Posts Tagged ‘internship’

Off to a fast start!

Friday, February 3rd, 2012
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!

 

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in intern | No Comments »

Kick, push, kick push,….coast….

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Hello Hello!!
It is week 4 of this internship and it is flying by. There have been a lot of things to do but it’s totally worth it! I can’t get over how much I have learned so far! I’m still pretty stoked about being an intern! Over the past couple of weeks, I have been doing a lot of PR work for BambooSK8!  We are given goals or commitments to reach per week and let me tell ya, it’s an eye opener! I’m learning to manage my time better and that “the devil is in the details.”   Yet in still, it’s awesome!  I love that I get to spread the word about these products to everyone I see, call and email.  Lately, I’ve been contacting different festivals, eco events and magazines that BambooSK8 can be a part of. Time to represent!! 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo, intern | No Comments »

On a roll!

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Woz up??

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

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo, intern | No Comments »

BambooSK8 on the Brain

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Hello from Wisconsin!

I am happy to say that I am part of the 12th 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!

 

 

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in intern | No Comments »

Bam-boo! Bam-boo! Bam-boo!

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

I’ve finally started the internship at Bamboosk8 and now I am part of the tribe as well. I gotta admit.. I thought it was going to be an easy start you know??!! Au contraire! We’ve been flooded wit lots of things to do and to set up, which I’m really happy about, because unlike other internships I’m not going around buying coffees for everyone else, but I’m actually working to improve the company results and the tight crew here at Bamboosk8 really welcomed us all with open arms.

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

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

Bamboo WHO?

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Hello all! My name is Jessi, and I am very excited about being apart of BambooSk8′s 12th internship class. I grew up in beautiful Encinitas California. I am also fortunate to have spent most of my childhood and summers in Jackson Hole Wyoming. So I have had a lot of diversity when it comes to outdoor activities. I LOVE to fish, camp, snowboard, swim and travel. I actually just spend a week in Cabo San Lucas with some pretty awesome friends…

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.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

It’s over?!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

People always say that as you get older time seems to go by quicker and quicker as the years go on, I must be getting old then because I have no clue where the last 16 went! It is hard to even describe what has happened in these last 16 weeks but it seems that so much about myself has grown. When talking with all of my friends from college I said that I learned more in my time here than I did during 4 years of college. They would all laugh about this little “joke” they thought I was telling, but it was the complete truth. Leaving college I had a plethora of environmental knowledge and know how but I had minimal real world business knowledge. This internship has allowed me to learn some of the ins and outs of a small action sports company. This being said I am extremely proud of myself and to date I think this has been my biggest accomplishment in my “career” realm.

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!!

Tags: ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

How is it already week 6?!?!

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

They weren’t lying when they said time flies when you’re having fun! These last few weeks have been a crazy experience, one I wouldn’t change for anything. These last few weeks have been a crash course in everything that I DIDN’T study in college. After spending four years immersed in environmental studies and sciences, the PR world feels like a completely different planet. I finally am starting to feel confident with everything that I am taking on and I hope that I will only be able to learn and experience more in my time here at BambooSK8.

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!!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

Pepperdine University career fair and sustainability seminar

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

We’d like to thank Pepperdine University for having us represent our company to future graduates looking to get an internship with us.  We enjoyed speaking to prospective students who asked a lot of great questions.  For those who have never seen the Malibu campus – it is absolutely one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world; sitting high above the Pacific Ocean.

Class 10 - internships will start the 1st week of May.  Apply now by sending your resume to molson@bamboosk8.com

www.pepperdine.edu

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

A letter from former intern class 2 – Kelly Loft

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

March 14, 2011

Dear Fellow Ambitious Bamboo-Loving Interns,

Welcome to the world of Action Sports and Bamboo! If you are reading this it means you have decided to join a great team and an awesome opportunity for your future career. Nothing can be more important these days then getting a step ahead, congrats to you for taking that step!

I guess I should start out by introducing myself. My name is Kelly Loft; I was part of the Second Class of Interns. After my graduation from the program (which you will all do J), I then went on to be hired on as Project Lead to help run the Third Class Program. After my fantastic time with BambooSK8 and Bamboo Buddy, I took a year off to finish school. I then received another internship at Sole Technology, just a little place you might have heard of. I enjoyed my time there and then moved back up to LA where I now do Media Planning for Infiniti Automotive. You can say I have been involved in a lot!

Okay, so I am sure you are wondering why I am writing this. Why do you care about me or my work history? The answer would be is, I have been in your shoes asking the same questions, wondering the same thing about the program and it’s potential. I wanted to reach out to you to shed some light on questions you may have been asking. Most importantly, how does this internship stack up to the others?

First and foremost you are lucky to work with some of the most amazing people in the industry. Learn all you can from them! This internship is special because you get hands on, everyday experience with people who know the industry well. My time at Sole Tech, although fun and exciting, was never a hands on experience like BambooSK8. Of course at Sole