic this Saturday. We have our kicker ramp all spray painted up, we have our obstacle course planned out, and Sean is finishing up spray painting the tarp wave that we are bringing down.  It has been quite an eventful week and I look forward to the event this weekend!

This weekend we will be attending the Cardiff Surf Classic & Green Beach Fair. It sounds like it is going to be a sick event!!!! Unfortunately I will be out of town for it and I am bumming hard!!! But oh well. All of us interns have been working hard to get ready for the event.

Until next time,

Ciao,

Alex

This week or big project was a mock midterm (aka our midterm prep) and it hit us strong and hard. As a team we worked almost the entirety of yesterday in the cave going over all the nitty gritty details and helping each other out of some tough situations. Lets just say that I feel a lot better about the actual midterm in a few weeks. Lucky I am pretty comfortable with Excel because there was some crazy work being done!!

Other than the midterm I also sent the whole team to the finals of the RSSS event in Pacific Beach. Originally I was going to attend but something came up last minute and I had to back out. From what I have heard, the pictures that I have seen, and the number of boards they sold on the beach the event was a great time had by all. I am still working on securing us more events all the time and can’t wait for our next one.

Im going to keep this weeks blog short but to all you future interns out there don’t be afraid of taking the risk. All the hard work I have put in thus far has been very worth it. Each week that I complete brings me one week closer to the end and one week closer to a new beginning.

I came out to California to experience something new, but hoping it felt familiar. What I got was a magical land encompassing the beach lifestyle I knew back home, minus the hoards of leathered retirees and senior citizens. They were replaced by active, vibrant, people who jump out of work to surf on a good day and live everyday as if it’s their last. My expectations were surpassed ten-fold, and a lot of that had to do with the people at Bamboo Skateboards.

First, there are the interns. Alex, Jon, Sean, and Thane, are some of the best teammates I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. We help each other out and stay on each other to get work down. We communicate well together and if something needs getting done, we work at it together. It was especially nice getting to work the RSSS event together. It was fun work where we got to bury our feet in the sand, run around in a panda suit, and get free stuff. I’m looking forward to getting back and going out for our Panda Intern bonding event…I’ll spare you the details cause I’m not about to spoil the surprise. That’s going to be for future blog posts.

In the office it was Jackie the graphics guru, and Matt. They’ve been in our shoes before and are more than willing to help out the interns whenever we get stuck on a problem.

Then, there’s Geoff. Bossman Geoff. He will kick your butt, but in a good way. He’s a leader who truly wants to see you succeed as an intern and mentors to think more like owners and less like employees.

I can’t wait to get back out to California for good this time. For starters, this internship is a lot easier when performed at the source. Though it can be done remotely, it’s pretty impossible to communicate in real time with everyone on the West Coast and from what I’ve heard most remote interns drop. I can vouch for that because there’s so much going on and so many files it’s hard to keep track of them all. Having your fellow interns at your side to pull you along provides the encouragement needed to keep going, and the boost you need to make it through looooong Hookit lists and Excel files!

I’ll leave you with these photos I took on my trip. Maybe they will entice you to take the leap, leave it all behind and move to California for Bamboo Skateboards as well.

This past weekend we went to the Revolt Summer Surf Series final contest down in Pacific Beach and we got to bring the Boodah Panda suit with us this time! I volunteered to wear it first not knowing that that would mean I would be wearing it from then on. Haha. The vision in it is almost non existent so the other interns had to be my eyes. It is also an oven in there. But we headed up to the PB boardwalk with it and walked around the Pacific Beach Fest for a while. I couldn’t make it five feet without someone wanting to take a picture with the panda so we were able to get a ton of exposure and promotion which was rad.

I also got to chuck a soaked sponge at a high school kids face for their surf team fundraiser booth. The first throw I failed miserably but the second one I nailed him! After leaving the boardwalk I needed a break for a bit. We headed back out later and I put the suit back on. We decided to do some panda mischief and squirt people with a spray bottle that were laying on the beach. Great idea, difficult execution. Again, I couldn’t see anything and had huge panda hands so I don’t even know if it really worked. Haha. I did get into a little pretend scuffle with a hottie for stepping on her towel, but that was about it.

The rest of the day was spent in and out of the panda suit and messing around with kids and getting people over to the booth. Until all of a sudden ANOTHER panda comes walking onto the beach. I had to take action and let him know it was my beach so I threw on the suit real fast, grabbed a deck, and walked up to him to let him know what’s up. It’s tough to smack talk though when you don’t speak and difficult to fight when you cant see so we decided to be friends instead.

Finally, as the day was coming to an end, we decided to give Boodah one more go and charged up to the free concert at the PB Fest. It was a blast dancing around in the crowd of people until one dude decided to grab my head and shake it around. NOT COOL BRO! Other than that one guy, everyone else was super fun and I hope they had as much fun with the panda as I did being one!

Happy panda-ing!

Sean

On a more serious note… dun dun duuuuuuunnnnnnnn we have our midterm coming up  in 2 weeks and I am freaking out for it because I am horrible with math and accounting and it is all math and accounting. You may not think this is a big deal but lets just say that I changed my major in college to avoid taking math… so yea…about that haha O well we shall see how I do. O and on a completly different note, I learned how to put together a skate board this week! Go me!!  Sooo thats about all I got for you guys! Talk to you soon!

Ciao,

Alex

The last two weeks I was only able to attend 1 event but I made sure the interns going to the other events were ready as they will ever be. That meant heading into the compound early to make sure they had boards to display / sell at each event, making sure any boards we owed the event were accounted for and ready to be dropped off, as well as make sure all event materials (EZUp, chairs, displays, banners, etc) were ready and easy to get to. With a skate event in Orange and a surf event in Ocean Beach this took a little bit of time to prep. I was however able to make it to a launch party up in LA for a company / building / awesome idea called The Hub LA. It is a collaborative work space where you pay to come and work there with other creative and brilliant individuals from all walks of life and career directions. They was 3 of us interns who attended plus Geoff and one of his friends. The party was pretty awesome, live DJ, photo booth, dancers, creative writing walls, and of course some awesome food and drink. Before and after the event the other 2 interns and myself walked around a bit, since this was held in the art district there were some amazing murals all over the buildings. Unfortunately my phone’s camera is far below par so I do not have any pictures but I do plan on another trip to that area again soon, camera in hand.

Another huge event this week was our inventory day. I spent a good long time this week organizing all of our blank short boards, prepping some of them to be printed, organizing the now printed ones, and updating all of our inventory and outstanding orders. Lets just say short boards alone was a ton of work but then came the long boards. Our long boards have some of the coolest graphics ever and they have the “grip tape” built into the tops of the boards, what this means is you have to be VERY careful while stocking them so that you don’t cause any unwanted scratches to the awesome paint job. Oh and I forgot to mention how heavy those bad boys are!! Regardless we now have a full inventory of all of our boards and I must admit that it looks pretty awesome seeing them all out ready to be shipped to our loyal riders and shops across the globe.

With the 4th week coming to an end I must admit I have felt overwhelemed at times and I do not feel as though I have put my 110% into it as I plan to do so next week. This week I organized my time much better but its amazing how quickly a nicely laid out plan can crumble into a million pieces. To all those reading this in interest of becoming a futur intern I still fully recommend it but I must advize you to start working on that time management skill you think you have down cause time will mess with you a lot on here. Plus don’t you want to BBQ at the BambooSK8 compound??!!??!!

See you in a few weeks!!

Ever since Lewis and Clark teamed up with Sacagawea, and high-tailed it across America to find greener pastures, retirees from mid-America have debated where to spend their dying days. The Atlantic or the Pacific? Sunrises or sunsets?

Well, I’ve seen my fair share of sunrises and I’m ready for some sunsets. I’m Ashley, the newbie. I hail from the hot and humid land of South Florida, where hurricanes are a plenty and humidity will surely drown you.

A week ago I ran upon BambooSk8’s post for a new intern. I thought, “Huh, an environmentally friendly skateboarding company with a revolutionary personality, guts, and good reputation to boot? Lets do this!”  I sent my resume and a few days later I had my interview with Geoff. I’m reading the Intern Bible and sorting through what had to be 50 catch-up e-mails by the next day.

Not wanting to be behind, I wander over to a little local taco shop, sit down to all the e-mails and files I printed out, and begin to staple punch them into a binder. I still don’t know how I managed to do it, but somehow I hole punch my thumb. Blood squirts out, leaving a solid bloody thumbprint right next to my signature on the Confidentiality Agreement form. If it wasn’t official before that I am interning for BambooSk8, I’m pretty sure a blood pact makes it legit; Zach Galifianakis would be proud.

Now here I am in California hectically looking for housing, figuring out what area I want to live in, and all the other stresses that come with being in a new place. Yet, the highlight of this little adventure definitely has to be BambooSk8. It’s amazing the amount of responsibility that has been placed at my feet.  I have only just begun and I can already tell this is no ordinary internship. Instead of running around getting people coffee, common marketing internship “lessons” taught by the colossal corporate firms, I will get to learn and apply a number of marketing skills within a truly unique company.  Even though this internship is able to be performed from anywhere in the world, I’m changing my travel plans so I can spend a week in Oceanside to meet the talented people who run this BambooSk8, as well as the other interns.

Get excited. I have a feeling this intern class is going to bring a lot to everyone involved with BambooSk8, whether you’re an employee, client, customer, or future intern.

Here’s to what’s going to be a good intern class.

Cheers.

There have been 4 events that have happened so far, and unfortunately I have only made it to 1, which was the Revolt Summer Surf Series and it was awesome! But it is SO SAD that I have only been able to make it to 1 ! The RSSS events was such a great experience! I got a little peak and what being a rep was like.

Although it has been a great experience there have been some road blocks along the way. One road block, that does not make my job any easier is doing all the assignments from Malibu. This will change once I move down south to the beautiful city of La Jolla for school. Another difficulty that I am facing is losing the only other marketing intern while I am still trying to figure out everything that I am supposed to be doing. The last road block that I see in front of me is balancing school and this internship. The way to over come this is just by managing my time and not saving things to the last min. Although this internship is hard I look forward for the weeks to come and I look forward to getting closer to my fellow teammates! I don’t have any personal pictures to share with you unfortunately but I do have a funny pic I came across!!! Hope you like it! Until next time!

Xoxo Alex

The first event I went to was a contest at Vans Skatepark at the Block in Anaheim. The contest was called the OG Skate Jam and it was for sure OG. I was the only BambooSK8 person that was able to attend it so I was cruisin solo. Setting up took a while and it was 106 degrees! Fortunately, it was indoor and they were able to keep it relatively cool. It was held in the skull pool bowl and every skater in the competition was just classic old school pre-90s skaters. I did not see one flip trick the whole time but what I did see was some steezy boosts, grabs, laybacks and grinds. I had a pretty good seat too right on the edge of the bowl.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to sell anything but it was cool to meet people and talk about the brand with them. Plus, I got to kick back and watch some sweet skating all day so I can’t complain.

The next day I was back down in San Diego at the Surfrider Paddle for Clean Water event in Ocean Beach. This time Jonathan joined me and we set up right next to another bamboo booth. Jonathan did most of the setting up while I searched for a nonexistent parking spot. Finally I was able to join him and people were already flocking around our booth. When it was time for the paddle out all the participants gathered at the pier and started cruising out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in the water. It was incredible. It only went for a couple hours though and before we knew it we were finished. Nonetheless, we were able to meet some rad people and participate in a great cause. We even had a couple boards in the raffle and one of then winners of our “Ride Free” deck came over to show us.

Finally, last Thursday we were able to attend the launch party for The HUB in LA. It was a great crowd of people and the idea of the place was for creative minds to collaborate and meet each other. They also had classes and meeting spaces available. Great concept. It was pretty hot and loud so it was difficult to meet people sometimes but we were still able to make a few connections and talk with some people.

Well, other than the three events I’ve been pretty busy trying to figure out my responsibilities and how to go about handling each week and each task. I’m starting to get the hang of it but theres still a lot of work to be done. I’m also really getting to know the other interns and they are a rad crew to be working with. Can’t wait to have a successful 16 weeks with them! Till next time, Yew!

Sean

And, special thanks to Jackie for helping create the Green Washed Ritual Flyer. It was really cool to be able to jot down a design on paper, and see what Jackie could do with her graphic design skills. I hope to start learning the ways of graphic design, but for now I am a rookie, and I don’t even really have any good software. But, all in good time…

Two Sundays ago I was able to make it down to OB for the Surfrider’s 21^st Annual Paddle for Clean Water. I met Sean down there and we got our booth all set up for the event. We met another company down there called CaliBamboo and we posted up right next to them. It was pretty cool having our own little ‘bamboo corner.’ The event had an awesome turnout with a handful of vendors, the 91x crew and a live band playing some reggae and rock. We raffled off some decks as prizes, sold 6 decks and met with about 4 different people who were interested in working with BBSK8. Overall, it was a great time and super productive.

Just last Thursday I met up with Sean and Thane and we headed up to meet Geoff at The Hub in the Arts District in LA. The Hub is basically an office space that you can lease out. It is comprised of people who are creative, artistic, entrepreneurial, eco-minded and forward thinking. The place was really cool, they had huge whiteboards for walls with interesting questions like ‘who do you want to collaborate with?’ to which people just write down whatever comes to mind. Another cool thing about The Hub is that it is connected with other ‘Hubs’ around the world. You can go into a conference room and collaborate with a Hub in Melbourne, Australia. The event had an open bar (sweet), a DJ playing some bumpin’ jams, and some dancers who were entertaining and engaging the crowd. Oh ya, and they had a photo booth set-up with a bunch of weird and whacky hats, glasses and random stuff. Of course we had to get in on that. It was cool though; I networked with a few people, hung out the BBSK8 crew and had a good time.

Peace!

After my email of resognition I started selling everything I owned that I did not need, couch, tv, washer/dryer, coffee table, and yes even my bed.  I was in a mad dash to prepare for an amazing step in my life.

The first week of our internship was great! A few emails here and there from our leader, a couple simple projects to get done, an office day, and even an awesome surf competition in Pacific Beach! In the office we all met with one of the past interns who showed us all the applications we would be working on throughout the weeks and months to come. The 5 of us that are local went out to lunch with some of the BambooSK8 team and started to get to know each other. All and all week one was awesome, little did we know the ammount of work week two had waiting for us.

When I am not working on BambooSK8 projects I am neck deep in finding a job, as much as I love crashing on my friends’ couches my back is not too stoked on it. This plus a full week of full boo responsibilities made for a very, very, very busy week but I would be lying if I said I didn’t love it already. As a part of the PR team this week we learned how to correctly use all of our documents as well as all the proper procedures for finding media contacts, getting articles written about BambooSK8, and finding events to participate in.

Unfortunately I have to cut this post a bit short but to all you potential future interns out in the world reading this, don’t pass up this opportunity. It will work you (it already has), it will test you, but most and best of all it will teach you more than you could ever have imagined. Looking at my goals over the next 4 months I know that I am going to come out of this experience with an amazing eductaion and a un-replaceable experience.

Enjoy a few shots from our first event as class 14

Until next time. – Thane

I tried to go to my first event this previous weekend, however, when I got there it had ended way early and we were packing up all of our equipment. Apparently some of the surfers that were supposed to be in the competition didn’t show up for their heats. Woops. That was a bummer. Nonetheless, Thane, Alex and Jonathan said it went great which is good to hear. Fortunately, it seems like there is going to be a bunch of events, like the two that are going on this weekend. Both the OG Skate Jam at the Vans Skate Park in Orange County and the Paddle for Clean Water beach clean-up in Ocean Beach. I’m stoked to be going to both of these. It will give me some good practice with promoting the company personally rather than from behind a computer, which is perfect because I feel much more confident talking with someone face-to-face. Also, I haven’t been to the Vans skate park since I was a tiny little grom so hopefully I can get a quick little skate sesh during some downtime.

We also got these awesome new glasses made for us when Mark went out with IRideIRecycle to the Surf Expo. They are made from recycling our bamboo decks and the curves for the frames is from the curve of the nose and the tail, while the facial curve comes from the curve across the width of the deck. Pretty rad concept. I wanna get me a pair!

Anyways, back to business, the learning process this week has been gnarly and I can understand why some people have dropped out. However, I feel like once we start getting the hang of it we will become more efficient and wont waste as much time learning processes, and instead just be slammin out some professional level labor. That about wraps it up for the first two weeks. The next post should be pretty exciting after getting a couple of events under my belt and getting the process down.

Until then, adios!

So far it has been pretty intense, learning HookIt and trying to keep track of all the kids, but I know as the weeks go by, it will get easier. Virva and Corey , the interns from the last class, have been a great help is getting us new interns all set up.  I can’t express my gratitude enough to them for walking me through some pretty mundane stuff, like how to fill out the MPS Commitment sheets. Much appreciation!

As we come to a close to Week 2, I hope I am fulfilling all my duties as outlined in the Syllabus.  I’m trying to keep on the HookIt file, generate more Facebook likes and stay on top of my MPS commitments. Let’s see if I can do it!

Cheers,

Amy

NAN

Anyway, moving on, our first event was this last Saturday at the Revolt Summer Series Surf Contest and it was pretty fun but was definitly a learning experince. It was run by just interns, so clearly  the theory of learning to walk before you run is not present at BambooSk8, and I am must say I am super proud of us for figuring out how to run our booth with out any real direction and only bothering Geoff a few times.. ( sorry Geoff) Thane, Johnathan and I, represented Bamboo Sk8 pretty well!  We made our first Sale ( yea go US!) and we unfortuantly had to give away six of our awesome decks to the contest for trophies otherwise I am pretty confident that we would have sold a lot more!  It was pretty funny trying to figure out everything but we pulled through! Overall it was a pretty awesome day, but things to take away from it are…. to read the event document before the attending/ packing up for an event, bring swag to sell (we had none down there), and find out a super cool marketing idea to draw kids an people to our tent! Overall it was a pretty awesome day!

Anyway thats all I have to say so far! Talk to you soon.

Ciao,

Alex

Just this last weekend myself and a few other interns packed up and headed down to the Crystal Pier in PB to rep BambooSK8 at the RSSS surf contest. It was a really awesome experience. I’ve represented products at shows before, but never at a contest, on a beach. It was a beautiful day, we met some great people, we told people about our super strong and eco-friendly decks, and we managed to sell a deck to a local Mission Beach skater. Overall, it was a good experience to start repping BambooSK8 and to get to know the other interns better.

Other than that, getting used to the technical procedures is easy to overcome with the Standard Operating Procedures that have been developed. I have chosen to take on more of the PR role with the internship and look forward to the upcoming projects.

It is no secret our blog entries these past sixteen weeks have been nothing but lyrical representations over a myriad of tracks in an emotional songbook. Through the highs and many, many lows, the only consistent aspect that provided any sort of amelioration can be attributed to personal growth. Don’t get me wrong—it came at a lofty price. The tremendous amount of growth is only paralleled to the blood, sweat and tears poured into this internship; and for that, I am truly proud of our class. The amount of work, sleepless nights, improvisation and growth was paramount and completely intrinsic to our success. There is serious vindication for all of us, despite our doubts and criticisms and (at least for me) novel mistakes.

To Class 14 and other prospective interns: look before you leap. This environment harbors no fortuitous nature of any kind—it will only reciprocate exactly what you put into it. You will work hard—possibly the hardest you have ever worked in your life—and then pushed to work harder. Your tasks will compound themselves. You will feel you are learning exponentially, at times too much. You will be asked to do more. You will be accountable for everything—even those of which you had no part. You will feel your efforts are never appreciated, let alone adequate. You will be frustrated. You will be exhausted. You will be weary, beaten and even broken. That is what this internship is designed for—to push you to your absolute limits. Your team mates and tenacious positivity will be your only allies–use them.

When it is all over, your original self will have been so warped and eroded that only a different version of yourself will remain—a version you never knew existed. For this person, I am so very grateful and you will be too, should you decide to embark on this tumultuous journey.

To BambooSK8: thank you for the opportunity and allowing a nomad like myself to run your public relations efforts. Lastly, to my fellow interns, past and present: I lack the articulation (and sophistication) to express my sincere gratitude. Just know I thank you more than I can ever express here. We are the total sum of everything we’ve experienced thus far, and I only hope the pride you have crafted these past sixteen weeks mirrors the image I have of all of you.

Cheers,

Virva
BambooSK8 Class 13

For those about to endure their 16 weeks with BambooSk8 I will part with a few lines about the internship. It is about taking advantage of the situation and making the most out of the experience for yourself, no one is going to do anything for you. It’s about being true to what you say, digging deep, and being accountable. It’s about showing up and being present, every time. It’s about communicating, creating a bond, and seeing things as they are not how you want them to be. Overall, it’s about honesty, having standards, and not doubling back on them. In the end your hard work should prevail.

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, thanks to all the interns, past and present, for being such an asset to part of class 13. It has been great to meet you all and I wish you the best in the future. I am looking forward to pursuing a career in action sports and feel I made a good choice to start here. So to BambooSk8, thanks for the opportunity to be involved in an industry I have the deepest passion for, one love.

Jacob

For those of you considerng pursuing this opportunity, let me tell you that this is not for the faint of heart. You will hate it at times, and you will be broken down to your roots. You will be pushed above and beyond your comfort level. However, if you’re like me trying to make your way through the action sports industry, this is a great opportunity that will help you immensely. Take leadership of your life and find your opportunity rather than sitting on Malakye and waiting for it to come to come to you.

The course’s end is now more palpable than ever, but like the Olympic marathon runners I have watched this past week, I feel we are now using our last reserves of energy to reach our goals. We are so very close!

I have noticed there is a need to write PR SOP files for the next class; since they aren’t currently in existence.  Going back through the email history of this internship and my postings, I find that I have made a great deal of mistakes. However, these mistakes were all part of the learning process—it is only because I did not know any better and acted with the best of my abilities at the time.

I am now utilizing any spare time I have to write these SOP files specifically for PR; to ensure the next class will also learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. It’s quite an interesting position I find myself in; knowing literally nothing about PR at the start of this internship and now being able to impart so much of what I have learned. It’s a fantastic sensation when you feel your contributions are of equal magnitude to those of your peers’.

On that note, there is still quite a bit of work ahead of me including a 5:30 conference with Mr. Black & White Truffle Cheesecake…..<sigh>..the obligations one must fulfill in the name of work.

-Virva

With all that being said I was able to grab some more skateboard decks and get hustling at the skate parks! Been hitting up the skate park more these past few weeks than I have been able to in the past couple months (no complaints about that) and looking for those kids with the haggered boards. Kids have been really receptive to the boards and interested in trying them. Again, with points playing a major factor of finishing this internship out right I gotta push those sales!

The next time the blog is edited it will be my last days of the internship, so I’ll save it for now and get back to work. Even though we have two weeks left I have to say thank you to all the interns, present and not present, for all their hard work, assistance, and insight. It was great to meet you all!

Last weekend Oliver, Corey and myself attended the Seismic US Open in Oceanside, which was my first slalom skate experience. We all enjoyed ourselves and were able to network with locals and greats of the slalom community. It was a fantastic experience.

Unfortunately, this week did not follow a similar, jovial pattern. Our class has been downsized to half in a matter of 36 hours, which seemed quite capricious. In all honesty, I am not entirely confident I will pass the internship on BambooSK8’s quantitative (and sometimes pedantic) standards either.

However, whatever the result may be, I feel this internship was rather fortuitous. Since I lack experience in the action sports industry, I am very grateful I was chosen to be apart of Class 13. Having contributed a lot of hard work, stress and sleepless nights, I have learned a tremendous amount. I also consider myself so lucky to be in the company of like-minded, talented, smart and terrifically versatile individuals. I have learned significantly more than I had ever anticipated and have grown so much in these few months.

Because of this, I consider this internship a personal success and feel the slow erosion of my own diffidence with this industry. Myself, Corey and Jacob will continue pursuing our respective goals to the best of our abilities these next four weeks. Collectively, I know we have a lot to accomplish, but it’s important not to lose perspective. We have also accomplished quite a bit professionally and personally, and for that, we should all be so very proud of our successes.

-Virva

These last 4 weeks we’re going to be focused on goals. We’ve all agreed to do what is necessary to succeed. Hopefully we will be able to meet our goals in the end and earn some points back so we can all pass this internship! I’m 100% confident that we will try our best to do so, and will have some interesting things coming up soon! Keep an eye out!

These photos come to you from the U.S. Seismic Event downhill longboarding comp we attended. Super gnarly.

Last weekend, I got to attend the Seismic US Open in Oceanside, CA. This was the first time I had seen downhill slalom racing in real life, and let me assure you..it was pretty bad ass. There were all sorts of OG shredders that came to race. Some of the pros included: Lou Statman, Richy Carassco, Joe McLaren, Louis Ricard, Chris Yandall, Dave Hackett, last but not least, contest director and 8x world champ, Lynn Kramer. Each one of these fearless riders raced down the steep downhill of N Loretta Street, and showed us how it’s done. Thanks to all the pros and supporters that recreated the legacy of the once very popular, downhill slalom race, right in front of my eyes.

For more photos: http://www.facebook.com/BambooSk8

Stay tuned for more event info coming soon!

-In Bamboo We Trust-

Since our last post, a MAJOR event occurred here in LA, the X-Games! Being that I only live 10 minutes away from downtown, I had the opportunity to attend a few events before work. As expected, LA Live was completely packed and I saw so many athletes and amazing venues for skate. It was an awesome first experience!

 On a more local note, we had not one, but two “out-of-the-office” office days!

The first one was in Newport, where we were able to get 5 out of the 6 of us down for a day of work and fun. We accomplished a lot, including some midterm discussions with Jacob on Skype, visiting Volcom Skatepark and ending the day in classic Class 13 style—Taco Tuesday! I think being out of the office and meeting somewhere new was a great experience for everyone, both in productivity and bonding.

 This week we decided to meet up here in L.A. Unfortunately, only a few of us could attend, but it was the first time those few of us had the opportunity to finally meet our NorCal intern, Jacob. It was really fantastic meeting him, even if only for a few short hours. We were able to get some work done, laugh a bit, and have some great discussions.  I really hope he has the opportunity to come down south again, so the rest of the class can meet him.

As for this weekend, the Seismic US Open skateboard slalom race in Oceanside is on Saturday, of which myself, Corey and Oliver are attending. It is going to be my first skateboarding race, so I have no idea what to expect! All I know, is it’s going to be a great day to promote BambooSK8 and really network with skaters on the local level.

As for the remaining six weeks, I have no idea what to expect either; only that it is going to continue to become more hectic and challenging. Geoff reminded us that it is difficult to balance all of life’s demands with an internship; and that it will only get harder. I am finding more validity in this statement every week, as new obligations come obligingly to my door, increasing the intensity of pressure in my already-too-busy schedule. However, I find I can only meet this intensity with a laugh and smile.  Although there are times when it seems your life continues to diverge your attention, we must remember we are only one person (physically, anyway) and that we can only ‘do what we can, with where we are, with what we have’—ourselves.

-With the waves picking up here in southern California, the Heat winning the championship, and the weekend knocking at the door, all I can say is LIFE IS GOOD!

Until next time…Skate hard, skate green!

I once met someone that had the words, “I am my own experience” tattooed across his chest. It intrigued me, and I always thought I knew the meaning of it. I always thought it meant that we become what our past experiences have shaped us to be. However, over the past few weeks, I have come to realize that it might mean something different. Maybe it’s not what we have become, but rather, who we choose to be. I am my own experience. I choose my experience, I shape my future, I am a reflection of my choices, and I have to power to give myself limitations, or set the standard. I have chosen this internship to challenge myself and to give myself an entrance into the action sports industry. Thus far, I have been met with challenge after challenge, which constantly tests my limit. My work is a reflection of myself and I choose what this reflection is. Now I realize that I am shaping my experiences to exceed my limit, and push past my comfort zone. In return, my experience is shaping who I am, and who I will become. I am my own experience is the act of utilizing your experiences to shape who you will be.

To those who are considering taking this internship, let me tell you that it is not for the faint of heart. It is challenging and will test your limits in every sense of the word. You, like many of the interns, will not have much of a life for 16 weeks. However, you will be taking a step towards the greater good of your career and your individuality. You will learn more about yourself in 16 weeks than you might have learned in the past 5 years. You are creating your own experience, and are therefore, allowing your experience to shape you. It’s a test and a challenge, but if you’re up to it, you have nothing to lose.

Until next time,

Travis

I believe that motivation is a major factor to progression and fuels working morale. It is important to stay motivated and keep on keepin on. Motivation is what fuels me to drive better results and producing good work. Enough talk about motivation, time to get back to work! Appreciate life, Live Green, and love everything in between.

The saying “it’s all downhill from here” doesn’t really apply to this internship (for those of you considering doing it). It’s a constant challenge, and even though we’re half way there, things are continuing to get more challenging. Goals to meet, events to plan, decks to sell.

However, we are all becoming a team more and more. Better and more effective communication has been key. We are figuring out not only our own strengths and weaknesses, but also that of our co-interns, as we build and grow off each other. We are slowly creating a fit among the team, to where I can finally say that I feel like we are contributing to BambooSK8 as a whole.

This is our chance to really create ourselves. Through success or failure, this has been a huge learning experience for us, and I’ve made some great friends in the process.

Long live the boo crew!

A Day for Dad in Carlsbad has come and gone, which Oliver, Gavin and myself attended. It was unfortunately not very populated, but the weather was gorgeous and we got to speak to some great people and spread the word about BambooSK8.

 The following week, Corey, Mark, Geoff and myself all attended Thief Presents’ Psychotropic Summer art/music show, featuring local bands from San Francisco. It was a new experience for all of us, but a ton of fun, too! Of course, Panda made two appearances; courtesy of Corey and myself—our debut performance in the Panda suit. I wasn’t prepared for just how impaired our vision would be in that thing (and also how HOT), but we managed to guide each other through the crowd while capturing some great pictures. I was so glad Corey was there—in addition to playing a blind panda, I am not sure how I would have survived the bludgeoning I endured from the overly-enthusiastic (and probably ‘chemically enhanced’) attendees! “WHOOOOAA! IS THAT A PANDA?! LET’S HIT IT!”

Aside from events, this was also the week of the Midterm. I can speak for all of us that we are SO very glad it is over with. I know as a class we are very proud and worked very hard to earn our respective scores, even if we did meet a sleepless night or two.  Good marks aside, I can honestly say I am pleased with the vast amount of knowledge I have acquired in the process; for I know it will be tremendously useful in the future regardless of what industry I may find myself in!

Next week I am most looking forward to us having an “out of the office” office day. Since most of us are spread out here in SoCal, we have all decided to meet in Newport at a local cafe, since it is equidistant for most of us. It is going to be a fun yet productive day, where we can enjoy the close proximity of each other, delight in the outdoors and become supremely caffeinated! It’s going to be great!

As for the next 8 weeks, I am ready to embrace what new challenges await us. I know there are going to be some major changes in the program in addition to more tasks and goals that need to be completed. We all have done so much work and are anticipating even more ahead of us. For the second half of this internship, I am sure the depths of our limits will become even more palpable. After all, let us not forget it is summer…. and we’re about to feel a heat wave.

This week, 4 of the 6 of us made it into the office on Tuesday. It was such a fantastic day full of productivity. Corey, Oliver, Nick and myself were able to work on our commitments individually and collectively, as well as had an AWESOME brainstorming session for campaign ideas. We were bouncing off ideas of each other and really gained a nice momentum. This really got the perpetual hamster wheel turning for me, as never before had I needed to contribute ideas related to marketing. For me, it was like my hamster ditched his wheel and was allowed to explore the foreign territory outside the comfort of his wheel–fully utilizing the majesties associated with plastic-ball travel! In the end, I think we all were very proud of what we were able to contribute and produce. HOORAH!

After a long hard day, we decided to take advantage of the close (and rare) proximity to each other and had a mini group-bonding session at Norte Cantina. Taco Tuesday will never be the same! The session consisted of relieving a lot of stress, some stellar analogies contributed by Nick and laughing a ton while washing it down with some awesome drink and taco specials. We all had a blast and only wish the other two interns, Jacob and Travis, could have joined us.

In addition to the usual activities and group bonding session, we were also faced with a formidable opponent—the midterm practice exam. Yikes! Talk about a daunting and tedious task, especially to those of us who never (and I mean never) had taken any kind of business/accounting/finance class. Many, many hours were devoted to reading over the prep provided to us by Geoff, in addition to creating the excel file itself. Despite the many hours consumed by the task and the many whoopee pies consumed by me,

...nomnomnom...

I honestly enjoyed it. I learned SO much! In a 48-hour period, I learned a TON about finance and accounting. So many different variables go into managing cash flow and income statements for a small business; I can only begin to imagine the magnitude of these on a corporate scale! Whether my sheet is flawless, has yet to be determined, but I feel so very proud of myself. It’s like one of those problems you encounter in Calc 3 or DiffEQ: one problem could honestly take hours and pages to solve, but when you do and you see the bigger picture, it’s truly glorious!

In addition to my excitement of Accounting 101, I am also excited for our event tomorrow in Carlsbad Village. It’s the “A Day for Dad” event, and Oliver and myself are going to attend. Go Team PR! I’m excited to lead this event as a team, to educate the public about BambooSK8, sell some decks, see some great art, listen to some live music and meet a lot of people. We will definitely be posting our experience on the social networks via verbal and pictorial posts (I personally am partial to Instagram). What dad wouldn’t want a new deck?

-Virva

Got the chance to make it to the O.G. Jam series last weekend, it was a blast! Those old guys shredded that bowl to pieces.

Well, looks like it’s that time to start the weekend and celebrate the BIG 23! And with that being said..until next time my people!

-Travis

This next event that BambooSK8 will be apart of tomorrow is at the Village Faire in Carlsbad. It’ll be a collection of local businesses and vendors tabling for father’s day. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by and check us out, maybe pick up a new deck for your Dad! Also, BambooSK8′s panda will be out there hangin back with us, and I may or may not be the one in that suit.

As far as everything else in this internship, things are going well. We are all gaining more responsibilities and taking on projects to help fine tune BambooSK8′s marketing. BambooSk8 is recognized and has a presence in the skateboarding community, but we’re all hoping to expand this presence over the Summer. Watch out everybody, BambooSK8 is on its way to shifting gears on full throttle, and not stopping for anybody. Coming soon, to a park or shop near you!

Why you may ask? Although the tasks are piling on, and we’re all stressing out and pushing hard to maximize our points, the reason I’m so excited is for our plans. After all these weeks we finally have some set ideas to put into action. We have some fun contests we’re holding, events we’re attending, and of course, some awesome times to look forward to with my fellow interns and peers.

Things are also getting easier as they continue to get harder. It’s a fine balance, however, I can tell that I’ve been pushing myself past my comfort zone and into that “sweet spot” where I’m maximizing my efficiency and yielding my best results. I’ve not only grown professionally, but also as a person. They say that experience is one of the most beneficial education, and I can wholeheartedly back that up. This is by far one of the best learning experiences I’ve had the chance to obtain.

I’m stoked to be part of the bamboo crew!

But here goes another week, although things become more and more clearer as I go I am still experiencing the unexpected road blocks. Every week I am certain I will experience something that may slow me up but it’s all about the follow through. In the end though I am learning a knowledge that I don’t know how else I would have acquired. Prepping for this upcoming mid term is really taken me through subjects I didn’t know I would ever go through again, and then some. I find it’s experiences in life such as this that will have an impact on the people we are.

This past weekend there was a couple of events in which BambooSk8 was participating in. It’s super cool that the interns who live closer are able to make a presence at these events. I’m hoping to make it possible at some point over the next couple months.

Keep On Keeping On.

Jacob

Custom BambooSk8 Deck and Promo Code Coupon.

Life happens, as we all know, so I certainly had to pick up some extra shifts at work this week. It’s remarkable how significant 5 hours is when you remove its previous designation from BambooSK8 duties to working a shift.  Don’t get me wrong—I certainly made the right choice to work my shift, but what remained was a deficit in time to complete BambooSK8 tasks. To account for this deficit, I have resulted to borrow hours from sleep; like so many professionals and students do when urgency warrants it. It almost seems necessary.

Most of the time, this kind of behavior is a result of poor time management or procrastination. I can honestly say I could possibly be guilty of the former but certainly not the latter.  I’m slowly learning that time management is as much an art form as it is a science.  By this, I am referring to those of us who overload our schedules; spreading ourselves too thin in the tasks we set to accomplish. We neglect to be mindful of accounting for even the most mundane and primal of activities, like eating, exercising, commuting and especially sleep.  I have set my schedule, rather unrealistically, to working for 10 hours at a time. Consequently, after this was put into practice, I lacked the scheduling acumen in not only completing my goals but also accounting for daily human living. My social activity was monopolized by sequestration, my eating habits had adopted a capricious rhythm, and my sleep was far too ephemeral.

Despite this, I know I am only learning and improving on managing my time better. It’s been great speaking with the other interns whose concerns parallel mine. I cannot emphasize how intrinsic it is to cultivate these personal relationships, especially in regards to professional and personal growth. I am so very grateful for their support and suggestions, and will certainly put them to practice in the future. Week five, here I come!

Week 4 is coming to an end…and each week is proving to be a challenge. I had the pleasure of making the trip down to the office this week. It was nice to be able to put a face to a name with some fellow interns. Welcome to the cave:

Got my intern deck this week and I’ve been skating it at the local park here in Oxnard. These boards are no joke! The pop is noticeably better than any maple deck I have ever ridden, and you can feel the strength of the bamboo on those heavy landings. Get your feet on one of these!

Getting stoked already for this weekend, got the Bud Light Lime Surf Series going on in Oceanside and then the O.G. Jam Series at Skatelab up in Simi Valley on Sunday. Yupp, gonna be sick.

Make sure you guys are are keeping up with our Facebook page, you never know when the Panda is looking for some trouble!

Keep it real!

-Travis

So far, things are getting easier, yet much more challenging at the same time. Processes such as Hookit, Facebook, Twitter, and other weekly requirements are getting much easier to fulfill, and I can tell I’m becoming more efficient. However, the challenges are coming from new responsibilities that are coming from our teams. Since I last spoke to the world (through my blog) our team has become much better at communicating, which has made a tremendous difference in our efficiency! We’re all meeting multiple times a week with different people in order to plan out events, get ideas, and really get the ball rolling on this internship. This is the point that is going to define the leaders! It’s one thing to talk about what you want to do, but it’s a whole different thing to put those plans into action. Seems a bit daunting at times, however, my team is incredibly rad, to say the least! I’m definitely with a good group of people that I’m really looking forward to working with. Since our communication is better and we are all collectively helping each other, I feel we are creating much better synergy by working together to achieve our goals!

My week 4 nugget of wisdom is related to business that comes from an article called “What is Strategy?”:

Find your niche and actively pursue it! Finding your niche is important for numerous reasons. FIrst, it is a way of maintaining a competitive advantage through distinctive competencies. If you focus on this niche, you will create a fit within your company, which is not easily imitated by competitors. Also finding your niche will reduce “straddling”. Straddling occurs when you are in different markets within your industry. If you try to be in 2 different markets at once, it dramatically reduces efficiency, which causes the company to lose money. Finally, by finding your niche, it reduces competition. By finding your niche and trying to expand it within the industry as a whole, your competitors will feel less threatened. Therefore, they are less likely to attack you for “taking away” their customers.

Get ready for an insane summer, skaters! BambooSK8 has some awesome things planned for you!

Corey

As we begin Week 4 I can tell as a team of interns we are all in! It has only been one short month so far and I feel so involved. I am learning more and more about each aspect day by day as well as the importance of communication. Every day I wake up excited, become a little overwhelmed, and by the end of the day I feel a little more accomplished. Each day is filled with a full range of emotions. Being able to confide in the fellow interns as well as Mark and Geoff really makes me feel like part of the team. This internship is so different than any other job I have ever taken on and I appreciate the challenge. Although every task is full of ups and downs I am gaining a knowledge I wouldn’t be thinking about other wise.

The interns are great via Skype and email but I really wish I had the opportunity to visit the office and work with everyone face to face. I am hoping to make this possible come July, at least for a week.

Last but not least I am looking forward to receiving my BambooSk8 decks this week! I can’t wait to skate one and travel with them to Michigan in the upcoming weeks. It makes me feel like a little kid who wants to show off the new board, haha. Well this is still only the second post of many to come. Once again, I am so grateful to be welcomed on to this journey of an internship.

Jacob

Scholarly Journal

It’s pretty remarkable to think I was just introduced as the newest intern member of Class 13 only about a week ago. In recall the sensation of being utterly mystified as I gazed at the tasks put before me. My usual volubility was muted by the fact I felt rather incongruous to this environment—a feeling I hadn’t experienced before. Perhaps like interns before me, doubt had paid an unexpected visit. My only thoughts were, “….what have I gotten myself into?”.

Now only 8 days later, I can honestly say this week went tremendously better—not smoother—but better. I can attribute this improvement not to a flawless performance (my journey was fraught with mistakes) or good time management (I’ll sleep when I’m dead), but receiving tremendous support, guidance and advice via Skype from mentors and past/present interns. I cannot emphasize how intrinsic this was to my week’s success.

These people were generous enough to take time away from their busy schedules to further my familiarity with sites, give lucid instructions on main commitments and priorities, and most importantly, offer sound advice. This was probably the most potent elixir (amelioration, here I come!). I was able to complete my tasks in a timely manner (without too much panic), correct the previous mistakes I made, and learn how to produce better time management for week 4.

I noticed that although we are members of the same intern class, it is difficult not to feel disconnected due to the divisions in our respective areas and commitments. I know last week I had mentioned reaching out to others, but this week I learned even further that a willingness to connect to those around you only expedites the learning process and in turn, productivity. Why, oh why didn’t I do this sooner?!

Next week most of us are going to meet each other in the office personally, rather than digitally, to truly work together in accomplishing all of our goals. It’s gonna be RAD.

-Virva

A little bit about myself- I grew up in the small town of Sebastian on the east coast of Florida (Sebastian Inlet for all you surfers out there). From the time I was capable, I was playing baseball. Week in and week out it was baseball, baseball, baseball. But when I was 11 years old in the 6th grade, the city of Sebastian decided to build a public skate park just minutes from my house. From there on out it was game over, skateboarding had taken over. If I got my schoolwork finished and there were no waves (living in Florida there is a good chance of this), you could find me at the skate park. After high school, I decided to move north to Jacksonville to attend the University of North Florida. After 4 years in Jacksonville, I finally finished with classes, and came across this amazing opportunity with BambooSk8. So I packed my bags and headed for the west coast.

As for the internship, I’m stoked to get involved more with the hookit kids this next week and to get a better sense of how to use the site more efficiently by talking with prior intern David via Skype. This past weekend, I took some time designing some graphics for the Long Board Design Contest. I’m excited to see what kind of submissions we get, there are some talented people out there. Can’t wait to see what the summer has in store for us!

Cheers!
-Travis

I’ve learned so much already from this program and the interns i’ve skyped with, (shout out to the PR team)! Today, we had the pleasure of skyping with Geoff in which he alleviated our concerns, answered our questions, and dropped knowledge about himself and the journey to the Bamboo road. For that, I greatly appreciate his time as well as Paris’ and Virva’s, the other PR interns. I also want to thank Alissa, a past intern from the previous class, for showing me the ropes with Hookit.

I started out today confused and overwhelmed, but I’ll be ending tonight enlightened and with higher hopes. Don’t give up.

It’s the end of week 2 and I already feel like I’ve learned so much. Sometimes I feel like I’m almost learning a bit too much. For these first couple weeks it’s been an overwhelming amount of information about sales, marketing, social media, and about everything else needed to run a business. It’s overwhelming but also invaluable. I’ve learned so much already about HookIt, Twitter, Facebook and how it all works together to create an image and reputation for Bamboo SK8. I know, once I wrap my head around everything, I’ll be able to work more efficiently and with ease.

I’ve had some issues learning the ropes with the different tasks, but I can already tell it’s getting easier. I know this internship is going to push me well beyond my comfort zone and abilities, and although I know it’s going to be super difficult at times, I plan to take full advantage of it. After all, this is what it’s like in the industry and if I want to be successful in it, I need the best training I can get. This internship is amazingly structured to the point where I know exactly where I stand. It’s quite an incredible program that will help me a lot not only in my career, but also on a personal level.

In my blog updates I want to include a little nugget of information. Just a little something I’ve learned that has influenced me in some way or form.

Today’s nugget: When pursuing a career, choose a company as much as a company is choosing you. Look at your passions, values, and priorities in your life and reflect them upon the company you want to work for. Do they match up? Will you be happy if you got a job working for this company, or are you settling? If you’re settling and you’re not going to be happy, maybe it’s not the company for you. That’s why I wanted to intern for Bamboo SK8. I want to pursue a career that’s not only in the active sports industry, but is also very environmentally conscious and helps society be a better place. This is what Bamboo SK8 is all about. They are part of the revolution to improve the world. There’s a quote I will always remember from the book, Tuesday’s with Morrie that says, “[People] trade their dreams for a bigger paycheck”. For me, one of my dreams is to work in the active sports industry, and I’m going to do what I can to achieve that.

Anyways, I’m incredibly stoked to be part of such an inspirational and successful company that creates some of the best boards in the industry. I’m really looking forward to these next months working with my intern team and the rest of BambooSK8 to grow the company and help get our name out there.

Long Live the BOO!

-Corey

Luckily, BambooSK8 has a myriad of SOPs that seemed to be acutely designed for those of us foreign such tasks. I spent many hours today reading over the copious amounts of literature and trying to navigate my way through the tasks of social media giants like HookIt, Facebook and Twitter. I encountered a few bumps and errors, but learned a tremendous amount in the tedious hours I spent on an assignment—the beauty of the bell learning curve. WOO HOO!

Not only is the social media new territory for me (I enjoy exercising nomadic practices), but so too are the public relations and general marketing sectors. Having a fairly specialized background strictly in science, there is no arguing my skill level in these sectors (or lack thereof) pales in comparison to those of my peers and this environment I have chosen to surrounded myself in.

I came to BambooSK8 as an avid snowboard fan; eager to immerse myself in the world of action sports–specifically board sports. I had no idea what to expect, since I am only an enthusiast and know nothing of the inner workings of the industry; I was merely excited to be given the opportunity to learn about it. Today proved to be quite challenging and at times felt fairly daunting. However, it was comforting to know others have shared or are sharing similar feelings; that I wasn’t an outlier on the graph of intern adaptation trends. With this in mind, I am greatly anticipating the challenges that await me, and only hope to greet them as an opportunity for discovery. I wanted to learn, didn’t I?

Jacob

P.S. – This contest is for anyone and everyone!

Get Some!

I have been working on laying out a poster which can be printed, and also posted to blogs to promote The Green Washed Ritual.  I shot photographs over the weekend and fused them together in Photoshop.  Check it out!

To read about Green Washed Ritual Click here:

http://www.bamboosk8.com/misc/music.php

I am also working on a coupon formatted in the style of a five dollar bill with a panda as president, and I will be passing out these Bamboo Bucks at local skate parks!

Wednesday 4/25/12: Fly to California. I had to transfer planes on Phoenix and I barely made it to my next flight! I had 40mins in between flights, but my first plane was delayed 30mins. I walked off one plane and immediately walked on to the next.

Thursday 4/26/12: We had a lot of people in the office this day getting ready for the BambooSK8 and Grind for Life Charity event. All of our hard work paid off and we made some money for this great charity!

Friday 4/27/12: This was the final day of the internship!

Saturday 4/26/12: Tameka, Gavin, David and I attended GreenFest at SDSU. We had a good time and got to spread some BambooSK8 love.

Sunday 4/27/12: I will be flying back to lovely Wisconsin and will be missing California.

It was a journey, but I am so thankful for all the friends I made along the way. I hope to see you all soon and wish you a world of blessings.

this is my last blog entry for the Bamboosk8 internship. To you all that are starting this internship soon, good luck. It will change the way you see things, you’ll make lots of friends, you’ll learn a lot about action sports, skateboarding, people and business.

To those that worked with me for the last 4 months, thanks for all your effort and for helping me when I needed it. I hope to see you guys soon and work with you again.

To Mark, Geoff K, Geoff C and Jacquelyn, thanks for all your knowledge and friendliness. I can’t wait to meet you guys and work with you again in the near future.

4 months ago I was wondering what to do after I finished my studies and I didn’t have much experience or quantifiable results to show to prospective employers. Now, after 16 weeks I have a baggage of knowledge, confidence, experience and quantifiable results to go ahead with my career and I know I will stand above the crowd of job seekers.

I can’t thank enough everyone for their time and support, I wish actually I met you guys earlier, but this is where my destiny is taking me right now.

If you’re looking for a positive change in your life and all the other internships never filled that void, well, buckle up for the roller-coaster of your life. You’ll sweat a lot and you’ll be tested to your limits, but every week you’ll see how much you’re learning in sales, PR, marketing, finance and what others take years of work to learn or are never given the chance.

I consider myself lucky, being part of this class and having these people take time from their daily jobs to create something meaningful for future graduates or current university/college students is something that you won’t find anywhere and I know. I searched all of Europe, Australia and USA for this and only Bamboosk8 accepted me and had what I was looking for…real, quantifiable experience that I could then use to get a job in the action sport industry or whatever it is that you’re looking for.

Thanks again for making my life so hard at times, now I have the bigger picture and I know it was all worth it.

Bamboosk8 rocks!!!

Gabriel Ghigi

I have learned very valuable lessons about productivity and managing time and tasks. Without this internship, I feel that I would have been quite unprepared to take on a career. Now I feel confident in my value and what I can offer a future employer.

Our GRIND FOR LIFE benefit last night was awesome. We had a lot of support from sponsors and a lot of people who showed up and supported the cause. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to be involved with helping people with cancer.

Overall, this internship has helped me grow to become a more motivated individual. It has provided me with excellent experience in marketing, sales, pr, events, finance, project management, and customer support. I am very thankful to the whole bamboo crew for offering me such a great opportunity and will continue to show my support into the future.

First of all, working with Mark and Geoff has been great. They are both very intelligent men and I feel privileged to have been their grasshopper for the last four months. Geoff taught me many life lessons like don’t let life get stale, and nothing is going to come to you, you have to be the one to make things happen. Mark was a really good mentor and helped me out with a few different things like being more confident, helping others, and being innovative. I’m going to miss our weekly Skype meetings are getting know them!

Ahhh the interns. Though I didn’t meet you guys, you are special in different ways. The in office crew was super great in helping all of the out-of-staters with things. The out-of-staters all conquered the challenge of working remotely and not directly with our teams side by side. I’m still bummed I didn’t make it out to SD for the Grind for Life event yesterday, but I hope we can all meet somewhere one day and have a Vegas Bomb for ol’ time sake!

As one door closes, another one opens. I’m ending this internship with more knowledge and experience then when I came, and I will be taking it with me on my next journey to Oregon this summer. Action sports is the path I’ve chosen, and BambooSK8 has made me feel like it’s the right choice.

Well, so long for now. Good luck to everyone on their adventures after this! Also, good luck to the future intern classes! Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you need help with anything!

-Michelle

I would also like to give other potential interns who are reading these blogs and thinking about whether or not this internship is for them some advice. Expect to commit a huge chunk of time and effort to this internship! Be prepared to give your time to BambooSK8 without being compensated monetarily. It is a sacrifice but BambooSK8 will compensate you in other ways; such as experience, friends, and recommendations. Do not come in with the expectation that this is an ordinary internship in which you can skate by! (excuse the pun haha) Treat it like a job, because it is one and your livelihood depends on it!

BambooSK8 – OUT!

Panda at the BambooSK8 Grind for Life end of internship event!

It’s the last week of the internship and it’s a little sad. I have made some amazing friends that I know will be friends for life. We have all worked so hard to reach our goals that it’s a little bittersweet that it’s all coming to an end.

Right now, we are focusing all of our time trying to reach our goals and get the product for the Intern Fundraiser ready. There is SO much stuff it’s insane! We were able to get so many donations that I’m pretty sure anyone who buys a raffle ticket will walk away with something. I’m hoping to CRUSH last semesters earnings of $1,000. With the amount of product and their worth I think we can expect to surpass 1k. Gavin just sent an email out to everyone that Malakye is tweeting about our event! That’s HUGE!! I am really excited for Thursday.

On top of getting everything organized we are also gearing up for the event at SDSU on Thursday. Tameka was able to get us into the Eco Fest down there. We are hoping to sell some decks and get the word about the fundraiser out to everyone there.

Also, last week Jamie and I had to pick the winner of the OSF design contest. It was SO HARD!!! I can’t even believe how amazing those students’ designs were. Here are the winners:

1st place: Faline

 2nd Place: Alyssa

3rd Place: Alex

This was by far the best year yet. Every single design was amazing. The kids at OSF have so much talent. I guarantee you will be seeing their names again.

I would be lying if I said I hadn’t learned anything from my time here at BambooSK8. This internship has definitely pushed me to my limits. I know more about the inter workings of a business better than I ever have before. I learned how connected each position within the company relates to one another and drives results. All of those topics are important to know and understand, but what I learned most was about myself. I have pushed myself to become better. To be happier, more courageous, to understand when to take emotion out of situations and most importantly, how to be more positive. I have to say that I came into this internship with the hope to fine tune and obtain quantitative data for my resume, and I did get those things, but the most important thing I will take away from this experience is how to become a better me.

So thank you to everyone at BambooSK8 for being so amazing these past 4 months!!! I can’t wait to send everyone off the right way at the Intern Fundraiser. FIREBALLS FOR EVERYONE!

Another part of the internship that I got to experience was planning and going to events for Baboosk8. My first event during the internship was on St. Patrick’s Day in San Diego. It was a Grind for Life event to raise money for families with cancer. It ended up raining but that did not ruin the experience for me, a ton of kids still came out to support the event, we ended up selling a bunch of decks and getting to chat with a bunch of Bamboosk8 fans. The other two events that I get to be a part of will be held this week during Earth Week. We will be going to an event at San Diego State University called Green Fest, we hope to spread the word about Bamboosk8 as well as sell a bunch of decks. The last event that we will be doing is one that all of the interns put together another Grind for Life event. This one we had to plan ourselves and could not have done it without the help of Tameka or Jessi, they really put a lot of energy into making this happen. We will be having a raffle and silent auction to raise money. This should be loads of fun, can’t wait!!

Lastly one of the coolest things that I got to be a part of was working with a group of kids at the Oasis School in Toronto. Bamboosk8 puts together a competition for them. They have to come up with an idea on sustainability, and then they have to explain their idea and paint it on a bamboo deck. We then choose first, second, and third place. First place gets to be recognized at the Bamboosk8 warehouse. I was totally blown away by the work these kids created; they all had such amazing talent. All of their ideas were really good and their art work was even better. In the end we chose one but might end up featuring a few others on our website. Such a cool experience!!

Now that my journey is coming to an end I can truly say that all of the hard work and energy totally paid off. Everyone at Bamboosk8 really helps each intern to succeed at whatever it is they are trying to get out of the internship. I have no complaints. I am leaving this internship much smarter and much wiser than when I came in, and with so much more knowledge about marketing and sales.

I have had tons of help with coordinating my events, especially since I have been setting up events in California…. from Illinois!! Crazy right?!! I appreciate all those who got to the events and educated people about BambooSK8 and got phone numbers ( I wont say any names…DAVID!) and for those who kicked butt and got tons on donations for our intern fundraiser event on April 26th. I appreciate you guys!! This week, will be full of finalizing details for events, helping organize literature for the incoming cycle of interns and mock interviews with GK.

Almost done!!Woo!! Bring it on!!! Initiating game face sequence!!

<—– This is her game face

Catcha Later,

~T

T-minus 9 days until in back in Cali and 10 days until the intern event…You’re invited!!!!

april 26th flyer with bands   <———— Click this!!!

Week 14 of the Internship is here. That means only 2 weeks left! I will be traveling back to Oceanside for the Intern Event that will be in Week 16. I had such a great experience when I went out there for my Spring Break that I was easily convinced to come back for the Intern Event.  I am going to reflect on my total experience with the internship thus far.

We have a lot of tools to market our skateboards. We can use Hookit, Facebook, and Twitter to reach new people. I do not think that everyone really realizes how these are all great tools to use. We have to stay up and up with the social media world because that is what the world is coming too! Social Media marketing is a completely new art form of communication. Master it will be vital in the companies of tomorrow.

I am learning that every lead and every connection is important. We had a lead for a shop in AU that was interested in boards. We went in the shop and BOOM they kept 2 boards! A kid on Hookit said he had a shop that was interested in getting some boards. I emailed the shop and again BOOM! That shop bought 2 boards from us! The power of Networking and the power of Social Media are awesome. Use them!

As for me, what is in store for me next do you ask? I have been applying to internships like a mad woman! I had two phone interviews this week. The next step will be a getting a face-to-face interview. I can directly see how this internship for BambooSK8 was a direct step towards my professional career. I will remember this experience forever.

I’m already thinking f the next step. After all, this was  a stepping stone to go onto greater things. Everyone’s putting in a lot of effort to reach the goals we were given at the start of the internship to pass the stage and get a good reference. Alissa, just found a way to get more active on Hook it, we just had a new deal for 2 deck for the price of one going online, Gavin has closed a deal with another e-commerce website called Krush who’s selling our gear for two weeks, Tameka has been organising our final event and it’s almost ready to go. Jamie has been working hard this week to get all he files uploaded to the network so we’re all up to speed with commitments, Michelle has been leading the way with the math for us in finding a way to make a future company works in an exam we took earlier in the internship. David has been killing it on Twitter with a 300 more people added to the account and getting some clips for the Panda suit. Jessi is driving people to Facebook like no other and numbers are going up and up.

The points are flying everywhere and in the meantime we’re finding new ways to improve the internship and make life easier and better to the next batch of interns that will start after us. We have now only two weeks left. Next week we’ll go ahead with a final interview to see how we use the STAR method and to get that hard to get job in the action sport or wherever others want to go. I wish I was there to party and the final event we’ve been putting together, but it will do just by passing the internship or I’ll be super devo because I’ve put so much effort into it.

To the new interns starting soon and whoever reads this blog and wonders if doing this or not I say just go and do it. The worst it can happen is that you learn more than you would think of regarding yourself and your professionalism. Sure it’s hard work and it’s free, but it’ll give you an edge towards other people looking for a job.

One last thing, go check our Hook it contest Prop My Deck

Gabe

Time management- This internship requires 20 hours per week, and you better be able to account for each of those hours and make them count! One of the hardest things for me every week has been figuring out how much time I need to spend on every task I have, and what it comes down to is efficiency. As Geoff (the wise man) told me, time is our most limited resource. It’s important not to waste time on distractions or being scared to do something. Take care of stuff and do it quickly.

Salespitch- After visiting a few shops and talking with owners, sales associates, and even other sales reps, the best advice I have when selling any product is not to sell people on options, but sell people on passion and what’s awesome about a product or brand. If you’re stoked, they’re going to be stoked… So stay stoked! Also, make that salespitch personal by connecting with whoever you’re trying to sell to. Don’t just ask about business, ask them about things they like to do. Get them to peel those layers, trust you, and, most importantly, make them want to buy from you.

Thinking outside the box- Just because we make/sell skateboards doesn’t mean we can only sell to companies in the industry. Because we have the capability to make custom heat transfers for our decks, we can print anything on them! Like a clothing brand’s logo, a brewery logo, non-profit logos, anything! Get creative with your resources- a little innovation goes a long way.

I could go on about a lot of other things, but I think that covers the most important things for now. We have two weeks to reach our goals and everyone is working their butts off to make them. I feel pretty confident that we can do it. The interns are all pretty amazing.

Until next time, please check out our pages on Facebook and twitter, then like and follow us.

Cheers!

I look back at the previous months and think what have I been doing? Attending events contributing to awesome causes, going out skateboarding promoting bamboo, talking to people about bamboo online, brainstorming new marketing campaigns and ways to reach more people, going to shops talking to peeps about bamboo…it has been awesome. I don’t want it to end

I had a blast at the EcoFest at CSU San Bernardino this last week. There was some really cool vendors and music. Got to talk to a lot of people about bamboo skateboards and skateboarding and sustainability in general. Always fun going to a cool event for a cool cause!!

This program really makes you push yourself to the limit. It gives you the chance to prove your abilities and skills and really make some cool stuff happen! It’s all on you, yet you have a ton of support from your team and your mentors.

Can’t think of a better way to have spent my time than skateboarding and representing an awesome company with an awesome mission with awesome people!!

Also, don’t forget to check out BambooSK8’s video feature on Soul Grind as our shop of the month for April!

http://youtu.be/M6ZBqelDL_I

It is getting to be hectic because we are running out of time to promote the intern fundraiser! Jackie is awesome and created the flyer, so we just need to get it printed so that we can plaster the flyer EVERYWHERE! We are all really excited about the event. We have awesome bands and great give aways!

As for our commitments, we are all working very hard to reach our goals. We still need to step up our HOOKIT game and we have increased a lot, we just need to make sure our points are there. Facebook is catching up. We finally broke the 4k mark on likes!!! I think a lot of it had to do with sending out an email blast to all the HOOKIT followers. We are also running a sweepstakes that utilizes the fan base we have to gain more likes. I think that has a lot to do with the spike in likes we have gotten over the past few days. Analytics is still going strong! So at least we are hitting those numbers!

We are about to have a Panda video go viral we just need to get the Panda’s name!! I vote for Eco Rico, but I don’t get to pick. (So if you are reading this, go to this link and vote!!!!! https://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll?pid=AB-mvukuQGE)

Today, Jamie and I are going to pick the winner of the deck competition with the Oasis Skate Factory! So stay tuned for the winner! It’s going to be SO HARD to pick!!!

You tell me how we are supposed to pick a winner when all of the decks look like THIS!!!

All in all everything is going well, we are just all in the rat race till the end, striving towards that elusive letter of recommendation!!

Till next time!!

P.S Don’t forget to Check out the video that Gavin created for this month featured shop.

Give props to BambooSK8 Rider Ryan Strader for KILLING it at the PHXAM!!!

Alissa and I were spotted by the editor of a local skateboard magazine and he was so excited to see BambooSK8 there that he asked us to take some picture with his son!  We talked to everyone and gave out tons of stickers that instantly appeared on everyone’s boards. It was such an amazing feeling to be able to talk to people about our boards or even have some just walk up to us to ask questions! I loved it!! BambooSK8 has taken over the Midwest!!

Speaking of boards….Bam and Greg were gracious enough to sign our bamboo boards!

It was a pretty solid day!!!

Next up…

OUR CHARITY FUNDRAISER EVENT!! ITS GOING TO BE AWESOME! CHECK IT OUT!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/327281973987746/

RSVP on our Facebook events page and come support a the cause!

Catcha later,

~T

Man, have these past few weeks been busy! All of the interns are working so hard to get into events, launch new contests, get new customers, visit skateparks, and the list goes on forever. I can’t believe this is the end of week 12, and we are approaching the end of internship so soon. These next few weeks are going to be very challenging, as we all need to meet our sales, marketing, and PR goals by week 16. Yikes!

Something very exciting this week was our final exam! It was somewhat like the midterm, with a few extra curve balls. I’m not sure how I did yet, but I’m crossing my fingers for a good grade! For the future interns reading this, make sure you are always checking details! In the final, and everything else you do. Lead times are a real doozy. So make sure you start training your mind to think in weeks, not months.

Other crew news is that a few of our riders are competing in the Phoenix Am Competition this weekend. Keep checking our facebook and twitter for updates! http://phxam.com/

Cheers!

        On March 31st, 2012 in Butler, WI at Cream City Skatepark will be Scion Ride the Beat Tour. This will be Milwaukee’s first Pro Skate Competition. Bam Magera (from Jacka$!) will be the celebrity host along with Greg Lutzka (Milwaukee native). BambooSK8 will be repping hard at the event! We are ready to go with stickers, costers, cameras, and decks in hand. The event will feature the following skaters: Tyler Henley, Shawn Turner, London Davis, Kurtis Colamonico, Nick Palmquist, Paul Hurtado and Aqil Brathwaite. Music for the event will include the following: Smash Boyz – Pre Competition, DJ Kid Cut Up – During Competition, and Shwayze – After Competition.

Follow us to get in on all the action! Click on links below!

I’m excited about attending the EcoFest at CSU San Bernardino on April 6th representing BambooSk8 and getting some panda skateboarding footage this next week.

This program has been a fun ride, that I don’t want to end. It has pushed me to get out and skate more and talk more with the skate community. As well as getting me to push myself beyond what I believed I was capable of accomplishing. I got a concrete wave party to attend in the middle of April. Fun stuff. Let the good times roll.

BambooSk8 – where the grass is greener and you skate on it!!!

Fort Miley, San Francisco, Ca pictures:

Anyway, last week was intense. On top of studying for the final and getting all of that in line my team and I needed to really push to hit our goals. Currently, the marketing team is falling behind but I know that we have it in us to turn that around quickly. Actually, as of today we are starting a new sweepstakes on Facebook to see if we can get the Bamboosk8 fans to help us out. If our fans help us reach our goal of 4,430 likes by Monday April 2nd we will randomly select a fan to receive a free deck. So fingers crossed it works!

On top of all of that, this week has already been a blast! Both Geoff C and myself donned the panda suit and filmed some pretty epic skits for the social media sites. We also had an awesome photo shoot with some of the bamboo laying around the warehouse. I think we hit a comedic goals mine with these video’s. Now we just need to edit them so they can go live!

Till next time folks!

-JB

PS-Here are some of the shots we took with the Panda Suit.

Personally, this last two weeks I’ve visited a shop on the Gold Coast and they’re so happy, maybe we’re starting a distribution in Australia. They love our decks and my sales rep abilities made it all possible (aahahahh, I’m a genius!!!). At the Hook it team, we’ve been working on competitions and bringing more people active to interact with us with emails, comments ect. The latest competition we’ve created is bringing a lot of action to the website and our brand, it’s called the Bamboosk8 Treasure Hunt and kids have to find clues hidden in other sites of ours and the first to find the clues win a prize.

The crew residing in Cali was fortunate enough to participate at the Clash at Clairemont, but were unlucky with the weather since it rained all day and no demos went on, but Bamboosk8 stayed there to the end supporting all the kids and fanatics around.

Time is flying by now and if everything goes according to plan in 4 weeks’ time we all graduate from the internship with enough points to move forward with our careers. This week also we have our final exam, daunting but very important to teach us about lead times and shipping costs together with understanding how a business stays profitable over the course of a year. Last time I did well, but this week I really want to go the extra mile and get maximum points.

We have been also interviewed on all the questions we are given during the internship, to see our changes to responses and to see if we are learning to use the STAR format. A very useful way to be prepared and kick it at future interviews. We’ll have another one in the coming weeks as a final one before the end of the internship, but this one was good because I gathered a lot of feedback on what to improve.

Well, I guess that’s enough of me for this time, let’s go out there to shred in Bamboosk8 fashion!

Thanks for reading

Gabe

I would first like to point out that there has been sightings….( Cue scary music) Sightings of a big blurry monster roaming the countryside…wait…wrong animal…my bad. But really, BambooSK8 has a panda suit that I feel I am destined to wear! Although, I may have to thumb wrestle Jessi to wear it, I’m going to wear it!

The internship is coming to a close faster and faster. Its bittersweet because I truly dig the PR and event coordinating that I have been doing. The BambooSK8 family and my fellow interns are awesome! Enough with the emo stuff….

So here’s whats going on next…We will be hosting a charity event to an incredible organization called Grind for Life. Its an organization that provides financial assistance to cancer patients and families as the travel for miles to get to treatment centers and hospital. This hits close to home because my beautiful mom is a cancer survivor. We’re having it a Hensley’s in Carlsbad and you are all invited!!! There will be a silent auction, food, awesome bands (The Short Eyes, Barbarian Overlords, and The Warned) and possible panda sightings!!!

Check out the the event link for details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/327281973987746/

Its going to be  pretty stellar event!!

Alissa ( another intern) and I will be repping BambooSK8 at the Ride the Beat Tour on March 31st! If you’re in the Milwaukee area, we’d love to meet you. We’ll have some boards with us so if you want one or 17, we have them!!

https://www.facebook.com/scionridethebeat

So what been up with me in the Midwest?? 84 degree temp that’s whats up!! Finally we have nicer weather than my Cali counterparts!! Eat your heart out!! I, also, decided to visit a ton of movie locations in Chicago. I love John Hughes so I went to the “Home Alone” house, Cameron’s house from Ferris Bueller and the football field from the Breakfast Club.  I got to cross some stuff off my bucket list…It was the stuff dreams are made of…

Catcha later,

T

Red peppers in my self sustaining vegetable garden in South Cali

Luckily, we have a sweet system set up to monitor our efficiency and help us manage our workload. The timesheet has been a challenge to stick to and it has been difficult to figure out how to make improvements but it has been a big help.

Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes

We had an awesome time at Clash at Clairemont 6. Despite the bad weather, a ton of people came out to support Grind For Life.

The Clash

This program has been a blast and a big challenge for me to learn how to bring results and develop professionally. I look forward to every second of the rest of it.

Beyond the MPS, I am learning tons of information from the big bosses at BambooSK8. Through constant feedback and constructive criticism, I am gradually becoming stronger in areas such as attention to detail, focusing on effective communication, and how to lead a team. We can also learn about life at BambooSk8. Our CEO has a fresh, insightful outlook on life, which I am beginning to apply to my own.

Cheers!

Just a few more weeks until this wonderful experience comes to an end! It is so crazy how time flies when you’re having fun and working hard! I am part of the sales team and one of the things we are in charge of is visiting skate shops and getting new clients. Easier said than done. I have realized very quickly that getting sales isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. What works for some shops doesn’t work for others, and some people just don’t want to deal with you. The key is persistence and staying stoked on BambooSK8.
If any of you readers are considering this internship in the future, you need to be ready to work hard and learn. Our executive team is composed of some real action sports ballers! I have been working with Mark over the last month and he’s taught me a thing or two about being confident when visiting shops and also being confident in interviews. This internship is more than just gaining experience and also about growing as a business professional.
In other news, everyone is getting ready for the Clash at Clairemont event! I hear it’s going to be super awesome! Schwag, skating, pros… what more could you ask for! Unfortunately, I will hanging out in Colorado on my Spring Break! Not too unfortunate, but I would definitely rather be hanging out with the BambooSK8 crew at the Clash. It’s okay, maybe next year.
Until next time friends! The weather is getting super nice out here! Spring has arrived and skate season has started. Also, have you guys been playing Draw Something? It’s like the biggest thing since sliced bread. You should probably download it and start playing with your friends now!!!

View from my campus

Saturday 3/10/12: Traveled from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA and traveled to San Bernardino

Sunday 3/11/12: Caught some rays at the pool at California State San Bernardino  

Monday 3/12/12: Walked around the campus and visited an awesome skateboard exhibit in a gallery

Tuesday 3/12/12: Traveled to Oceanside on the 4:48am MetroLink 

Wednesday 3/13/12: Visited the BambooSK8 office!

Thursday 3/14/12: Went into the office again and met some more lovely interns!  

Friday 3/15/12: I travel to San Diego and visited the San Diego Zoo.

Saturday 3/16/12: I will be traveling back to WI.

I had such a wonderful trip. I got to visit a friend, go to the BambooSK8 office, make some memories, and sit on the ocean. I really could not have asked for a better vacation. I know that this internship is helping me grow more as a person inside and out. These friendships I have made will last me a lifetime. Thank you to everyone in Oceanside, CA. I appreciate you all SO SO much!

St.Patrick’s day is coming this weekend and we got so many things happening at Bamboosk8.

The internship is going really well and we’re all putting in a lot of effort in making it as successful as the others. This weekend we have the Clash at Clairemont event where we’ll have a booth so don’t be shy and come say hi. You can meet most of the interns making the pilgrimage to Cali and you can try and buy our decks, new graphics and new apparel clothing!

We are striving to reach time efficiency by using our MPS system and the time-sheet  to record how much time we spend on assignments and duties and how we perform compared to previous weeks. using a time-sheet is also really helpful to assign things to do to different days of the week so that we’re more efficient and we can have more time to put toward other commitments.

Learning first hand how the action sport business works I can say that it’s a 24/7 job. You never rest and everything is going on anytime, but when the results come in is very rewarding.

I hope to learn more during the next few weeks so that I can use the information and experience to find a job sooner than later.

Thanks for reading

Gabe

This week we are gearing up for the Clash at Clairemont. This event takes place on St. Patricks day, and I am SO EXCITED for it! Geoff K bought a panda suit for the event, and I can’t wait to see who we get to wear it. Things are pretty busy in the office, there is a lot of planning that goes into these types of events. After all, we want to make it great for everyone!!!

Other than the Clash event, things are running business as usual. I have been working hard with my team to get our Facebook and Analytic numbers where they need to be. I have also been spending a lot of time on Hookit to try and help our numbers there. We have some really great contests running at the moment, and we have another St. Patty’s day one about to be announced as well. Tameka, Mark and myself have also been working very hard at planning the fundraiser for Grind for Life. So far it is lining up to be pretty awesome!! The venue, Hensley’s Flying Elephant, is awesome!!!! We also have some pretty incredible bands lined up to play. The main goal right now is to get donations from other companies. So Jackie created a flyer for us to send out, and let me tell you, that girl is a genius!!!

On top of all of this, Jamie and I are helping some students up at the Oasis Skate Factory in Toronto with their deck designs. I can’t believe how amazingly talented these kids are. Their project is to create a deck design for a Bamboo deck that sends the message of sustainability. These designs are so good, I wouldn’t have thought they came from kids at all! Jamie and I are beyond excited to see what their final designs look like! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK GUYS!!!!

Below is some of the amazing work that the kids at OSF are doing!

Another fun and upcoming event that I will be assisting Bamboosk8 with is the Clash at Clairemont. This is a skateboarding event to crush cancer held at the YMVA in Mission Valley, San Diego. They will have some of the top skateboard riders including Andy Macdonald, Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek, Pierre-Luc Gagnon (“PLG”), Simon Tabron, Mimi Knoop and many more! All of the proceeds from the event go back to the YMCA and the Grind for Life Foundation. It should be a great day and event, can’t wait!

This internship is incredibly fun yet challenging at the same time. We just got passed our midterm exam this week! Income statements, cash flows, gross profit margins! Sounds like Accounting101 right? I know this isn’t supposed to be school, but the concepts covered in this exam (which are continually built upon in everything we do is truly valuable to running a business) sure makes it seem like it!

Beyond all the hard work put into this internship, I have to say that working in the action sports industry is definitely as cool as I pictured it. The people are awesome, from the interns and mentors at BambooSK8, to all the shop owners and industry leaders I have met throughout this experience. People working in this industry work here for a reason, because they love what they do! The love for what they do is reflected in the amount of dedication and professionalism that each one of them puts into their work. Looking forward to the 2^nd half!

Just Another Day in the Office!

Another crazy part of the week was the midterm (yikes!!)!! I had been preparing for weeks and weeks, hours and hours for this thing, and you know what happened?? I messed up one thing and it screwed up all of my answers. Lesson learned, pay attention to details and make sure you use every resource you have when studying (as in ask your fellow interns for help in addition to the executive team). I didn’t do as well as I was hoping, but now that I know what to do next time and I should be able to rock the final!

Overall, the internship has been a blast. Everyone is super cool and very helpful. We have been busting our butts as a team to increase facebook likes and twitter followers, and it looks like our hard work is paying off! If you guys haven’t already, please follow us on twitter, and like us on facebook. We give you the DL on the latest cool news! Also, special shout out to Gabe, who has been doing an amazing job managing Hookit!

It snows, and then it’s warm. It snows, and then it’s warm. I wish Denver would make up its mind!! Cheers!

Must haves:                                                                   

                                                                 Tank Top                                                                                       Crop Top

What do I wear with my cool shirt?

Now you are looking good!

Style is a way for all of us to express ourselves. Fashion is ever so prevalent in our everyday lives. If you are a skater you know that you want function and style in your choices. Check out BambooSK8′s merch section on the website to get some cool swag! http://www.bamboosk8.com/store/index.php?cPath=21_23

Spring will be upon us soon. I have one more week and I will be offically on Spring break. Look out for a blog during week 10! During week 10 this Wisconsin dwelling girl will be an in the BambooSK8 office! I will be reporting about my Spring Break 2012: Operation Cali Fun Time. I am very excited to meet the people I have been working with for the past 2 months! I will be breaking out my best spring gear no matter what the temperature will be in Oceanside.

Make sure you are ready for Spring and Summer 2012! Get yourself some BambooSK8 Merch today!

*BambooSK8 does not carry any of these products. Is is an informative blog of current fashion trends.

I don’t have only one good thing to say about only one intern because I feel very positively about the entire team. I feel like every single person has contributed a ton of valuable input to our team and I feel lucky to have had the chance to interact with them all.

Richmond Skate Plaza

One roadblock I’m facing is pushing myself more on sales. Also, 2 out of 3 of the marketing teams I’m on have not been reaching their goals so we really need to push to come up with great ideas and lead the team to success.

Best halloween costume ever!

So far this program has been one of the best experiences in my life!

We just had a week from hell with a financial exam and everything else going on. This internship is redefining the meaning of “busy”. I truly have admiration for Gavin and Jessi who always seem in control of what’s going on, but I guess being in the office helps a big time. All the interns though are putting so much effort to get everything going and results are coming in.

This week we’ve been working on Hook it, Facebook, Twitter, Movie Maker Xtranormal, an event in Cali, auctions in Last Click, work on Seshday, Survey monkey on different things and the exam on how to create Income Statements and Cash Flows.

We’re also running multiple events on all platforms. Check our websites for what we’re offering our followers and trusted customers,

Twitter: who tags the most @Bamboosk8

Facebook: Are you the chosen one? enter team video to win

Hook it: How green are you contest, posting pictures of how to be green recycling ect..

Bamboo we: Bamboo bonanza code to buy and then enter sweepstake

I mean what else can we do?

Wait and see our next blog to find out what’s coming at you.

We’re so proud of making so much difference already and another 2 months ahead of us!

Bye Bye now!!!

Gabe

All I can say about this week is that it has been BANANAS! ( Is it bad that I hear Gwen Stefani in my head every time I spell that word?) We have all been in study mode getting ready to take the midterm which I must say was  brutal!

Just a side note for the interns after us….STUDY STUDY STUDY and help each other out as much as you can! It taught me a lot cash flow statements, shipping, revenue and all things accounting. While I’ll be the first one to admit that I am sorta of a information junkie (or nerd whichever you prefer) who wants to learn everything, I’m glad I was introduced to it all and glad the midterm is OVER!! Whew!

I got to spend a week at home in San Diego with my mom and family which was pretty awesome and I totally needed a break from the cold weather in Illinois. I, also, got the chance to stop by the BambooSK8 office in Oceanside and meet my Oside fam!  Jessi ( who btw is the internet queen of the world and freaking hilarious) and Jamie (who is equally as funny and has been a huge help to me ) were there hanging out in the intern cave/dungeon/ coldest place on earth. It was really cool to get a chance to meet them outside of Skype calls. P.S. Geoff C is one of the busiest people ever and he has media gadgets galore. He keeps saying hes going to make a sweet “Rambo Media BELT” to accommodate for his “iArensal.” I was expecting to see if when I got there but sadly, there was no belt and I think I cried a little.

While I am on the topic, can I just say that ALISSA,GAVIN, GABE,DAVID, MICHELLE, JESSI and JAMIE are on top of their game! I am proud to be apart of a team that is so well rounded, creative and determined. Everyone brings something different to the table and  I appreciate all of you! Keep up the good work guys!!

So whats next? Well, Ive been doing a ton of PR work…talking to event coordinators, booking bands for events, creating events for BambooSK8 and Bamboo Buddy to attend and getting our name into as many publications as I can. I must say I DIG it! I love everything about what I am doing right now! I’m looking to continue doing public relations within the action sports industry. (Wink Wink)

I am pretty stoked about what I have learned so far in this internship and how much it applies to every aspect of life.  We are currently working out the details of hosting a fundraiser event that will be held during Earth Week! There’s talk of a Panda Suit….at some point during the night….I will probably be in it!!! LOL

Also,  I will be attending my first event for BambooSK8 in Milwaukee at the end of March!  Alissa and I will be ‘boo swaggin” it out at the Ride the Beat tour hosted by Bam Margera!  If your in the area, we’d love to meet you!

Now that I’m back in cold Midwest, I guess I’ll bundle up…..IN MY ONEZIE PAJAMAS!!

or just hangout in the dryer and watch some tv

Catcha later,

T

Now, on to the good stuff. The marketing team and myself have really been working hard at reaching our numbers lately. We have lined up a lot of contests for Facebook, Hookit, and Twitter. All of this has been with the help of BambooSk8′s graphic guru Jackie! Without her, our contest flyers would look pretty busted. David has utilized a program that will automatically post to Twitter, so he is really moving on that end! I was able to get the new Facebook Reveal Tab added to Google Analytics so we are seriously moving on our goals!

On top of all the awesomeness that is just exuding from the interns, a few of us in office interns got to meet TAMEKA! She came into town and hung out with us in the cave. It was awesome to put a face to all those emails! The next intern scheduled to visit us Oside Riders is Alissa. She better get her game face on for beer pong!

Till Next Time!

-JB

Firstly, I am learning to receive constructive feedback.  Lets be honest, no one wants to be told that they are wrong. Since we are being honest, I used to have this bad. Ugh, my pride would get me into SO much trouble!! You couldn’t tell me anything! Needless to say, I was humbled over and over again until that pride thing was broken. Now, I’m not saying that it doesn’t make a cameo every now and again. The difference is, is that I don’t let it win. Business is something that is fairly new to me. You have to have a very thick skin  to be in  business and sometimes you will be given feedback that you don’t want to hear. Believe me, I know!

Ultimately, the feedback isn’t intended to make you cry or upset you but it does. The trick is to turn it into something positive. Take that feedback and implement it into your life or your career. It will make you a better person and employee if you let it.  But of course, you have to let it.

Overall this internship is a learning experience that can be applied to my life. This is new territory, new industry and responsibilities. I am surrounded by intelligent, focused people who are very efficient and love what they do. I love it! It challenges me to step up to the plate and chart this uncharted territory. I’m stoked on it!! I live in a very small town where the stars are insanely bright but  not everyone is  reaching for them. I want to reach for them, I am reaching for them. I am motivated and driven to do the best that I can to become a better person and a better employee. BambooSk8 is an amazing company and I will do everything i can to spread the word  about  what they stand for.

This week in the cold I caught up on some Netflix….. oh yea, they DO have shark week….STOKED!!

and….made a new friend……

Hurry up, summer! Winter is so hurtful and mean!!

Catcha later,

~T

After getting well into our commitments this week, I finally feel very confident that I could have a good, long career in this industry. This internship has really started to challenge me and show me what it really means to be a leader and a self starter. Those two characteristics alone will make or break you right now. My time here at BambooSK8 is not only teaching me about the industry, but teaching me a lot about myself. I’ve been working on “what needs to be done daily” as a part of my philosophy items and have learned that this doesn’t mean “how many things can I do today” but really what needs to be done that will make the biggest difference for tomorrow. This has really motivated me to get started on planning for the next few months, as I will graduating from college and would like to have a plan for when that time comes.

In the mean time, it is finally warming up here in Denver and the skateparks are just about dry. So in my next blog, be ready for many pictures from future adventures at skateparks and roadtrips for BambooSK8 related tasks. Check out the hoodies I made for repping at parks, they came out pretty good.

Pure innovation...

Enjoy the rest of February!

        The Green movement is officially upon us. BambooSK8 is a leader in the eco-friendly movement in skateboarding. BambooSK8 is passionate about teaching skaters about this one world we live in.  The time is NOW for us to save it. We all are responsible for this earth and you can take small steps to promise a bright future to the next generation. Here are a couple tips:

1)      Turn off computers at night

2)      Take a shorter shower

3)      Wash clothes in cold or warm water

4)      Pay bills online

5)      Recycle old cell phones

       Have you ever googled recycled art? You would be amazed at what pops up. My friend, Evan Grybush, took his love of skateboarding and passion for design and made something beautiful. He is majoring in Industrial Design at the University of WI- Stout. For one of his industrial design classes he made these lamps. His old skateboards will continue to be used, not for the original purpose they were intended for, but to now light up his room.

Take a step back this week and think about your life. Is there a small step I could take to help save our planet? We are in a green movement so let’s make the most of it people!

Photos courtesy of Evan Grybush

Trying to manage all the different tasks with the various roles I mentioned above is not easy. That is why the leadership at this company is crucial. The president of the company, Geoff, does a good job at this. When he shows us the importance of what we are doing and stresses that what we achieve here will ultimately determine our next jobs; this helps to keep me on track and motivated. It also spurs on myself and other interns step up and assume leadership roles. This internship is 16 weeks long. Six weeks are in the books with ten now to go. Leadership will be critical to ensure we meet our goals in these remaining weeks.

Youth Uprising Skate Plaza East Oakland. Gotta love that sticker slap baby!

So far I have been learning a great deal about taking ownership, I feel like I was too used to everything being laid out for me in work and in school and in this program, you need to step up and make it happen. This is an important attitude to have in life in general, you have to go out and seek and find whatever you’re after relentlessly.

Daly City Sullivan Ave. Park

Town Park - West Oakland

Leadership is what holds everything together. Our leaders have presented us with challenging tasks, opportunities for experience, great feedback, great ideas, and guidance. By taking ownership of our tasks and by leading and working with each other, we have all been more driven for success and driven to collaborate and push each other to help reach our goals.

Josh East Oakland Park (Click link to play video)

In the last few weeks, I’ve learned about using the feedback from my mentors and bosses here at Bamboosk8 to improve how to get my commitments done, reach goals and be a team player. I also learned about being a leader with my groups to get things done properly and efficiently regarding Hook it and Facebook, while helping other leaders of other teams with their goals. Receiving positive and negative feedback I can grow as a person and as an employee. It’s funny because when we started, I thought I was good at this and that, while now I know that I’ve got so much still to learn and at the same time I’m making gigantic steps. The feedback is always relevant and when I follow through with it, I see the difference in my speech at meetings, while writing with my fellow interns and when making sure projects are handed in at the right time.

There are so many tasks to do each week that motivation is not hard to come by generally! If you stop you fall behind and possibly out of the internship, however the staff is always there to guide us and make sure we work to achieve the weekly goals. We are all leaders in different groups and meetings, which is an invaluable experience in the real world. Tasks keep pouring in each week, so we keep motivated and we understand how to work under pressure and in a timely manner by using a spreadsheet with all our weekly duties.
To stay on the internship we constantly have to reach KPI’s each week, which are rewarded under the form of points, the backbone of what keeps us going forward in the stage and it’s like a recognition of our efforts since our final grade will determine our recommendation.

If you look for an internship in the action sport industry and you want to make a difference in real life to other people and the planet, this is it. Bamboosk8 will take you beyond what you think it’s your limit and you will discover how much potential you have.

By the way, I’ve just received my 10 decks from Bamboosk8 and now I can’t wait to show you all my fantastic skills on a bamboo made skateboard, while all the other people in Australia wonders with their jaw wide open at what I’m riding and where to get one!

I came into this internship hoping to refine my marketing skills, and I have definitely been successful on that endeavor. What I didn’t realize was that I would be learning about myself. I am learning how to handle different situations that arise, and how to handle criticism. This internship has helped me realize that there are aspects of business that I thought I was good at…. but boy was I wrong!

Now, on to the good stuff….. WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?!

Well, it’s so good of you to ask…and it can be summed up in 1 word. CONTESTS!!! My team and I have been creating and implementing contests! Not only are they great for promotion but they also help to push sales. We are on our way to hitting social media goals with just 1 contest in place. They can be utilized across the social media board! Our Slap That Sticker contest is being pushed through Facebook, Twitter and Hookit!

I also spent time creating a reveal page for the Facebook Fan Page. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty excited about it. Jackie, the graphic designer here at Bamboosk8 did a killer job at creating the graphics for it! It is still a work in process but it has already increased our Facebook “likes” immensely!

On the Analytics front, we are working to implement this on Facebook. I actually found a way to link Google Analytics to the Facebook Reveal tab that I created. That is something that I am stoked about because it’s killing 2 birds with 1 very well crafted stone!!!

I’m excited to be working so hard and seeing those projected numbers rising!!

If you haven’t already, help us out and like us on Facebook!!!

www.Facebook.com/bamboosk8

Till next time folks…

            One of the biggest tasks in this internship program is leadership without it I think the whole program would never succeed. I always saw myself as a leader, someone who likes to take charge and make sure things are getting done. I have learned over the last few weeks that trying to be a leader and just being one are really difficult, especially when there is a group of so many different people with different ideas. Leadership is really important in this internship, especially now because we are really trying to work on some new things for Bamboosk8 like contest, competitions, and events. All of the things will get great new exposure for the company, hopefully. Without someone guiding, motivating, and tracking what we do none of this would be possible. I hope that I can continue doing my part and together we will create something great!

Something else going on is prepping for the mid-term. So far, we have learned about different aspects of accounting like gross profit. Geoff told us that the most difficult part of the mid-term will be lead time. We haven’t learned about it yet, but I’m worried it will be similar to the concepts I learned in my Operations Management class… which was my second least favorite class in history!!! I will be sure to keep everyone updated.

Highlights of my week are that I ordered a nice variety of decks to sell and they will be here next week. Then I will begin visiting skateshops, a part of the internship I am most excited about! I also went to Aspen this weekend for the X Games! And yes, Shaun White’s pants really are that tight.

It is currently snowing like a boss outside, so visiting skateparks will be for next week. Eleven inches plus here in Denver… time for a little urban snowboarding!

Collaborating with all the other interns has been an awesome experience. Working together has been a blessing and a challenge. The interns have provided great insight and great tools to contribute to efficiency and results. It’s been really hard getting us all together but people have been flexible and worked with their schedules for the best of the group.

We’ve had great weekly discussions. We received a great deal of information and insight into business strategy and bamboosk8’s strategy that has helped immensely to understand what bamboosk8 is all about.

I’ve been adjusting to working with new social media tools and new ways to use social media tools I’ve already worked with. I’ve had problems managing my time efficiently and I have addressed these issues by paying more attention to every task I work on and how long it’s taking me. I’ve also took advantage of having a timesheet with priorities laid out so that I have direction in my activities and know when I spend too much time on a task.

The big bosses have provided great feedback and constructive criticism. Mark has really helped me with how to address interview questions and with great insight into value added activities. They all have been great motivators, they radiant positive energy that is contagious and inspiring.

Overall, this is been the most intense, most amazing experience so far. I already feel that I have achieved much personal and professional growth and am looking brightly at the future 3 months.

It’s all about the bamboo!!

Alameda Skatepark

The street signs in my neighborhood are made with skateboards!! ha

Alameda skatepark (SF in the background)

West Oakland (Town Park)

Another West Oakland (Town Park)

The Bamboo decks I am selling at skate shops and skate parks!

We are already into week 4 of the internship! I have to admit that I did not think this internship would be such a big commitment when I signed up for it.  I am finding it is difficult to meet my 20 hour requirement while also working another job.  It is definitely a sacrifice to do something like this without being paid. With that being said, I believe this internship will pay dividends down the road. The things I am learning about business will make me much more marketable when this internship is completed.  Even more importantly, I am learning more about myself. Since I still do not know exactly what I want to do for a career, I like the fact that I am exposed to every area at BambooSk8 from marketing to sales to operations and inventory. I think working a little bit in each of these areas will help me identify what I do like and what I don’t like so I know what to focus on when I get out of here.

Even though we are only interns, we are definitely not treated like interns. We have access to all their information, facilities, etc. from Day 1. We are held accountable for meeting our goals. The office is super cool too. It is a laid back environment but everyone works really hard! Being connected to the warehouse and getting to see all their products helps even further to understand the Bamboo business model.  And finally, a company wouldn’t be anything without good people.  The mentors here are all dedicated to helping us succeed. On top of that, they are fun to hang out with. Since I work in the office on Fridays, I am around when they make their weekend plans so I got a chance to hang out with the crew for pizza and drinks Friday night, good times!

Yasha Meyer: 2nd place at 4th Southern Slaughter 2012

            On January 29^th, 2012 I attended the 4^th annual Southern Slaughter 2012 skate competition at 3^rd Lair Park in Golden Valley, MN. I went to support BambooSK8’s own ECO TRIBE- Level 3 rider, Yasha Meyer. After battling through day one and qualifying for the final on Sunday, I was there on Sunday to cheer Yasha on. He was riding the NEW 4^th Generation Owl & Cat deck with all the swag in the world. After a long day on Sunday, Yasha was ready for the results. His BambooSK8 Owl & Cat deck served him well and he placed 2^nd in the 13-15 year old finals!

            The event brought out some awesome skaters with a lot of talent. I fell in love with all the kids in the 8 and under age group. The future of skating boarding will be in those kids! 3^rd Lair did such an awesome job for this event. I cannot wait to go back for another event! Props go out to Mark Muller and all the guys down at 3^rd Lair. BambooSK8 is super proud of Yasha and everything he is doing. Check out the video of highlights from the event.

BE GREEN. SKATE BAMBOO. LIVE NOW.

Oh! how could I forget the Greenwashed Music Ritual? Curious huh? Well…

The Green Washed Ritual II digital music compilation features 10 amazing artists from around the world who have kindly donated one song each to promote sustainability.  For every purchase on the BambooSK8 website, you will receive via email an access code for all 10 songs upon completion of the shopping cart purchase.  As a bonus, you will also get the 20 songs from the first GWR compilation.  Pretty stellar, right?!?!  I mean, who doesn’t like music?

Show some love for these awesome bands by letting your friends know who you are listening to and purchase the bands music!!

With everything going on, I did steal some time to skate a bit….

      to do some luging? 

and sing “With or Without You” by U2 to a lady at work….note the pen microphone! LOL

  She was diggin it!!!

I think overall all of us interns are developing strategies to meet our goals and represent for BambooSK8 in the way should! And we will!! It’ll be really cool to see what the next couple of weeks will bring and what I will learn from this company, my mentors and from the other interns! I’m expecting the best in every situation.

By the way, you want to do your good deed for the day?

“Like” us on FB:   www.facebook.com/BambooSk8

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/BambooSK8

Check out the Greenwashed music Ritual:    www.bamboosk8.com/misc/music.php

And last but certainly not  least, buy a bamboo board! Save a tree. Skate green!

Thanks in Advance!!

      ~T

The bosses are really helping me this week when it comes to the different goals and commitments I am working on. I appreciate all of their help, because I know how much time it takes out of their day to help us as well as how much this information will help me in relation to my future jobs. I am also learning a lot about myself, how much I can accomplish and how long it is going to take me. I am excited to start editing old videos and brainstorming new ideas for projects. I am also excited for future contests and events that we are going to hold, because it is good to be involved in the community and give these kids something to get excited about!!! I leave you with a link to the video I made from my trip to Bali in August…

I have been interning at Bamoosk8 for about four weeks now and let’s just say I got off to a very rocky start. I was so excited to start the intern process that when it actually started I got so overwhelmed with everything my performance definitely suffered. It has been really fun learning how to Skype with all of the interns, there is nine of us that have survived the first few weeks. I am also enjoying getting to know Geoff Koboldt the president at Bamboosk8. He has been my mentor the last few weeks and I have really learned a lot from him.  Another highlight was selling my first deck, it was a Bamboosk8 blank pool deck to my friend Jeff he is an old school skater and loves long boards.

Now that I am a few weeks in I have been thinking about what is next, I have been thinking of a few of the top companies that I would want to work for other than Bamboosk8 once I finish my internship. My top choice would definitely be Billabong. I have loved them as a brand for a while now and even have a few friends that I know that work there. They are located next to where I live so my commute would be a breeze which is always an added benefit. RVCA would be my next choice. They are owned by Billabong and are a very strong company. I love what they stand for; bringing art, music, and action sports together is awesome. Hurley would also be a top choice of mine, the company stands for love for the ocean, positivity, with a premium on smiles. All of these things I try and live by in my life. Having the opportunity to work for any of these companies would be great, they all are strong and have a large part in making the action sports industry what it is today.  Now, I just need to stay positive and finish the internship here at Bamboosk8, so I can hopefully work for one of these great companies someday!

We’re now at the end of our first month with Bamboosk8 and lots it’s happening. When I start to think “OK, I’m getting the hang of it” something comes up in my email and a new exciting task is given to us. So far we’ve been put in charge of different sections of the brand with KPI’s that we have to reach weekly forcing us to work hard and come up with new ways to achieve our goals.

Also, this week I’m moving to a new place which makes everything even harder, however I’m very excited to make new friends and spread the word about Bamboosk8. I’ve got some decks coming Down Under soon, so I’ll start skating different spots and get people’s attention with my higher than usual ollies thanks to the greater pop that comes from the bamboo!

Have you ever had to move house? How was it? leave a comment if you want.

On top of that, this week I also lost a friend and it’s been hard to keep positive and keep going through such a hard time. Shaun was a good friend of mine and I’ll miss him, but what I’ll miss more is having a chat everyday about the surf or having a beer on the veranda, while another plane was passing by in order to land. You would have never thought he was ill, apart from rare occasions and he was always laughing. Anyway, that’s a picture of him and I will always remember him as a friend that never asked anything in return for his friendship.

Did you loose anyone in your life? how did you cope? leave a comment if you want.

In the end, it’s been a hectic month, but I’m leraning so much that it cannot be put in text here. I’m in a team working on Facebook (go and LIKE the page if you haven’t yet at http://www.facebook.com/BambooSk8),  we’re working with athletes and followers on Hook it (http://www.hookit.com/brands/bamboosk8/)  and we’ve been learning about how to work in a team, about cash flows, income statements and more.

This internship is a massive learning curve for me and everyone else, I hope you get inspired by our stories and you will apply as well for future internships in your way to get work experience in the action sport industry and to help people learn about the environment buying sustainable brands.

Talk to you soon
Gabe

It has been pretty hectic trying to hit all the deadlines assigned, but it should get easier. So far, I have been focusing on completing my Hookit contacts and the Master Shop List. Next on my list of things to do is get all of my team on board and implementing the many ideas we have come up with! It’s time to hit the ground running and get massive traffic to the BambooSk8 site!!!!

SOOOOOOO..do me a solid and like the BambooSk8 Facebook Fan Page!!! Just click the link!!!

BambooSK8

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In 2003, I left San Diego and moved to Pasadena, CA. I studied Illustration at the Art Center College of Design from 2004 to 2006. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t swing the tuition of $15,000 per semester!! I took some time off and finally finished my degree at Cal State Fullerton. I majored in Graphic Design in 2010, and that was that. I missed San Diego the entire time that I lived in L.A. County! I didn’t want to be an actor or famous musician… I wanted to work in the skate capitol that is San Diego. As soon as I could, I moved back home.

Here I am BambooSK8!! Working for a skate company isn’t as easy as it may seem. It is definitely a professional and task-driven environment. But I wouldn’t have it any other way! After all, you can’t learn anything under any other circumstances.

We are currently wrapping-up the second week, and I can wait for future weeks. Nice to meet you all!!!! SK8 the BAMBOO!!!!

My first thoughts were that I needed to gain valuable experience no matter what, so I focused a lot on internship opportunities. I realized I’d like to work for a company that is socially responsible, or who has a greater cause. Or I’d like to work with a company related to my interests in skateboarding or plants. BambooSk8 was everything I was looking for in one opportunity.

I really started skateboarding when I was about 11 years old, and like Pringles chips, once I popped I couldn’t stop, hehe. Ever since then I’ve been hooked and have continued to go out and have fun skateboarding, especially being in the bay area hitting up fresh spots I didn’t grow up skating.

My interest in plants came from a project I did for fun for my parents, completely redoing their landscape and irrigation. I turned planters of dirt and rot into tropical succulent lush beautiful planters of life. I planted fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, flowers, ferns, succulents, pretty much everything I could get my hands on. Definitely some bamboo, 4 different varieties!!

When I began the internship, I realized it wasn’t all running through fields of bamboo with wind in my face jumping on my board shredding bamboo half pipes. Although, I did also realize that this is going to be an intense program that has the potential to greatly enhance my professional development and help steer me in the right direction towards finding a career path I can walk down with a smile on my face. Also, that it’s up to me to make the most of this great opportunity.

So far, we have been getting used to some of the tools we are going to be using to promote BambooSk8 and to interact with skateboarders. We’ve also been learning all about BambooSk8 and what makes it a great company. We’ve been working a great deal on our own professional development: learning our weaknesses, our goals, and how we can improve our interviewing skills. We’ve done a lot of collaboration between interns and mentors, contributing ideas and sharing lessons, and started to become acquainted with one another.

M future goals are to take what I learn in this internship and to move on to gaining more experience relative to tasks I excelled in during the internship. I want to narrow down a more specific career path and have more specific goals. Once I have my focused path, I will bust my ass to become the best at what I do. I’m looking at the next 14 weeks with the highest hopes and a hungry, determined spirit. Much thanks to everyone at BambooSk8!!

The video links at the bottom of this post (Berkeley, Bobby longboarding) may be glitchy or take a while to load, especially the longboarding one because it’s longer, and don’t view it full screen, sorry bout that.

Makeshift spot right next to the ocean

The infamous hubba hideout on the verge of destruction

One of my favorite spots

Nothing like shredding a mini in the snow - Tahoe

Video Links:     Berkeley                   Bobby longboarding

PS. Attached are a couple photos from my winter in Lake Tahoe, there is one that might give you an idea about how much it dumped last winter!

Hello from Wisconsin!

I am happy to say that I am part of the 12^th class of interns and the first class with out-of-state interns! I am currently living in Menomonie, WI and going to school at the University of Wisconsin- Stout. I am majoring in Retail Merchandising and Management with a concentration in Buying and Product Development, a minor in Business Administration and an emphasis in Apparel Design.

I am going to be very busy these next couple months. Along with this wonderful internship, I have a job with the productions club at my school. I am the Special Events Coordinator. This means I am in charge of bringing a bigger name artist to the Stout campus. In the past we have brought Atmosphere, Ingrid Michaelson, and Motion City Soundtrack. I have a passion for music, art, fashion, and the action sport industry.

I am excited to see all the doors that BambooSK8 will open and all that I will achieve. I am so happy to be part of this BambooSK8 team. I have NEVER worked with such driven people and I am already learning so much. I have BambooSK8 on the brain all the time now and it’s great. Menomonie, WI is pretty far from Oceanside, CA (2021.76 miles), but it is amazing how close the Internet can bring us together. I will be taking Wisconsin by storm and looking to get BambooSK8 all over the state!

I’m working from Australia, which is cool since Bamboosk8 is not known here, so I’m really excited (and the guys in the office are as well) to hopefully expand in the land Down Under.

There’s interns from all over the US and from different walks of life, just stroll around the blog to read their posts as well and see how they’re going and what they think about the internship. It’s awesome to work all along towards achieving our goals in life and on the professional side.

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to go and watch an amateur contest search here on the Gold Coast (Australia), so I took the initiative of taking some footage with my Gopro for you all to see.

http://youtu.be/59RlUmXdChQ

It was great to see so much talent and the vibe was really cool, no barriers or security, so I could actually go and mingle next to the competitors in the contest area and have a prime view of the shredding happening. You know, there might be future flow riders there that haven’t been discovered yet!

Anyway, these two weeks I’ve started learning a lot about myself as a person and how hard it is to actually manage my time between my other job as a lifeguard and the requirements of the internship. From next week things will change again and me and the other interns will start working really hard to get quantifiable results that we can use towards achieving our goals.
My goals for the internship is to learn as much as possible about marketing and the action sport industry, while making leifelong friends and connections along the way.

Keep following my posts every second week to find out what’s happening at Bamboosk8 and how the internship evolves.

Cheers
Gabe

Anyway…The question of the year seems to be what do you do now that you are out of college? To which I answer, I supplement my surgical consulting job with an internship at Bamboosk8. Then I am usually hit with, “Why an internship?”  Well….let me tell you. Having just graduated from Cal State San Marcos (WOOHOOO) I needed a job! However, if you aren’t aware by now, obtaining a super awesome 9-5 that can pay your bills has seemingly joined the ranks of mythical creatures by being IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND! Even though my resume is pretty solid from years of hard work to put myself through college, it is a bit scattered. This didn’t help my job-hunt. So, I thought that finding a credible internship where I can get actual experience and help fine-tune my resume is just what I needed.

ENTER BAMBOOSK8!!!

I found the internship opportunity online at Malakye. Before I applied I looked over their website and found what I was looking for. I wasn’t going to be filing documents and taking out the trash like normal internships can consist of. I was actually going to be apart of projects! Setting and reaching goals, and creating a track record! And lets face it…being able to track your progress and prove that you did something is just what is needed these days to get you ahead in this 2012 rat race.

So. Once I got the internship I started my orientation week. I felt that I was back in college! There are numerous deadlines that I will be accounted for. Documents due every week, and weekly meetings to make sure I can still keep my head above water. But let me tell you!!! I couldn’t be happier! I’m meeting awesome people, getting awesome life lessons, and living my life post college!

Here are some photo’s of my recent trip to Cabo.

With my future career goals, BambooSK8 was definitely a step in the right direction. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to work with a company that is innovative, environmentally responsible and very organized. It is absolutely incredible what BambooSK8 is doing for the skate community and I assure you that BambooSK8 will continue to grow in the future.

We are currently in week 2 of the internship program and it has not been easy. This internship is not about getting coffee and stopping at the dry cleaners for the boss (thank goodness). There is a ton of information that needs to be learned and getting all the details perfect is the key to success for this internship. Getting into the swing of things has been tough but I am confident that it will get easier once I find a routine. So far, I have only met and worked with Geoff K (owner/president) and Mark (operations manager) who have been incredibly helpful with the whole process so far. You can tell that we are working with professionals and it is a great privilege to do so. As of now, everyone and everything is great and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next few weeks.

Well that’s it for now. I will leave you with a few pictures so you guys can paint a picture of what life in Colorado is like.

( When its dangerously cold out…too cold to skate or even snowboard, you have to keep yourself busy right?)

I have been at Bamboosk8 for almost a week now and have learned a lot about the company, as well as the products they sell. The company as a whole is great! Everyone seems super excited about the company they work for as well as the products they sell. The use of social media has really brought a huge following for the company; I hope I can help to bring in more followers to help expand the company. Learning all of the different social media avenues is really important especially today. Most everyone uses the internet for either personal or business reasons, so learning how to properly use social media to promote a company will diffidently help me along the way with marketing. I also have learned how well the company has grown over the last few years; the company started off as just a manufacture of decks and now has a team of riders as well as a complete brand for the company. Starting to work with a company who is in growth stage will help me to see what it takes to grow a company from the ground up. It will be interesting to learn how all different pieces within the company connect to inevitably create a profitable lasting company.

Now that you know why I am here and what I have learned so far I thought I would share some of my future goals. In the next 16 weeks I hope to have gained more real life knowledge in marketing, especially in social media as well as knowledge about the skateboarding industry.  In the next year or two I plan on switching careers completely, I will give up my hair styling business and hopefully venture out into some type of entry level marketing job, hopefully for an action sports company if I am lucky. In the next five years I plan on having a secure job in marketing with a company that I am not only am passionate about but enjoy working for. Sometime during this period I would also like to have gone back to school and have gotten my MBA in management. And, hopefully in the next 10 years I plan on either managing a team or maybe even owing my own company, so an MBA would definitely help me.

I grew up on the west coast of Florida where it is exceptionally boring and skateboarding gave me life. It was not only an outlet from the rough times at home, but also a way to feel connected to something bigger, society. Ever since then my love for boards and action sports grew rapidly. I eventually moved to San Diego to live near family and attend college at San Diego State University where I am currently a student. I have the luxury of living in Ocean Beach where I am close to good surf and the O.B. skate park which gives me ample time to do what I love! It is my ultimate goal to develop my own company some day in the action sports industry, but right now my goals are to increase my marketing and sales wherewithal by working with others to reach maximum output and potential. I now know Bamboosk8 is the perfect place to learn how small businesses survive in this economy and more importantly how they thrive! I look forward to these next few months with excitement!

I leave you with a quote to celebrate the holiday, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.” Martin Luther King Jr.

I recently have had the opportunity to join BambooSK8 for their in depth internship.  Just this last Thursday I was invited to Bamboo’s skate facility for our orientation.  As I approached the office, I realized this was uncharted territory for myself simply because I realized I have no skate experience to bring to the table.  I haven’t a lick of information on why their audience likes Bamboo’s decks over standard competitor decks or for that matter what some of the trick moves are that skaters use with these decks.  All of this ran through my mind as I approached the door to the “Intern Cave” where all interns gather for idea crunching and education.  It was there I was exposed to all things skateboard.  Literally!  There were many different style decks posted throughout the room with various graphics.  The boards cover wall to wall.  From what I gather these decks have been designed by previous intern classes and hung in “The Cave.”   One of our mentors Mark Olson, sat and introduced us to Bamboo’s way of life and of course the syllabus we all will be using for the next 4 months.  For those of you who are considering this as an easy internship, let me just say this is not a position where you can walk in and ride your board and think you can literally “skate by” on this internship.  This curriculum was well though out and planned and requires alot of your personal time in order to be successful at BambooSk8.   What I did realize is regardless of the industry, all businesses have a business model they abide by and Bamboo is no different.  The one thing I look to take from this internship is something in the public relations and social media realm.  BambooSk8 is a unique company and requires a unique tactic to grab its audiences attention.  I intend to absorb any information I can with this company and I am looking forward to meeting all the different individuals involved with BambooSk8.

So long for now….

During the internship I learned about the role that social media plays in a small company, about growing video views on youtube, and about creating press releases.  Through our midterm and final I learned about the income statement and statement of cashflow, how the two relate, and how important they are to a business owner.  I also learned a lot about myself. I now know that if I pay attention to all the little details and am more efficient with my time I can be successful.  I learned a lot in 4 months and I’m definitely proud to be 1 of the final 3 interns.  Now that its over I definitely feel more prepared for a career in marketing in any industry but especially the action sports industry.

I want to thank Geoff K, Mark, Wyatt, Geoff C, and Jackie for all the help along the way and I want to congratulate Kyle and Chelsea for making it all the way through.  Thanks guys for making this such a great experience!

For everyone out there reading this, I’m leaving you with some pictures of the office ugly sweater Christmas party…..

Have a happy Holiday!

If you are interested in working within the action sports world this is the perfect stepping stone for you. This is an internship that will push your boundries and your knowledge, but in the end it is all worth it. You will spend hours setting up your excel sheet and studying for the midterm and final, but you will spend just as much time immersing yourself within the culture of the action sports world at events and outings.

There were moments when I thought I was never going to make it out alive but I stuck with it and pulled through in the end. I would like to thank all my fellow interns that made this an amazing experience and I’d like to congratulate Kyle and Tyler for finishing it off with style!

Thank you to everyone at BambooSK8 that made these last 16 weeks amazing!!

On Tuesday I noticed another addition to the warehouse.  We can now take breaks and play ping pong!  Last night after work I beat the other intern Kyle 10 times and only lost once…. kind of a beat down…. but it was definitely fun and brought me back to when I used to play all the time.

Here’s a link to what our ping pong game looked like:

ping pong match

Thursday all the interns had mock interviews with Mark, Geoff, and Wyatt (the boss men).  I kind of sucked.  But the experience was definitely positive.  They were all super supportive and gave great feedback.  Some things I need to work on were exuding more confidence and making eye contact with all the people that were interviewing me.  They also gave me feedback on all of my interview answers so that I can practice them for future interviews and so that I can have more confidence in my answers moving forward.  At the end, they reviewed my resume and gave me some feedback on that as well.  I definitely feel more prepared for the next interview that I get, wherever that may be.

In other news I was up in LA and then visited Venice the other weekend which was a lot of fun.  Venice is a really cool town, with a lot of great skate parks, I attached some pictures because the view from the beach is great.

Venice Beach

View from the apartment I stayed at in LA

Until next time,

Tyler

Luckily the High Tech High fundraiser was last week. This high school used BambooSK8 decks as a canvas for students to create art with. Held at Haggo’s Organic Taco in Leucadia, the fundraiser showcased the finished product of the student’s hard work. The best part about the event, other than the mouth watering tacos, was that a portion of all the proceeds from food sold that night went back to supporting the arts program at the school. The BambooSK8 crew showed up in full force to support the arts and fill up on one of the best tacos in San Diego county. The assignment for the students was to paint something to do with sustainability, activism, or social responsiblity. One of my favorites had to be the deck depicting a whale getting revenge on a Japanese whaling vessel. If you are ever in the area Tuesday-Sunday around lunch (11-3) be sure to support the good folks at Haggo’s.

Last week we also took our final exam. Although taking a four hour final was not as fun as eating tacos, it was great to find out that all of the interns did really well! This week the interns have been focusing on trying to get all of our commitments completed. We also had a mock interview with Mark, Wyatt, and Geoff to try and hone in our interviewing skills. On top of getting work done this week we have been playing ping pong and getting good at the extremely addicting traditional Japanese toy, Kendama. If you’re unfamiliar with it check it out on YouTube. I leave you with a picture of us grinding out work in the cave and the office Kendama.

• Oceanside, CA working directly with the Operations Manager, Warehouse Supervisor, CEO and COO

• A minimum of 1 day per week (8 hours) in the office is expected but the internship requires nearly 20 hours per week total, for 4 solid months.  2 days per week is highly recommended to maximize ones learning.  If you aren’t financially stable and can’t realistically fulfill these requests, then please do not apply.  Also, if you are using the internship as “filler” until you find a job, then please don’t apply.

Out-of-the-office (limited to only 5 interns who live out of the state of California):

• Online working directly with the Operations Manager and COO

• A minimum of 20 hours per week total, for 4 solid months

Internship is graded on 400 total points involving weekly duties such as managing your commitments/goals file, writing weekly blogs, weekly Skype calls, updating your MPS philosophy, providing mentor feedback, intern matrix grading other interns, mid-term exam, final exam, communication with COO, etc.  The internship is broken down into categories:  sales, pr, marketing and social media.  Each month a minimum number of points is required in order to continue in the program.  You will have a new mentor inside the company to work closely with each month which includes having 1-on-1 weekly meetings. The last month of the internship is devoted to improving your resume, interviewing practice and other key actions  to maximize your opportunities for job growth.  Past interns have gone on to work for Fox Moto-X, Sole Tech, Action Sports Group, BambooSK8, Dark Horse Distribution, HARO Bicycles, Rock Star Energy drink, etc.

Responsibilities:

• Assist with marketing campaigns – print and digital; viral-focused

• Assist with generalist duties – organizing/filing emails, making phone calls, etc.

• Assist with public relations – updating database of contacts, writing press releases, finding positive publicity

• Visit skate shops, skate parks, attend industry events (X-games, Vans Warped Tour, Maloof $ cup, Tampa Am, etc.)

• Assist with social media (Facebook, Hookit, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon) and Internet presence – top blogging sites for skate and environmentalism

• Learn fundamental business concepts across a myriad of disciplines (marketing, production, sales, strategy, etc.)

Internship-in-training Requirements:

• Applicants should be active participants with a thorough understanding of the skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding youth culture; prefer skateboarding-focused.

• Applicants require a minimum of 6 months experience in an action sports related generalist position

• Applicants should be outgoing and personable with good social and conversational skills

• Must be analytical, process driven, detail oriented and be trusted to get the job done

• Must be able to manage your time with outside life, work, etc.

• Must be a leader and a self-starter…but also maintain the ability to work independently

• Prefer college graduates, but others can receive college credit

**Your resume should be molded to fit our needs and be focused on action sports; no cookie-cutter resumes**

***No cover letters please!*** –  Remove them entirely when submitting.

Failure to answer these questions automatically disqualifies you.

1. What are you looking to get out of an internship in relation to your future goals?

2. What do you feel makes you a qualified candidate?

3. Why have you chosen BambooSK8?

4. What days of the week are you available to come in and work a full day?

5. Are you financially stable to ensure that you can do an internship up to 4 months unpaid?

Please submit your resume and answer to the questions to info@bamboosk8.com

In other notes more related to the internship, we took our final examine this past week. I couldn’t help but think about how much knowledge I have gained during this internship. If someone were to hand me this final 13 weeks ago I would have run for the hills, literally. I had absolutely no knowledge of accounting, finance or even business until this internship. This program has established a foundation that I intend to grow  and develop as time goes on.

Oh, and I got a new tattoo this week which I am absolutely in love with :]

Last week though we were able to support our videographer, Nate, at his RAW Artists event at 4th and B downtown. Nate and I drove from Oceanside in the peak of rush hour, and we had the privilege of sitting in stop and go traffic.

It was all worth it though as he ended up winning the Filmer of the Year award for San Diego! We’re all stoked on his success!

Several of us also had the opportunity to celebrate Victoria passing the Bar exam at Fluxx night club. I’m thankful to be surrounded by so many great people here at BambooSK8.

On Saturday morning we boarded the ferry to travel 2 hours to Catalina at the god awful time of 7 am. I assume everyone had a good boat ride because when I woke up from my Dramamine induced slumber everyone was in good spirits, and slightly tipsy from their morning mimosas. We arrived on the island with only sunny skies and the festivities began, whether it be beer pong or  the hookah people were all enjoying themselves very much. The day progressed and nap time began, but Katie and I decided it would be a much better use of time to play on the swings then go swimming in the icy ocean and retreat to a warm shower. After nearly dying of  frostbite in the freezing ocean we took off towards the showers hopeful we would soon be warmed up. Little did we know warm showers were not an option in our little camp! After many attempts to dry off and warm up we went to dinner with the rest of the gang. As the night progressed everyone became better and better friends and the pictures tell the stories of the night. We woke up the next morning to a threatening storm and we all wondered whether or not the ferry would vernture back out to  pick us up. In the end we were able to get home safe and sound.  All in all, I would say this was an extremely successful weekend : ]

In other news everything with the internship has been going really well. We were having some issues in regards to getting repsonses to emails regarding media contacts so we have done a little revamping in hopes of upping these responses. I think that that one of the tasks I have enjoyed a lot within this last week was creating a list of artists to contact in the hopes of using them to design decks. This has been really cool to see all of the artists that are out there, along with seeing all of the different types of art.

Have a Happy turkey day,

Tyler

Well on the more personal side of things tomorrow I am leaving for TAHOE! Yay!! I get to go snowboard and see all of my friends for a week. I also get to spend thanksgiving with my aunt and grandma so I am pretty happy that I will get to see them as well.
So I am sure you’ll have a pretty exciting blog by the end of the week to read, full of pictures.. but until then…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

But Hey! At least me and Jackie found our new rides!!

Jealous? Yeah, I know.

Anywhoooo… Here are some more awesome pictures from the night.

My commitments have taught me a lot about each individual area I am working on. First and foremost I have learned about what it takes to manage a company’s social media outlets. I have been the leader on the HookIt and Twitter platforms. I have learned all about HookIt as I have not used it prior to this internship. I also have learned different strategies to try and get the users to interact and complete all the terms of their contracts. I have also learned a lot about all the different aspects of creating quality video content. Different shots, angles, effects, etc. I’ve learned so much here, it’s hard to put it into one blog entry!

Alright enough with the seriousness…

Big Chicago Bears victory over the Eagles on Monday. Pretty excited about it.  Over the weekend I worked a sustainable home and garden event for the Bamboo Buddy side of the company.  It was a good time, there was a lot of cool companies at the event that are focused on helping people live more sustainably.  I built a mini city out of the coasters that we give out at events, which actually attracted a lot of potential customers to our booth.

Its been a little more than 2 months here at Bamboo Sk8.  We have been using a system called MPS to track goals and results.  It has really helped me keep track of where I started and where I am trying to go in terms of helping this company improve.  Also, I just got my midterm back and I did pretty well getting 45 out of 50 points.   The midterm helped me really think about and understand the importance of an income statement and statement of cash flow, for a business.  It also made me think about how this internship has helped me grow as a young businessman.  It has helped me focus more on getting results and also on leading a team of fellow interns towards results as well.  After having to focus on my time management and efficiency (through a weekly time-sheet) I am more aware of how my time is spent and sometimes wasted.  This helps me get the most out of my time spent inside and outside the office.

Currently I am working on getting press on blogs and other media outlets.  It has been a challenge reaching out to reporters and bloggers.  However, the PR team and I are working on writing press releases for our upcoming skate events in hopes that someone will want to blog about it or post it on their websites.  Overall I am learning a lot from my mentors (Geoff- the president and Mark- the operations manager).  They helped me prepare for an interview that I had last week and they also teach us a lot about the industry and the company in general.

As for whats coming up, its almost 11/11/11.  I have to start thinking about a major wish that I am going to use at 11:11 am and pm on 11/11/11.  World Peace? Ending world hunger?…. no more like the ability to fly or maybe invisibility….

That’s it for me this week have a good weekend,

Tyler

To me, the midterm was as scary and nerve wrecking as if you told me to go surf Pipeline. I had no clue how to go about it or even where to start. During the weeks prior to the mid term Geoff k and Geoff C were able to assist me and walk me through the different sections of the income and cash flow statements, and why they are important. I ended up getting a good grade on the mid term, definitely refrigerator worthy, and I think that the understanding of this topic is something I will be able to carry with me throughout my life.

People that walked around were very interested in the Bohdi Loka dishware, and many people wanted to purchase it as soon as possible. My brother and I went to look around the different stations to see what all was going on. The garden section of the event was definitely more geared towards families than the home section, which was where we were located. Austin and I spent a good 15 minutes playing with the puppies at the adoption station and fell in love with one in particular (see picture below). Her name was Marisa and she was an Austrailian Shepherd mix and was absolutely adorable. Let me just tell you, we already have 2 aussie mixes at home and I swear we have the hardest time resisting them. We actually weighed out the pros and cons of bringing home this puppy. In the end we decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea considering we pretty much just came home with our other dogs and our parents weren’t entirely pleased.

After we were able to tear ourselves away from Marisa we headed back to our booth to continuing with the talk of sustainable living with all of the people walking by!!!

Oh, and I won a cool mustache from the vendor across the way…. sexy eh?

The other people involved in our segment were all running a little bit late and arrived only 10 minutes prior to the airing time! This caused mass havoic as everyone scrambled to set up and determine who was going to be talking. To top all of this off, there was a goat. Yes, you heard me correctly a goat named Melly was also going to star in the segment. Oh, and to top it all off it was raining.

BUT, in the end, the news segment was a success and our tiki bar got awesome exposure (as it served as the table for a smoothie and food demonstrations).

After the news segment successfully wrapped up Jenn and I took off on another mission. We were to pick up some bamboo boards from a printer in Mira Mar. This was a seemingly simple task but it was turning out that with us nothing would be. When we arrived at what we thought was the warehouse we walked in and politely asked for Frank. Two men were standing together and one of them turned to the other and asked “do you wanna be Frank today?” After some joking around between the two men they revealed to us that they were a school and they had no clue where we would be picking up the boards. We were finally able to located Frank at the warehouse directly next door and obtain the order of bamboo boards. But, have no fear it wasn’t a simple process. Frank started to ask us questions about whether or not we were taking all of the boards or leaving some for later. Figuring out what he was saying was not an easy task. Neither Jenn nor I were very good at understanding people with accents, and Frank’s was extremely thick.

We were beginning to discover that every trip this day would be slightly out of the ordinary, but that’s what keeps life exciting right?

Oh, and this is Shamroc.

I know I’ve been talking about trick tips coming out, but Nate has been swamped getting the new skate team together. Next week it’s going down though I promise! The new and improved team will consist of Nick Sauls, David Kahn, and Terrence Marshall riding flow. Matt Cartledge, Ryan Strader, and Mikee Brown will be the AM skaters. I have to study up for the midterm next week, wish me luck!

I was Mayhem (the allstate guy for Halloween), our operations manager Mark dressed up as Nate, and Nate dressed up as Mark.   What was everybody else??

Until next time,

Tyler

In other news, Chelsea and I just got back from one of the most interesting mornings ever. We made our way down to KUSI channel 9 news to do a segment for the Garden and Home fest at 7:00AM this morning to get there to meet one of the most interesting characters ever, Shamroc (see below), and if his name wasn’t awesome enough…you just need to meet him to understand. Anyway, he had given us directions to go back around to the front to get Chelseas car to unload the tiki bar, little did we know another obstacle would come our way.. We had gotten inside the gate by pushing a button and them buzzing us in, but on the way out no button was present, so me and chelsea were running and jumping around in front of the gate hoping to hit a sensor to open the gate for us, but when that didn’t work Chelsea decided to use her super human strength to open the gate, of course that failed too, so I resulted to asking the little landscaper guy to push the button on his side to let us out, for him to just let us know we are dumbasses and there was a button right in front of our faces. SO I really hope that everyone in the studio was watching us through a security camera laughing at us making fools of ourselves.  Aaaaanyway just as I thought things couldn’t get any better in walks “Sally Smarty-Plants” and her goat “melancholy Child” or Melly for short. (See picture below.) Anyway, after finally setting up for the segment, and almost watching The Red Door Chef burn down our tiki bar, things were rolling. Watching Sally Smarty Plants and Melly in action was priceless, especially when Melly began to eat the news casters script… After the segment was over we packed up and set off on another journey to pick up some Bamboo Boards we had just gotten printed.. Seems simple, right? Well… Leave it to us to make it a fiasco. We stopped at the La Jolla mall first to see if we could get some food, but apparently no food court is open at 9:30, and malls get flooded with orange-skinned cougars wearing bright pink lipstick.. Once we finally found our way to the warehouse, following a very well thought out diagram drawn for us (see below),  of course it was time to make an ass out of ourselves again by walking into the wrong warehouse and asking for “Frank.” The two guys that were in there decided that they were going to play Frank for the day and finally after 5 minutes decided to tell us they had no idea who Frank was and we were in the wrong place. So we walked out to see the real Frank pull up, and boy was he another character to add to our day, out walked a little chinese man in kaki parachute pants. Nice man, but we could not understand a word he was saying! So as me and Chelsea took a minute to compose ourselves and go outside and call someone, each hoping the other got some of what he had said, luckily Geoff C. knew what was up. So we took the boards and said farewell to Frank and moved on to go get some food, can’t go wrong with that. We had found a nice place that served Acai bowls which we were craving, but that turned into another expedition in itself. After driving in and out of warehouses we finally realized that Acai Roots was actually another warehouse we gave up and headed back to BambooSK8. On the way home I had my first experience at The Yellow Deli, I don’t really know what to say about that place other than I felt like I was in an Amish/medieval barn for lunch, but they had some pretty cool bathroom signs ( see below). After that we finally made it back to unload the car and get some work done.

This is Shamroc and Sally Smarty Plants…

The awesome Map we got to follow..

And Here are a few other pictures of the event.

Leaders work to get people to believe in their ideas and what they will become. They do not sit out their high horse and dish out jobs to their employees. Instead they immerse themselves in the company and get to know the employees. They focus on communicating their vision with their employees, tying customer benefits to employee contributions, linking working to results and instilling passion in their employees.

Leadership is essential for all companies to grow into a successful business. Through this internship I am learning about how different leaders approach running a company and what is most effective.

                                                      Beer Board                                 Ipod And Speakers Built In                                Jeff Ho Surfboard

                                                                      Shaping a Blank                                                             Drew Brophy

                                                                             Glassing                                                                 BambooSK8 Tent

Nate and I worked on filming some trick tip videos yesterday, so be on the lookout for them soon on our YouTube channel. Here’s a preview for you…

Several weeks ago, at the Rerip Surf Contest in Cardiff by the Sea, my girlfriend Katie purchased a 42″ Double Kick Tsunami deck from our booth. She has grown up longboarding the hills of Oregon and was hesitant to give up her Sector 9 ways, but she loved what the boards stood for so she took a chance. Since then a day rarely passes that she doesn’t ride her bamboo board, whether its to lacrosse practice or just to class. She still attends the University of Redlands and has noticed that her board has been getting a lot of attention around campus these days.  People have asked questions about it and she has stepped up as a spokesperson, of sorts, in Redlands.

Each new rider that chooses bamboo over maple is becoming an advocate for our decks, taking on the responsibility to share their knowledge, their expereinces and their love for bamboo!!

]]> http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2011/10/how-is-it-already-week-6/feed/ 0 http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2011/10/2848/ http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/2011/10/2848/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:03:10 +0000 TJohnston http://www.bamboosk8.com/interns/?p=2848 Greetings and salutations,

I am excited about this week mostly because it is supposed to be 75 and sunny all week, gotta love living in southern California.  Over the weekend all of us at BambooSK8 worked at the Sacred Craft Surf Expo in Del Mar.  It was a really cool event.  There was two “shaping stations” and one section for glassing boards.  We were outside in the “Skate Zone” which had its pro’s and con’s.  It was nice because the weather was great all weekend, but when a Van Halen cover band came out to play it ruined the whole vibe out there.  I have a lot on tap this week dealing with PR and growing our videos, so I figure why not start now? Check out our commercial and enjoy your week!

Later,

Tyler

BambooSK8 Commercial

Shaping at the surf expo

But well, here is a simplified travel map of the Octobomb.

It started from Bamboosk8’s hometown Oceanside California. Then it landed in San Jose Costa Rica. Traveled around Nicoya Peninsula and found great surf. Back to San Jose and back on flying towards Bulgaria in Sofia.

From Sofia traveled by bus to Istanbul, Turkey, then by train to Eskisehir still Turkey.

Then few months after The Octobomb took a trip by car to Trabzon eastern Turkey on the black sea shores. Then a bus ride to Tbilisi; Georgia.

Then back to Istanbul by plane and from there to Eskisehir by train. Then by bus from Eskisehir to Istanbul airport again!

From Istanbul airport, to the Canarias Islands by plane during Christmas.

From the Canarias to Antigua (Caribbean’s), on a sailing boat, 20 days at sea.

From there again on board of a sailing boat to Guadeloupe. Then from Pointe a Pitres (Guadeloupe) back to Antigua by plane. And as you know, to English harbor sea bed…

All in all, 27 774 km (17 258 miles), almost 3 time the circumference of the moon! Not bad for a locker board!!

It was a pleasure to travel with that deck, sadly she is stuck behind.

Ha, I almost forgot, here is a link about the skatepark we built in Turkey, the entire story. If you have 24 min to loose enjoy! http://vimeo.com/30017852

There are many different levels and sectors in which this index can be used, whether it be for a specific product or a company as a whole. As this program progresses and becomes more fine tuned, its uses will become apparent. Companies will strive to be a part of this program, because
people will understand and value the power of being eco conscious.

This past weekend BambooSK8 attended the MOSTIC skate demo at Ocean Beach Surf & Skate. A great time was had by all that came out! BambooSK8 raffled off a deck and there was some great skating by MOSTIC team riders Patrick Donivan and Joel Mercier. Our videographer Nate got in on the skating action too!

This week has been a lot less hectic now that everyone has figured out exactly what they are doing. In my free time I’ve been surfing as much as the waves will let me. It’s been kind of small lately, but I’m heading down to Blacks today to try and catch some bigger waves. The past few nights the waves have looked really cool because they’ve been glowing with algae! I took some video of it two nights ago. Check it out!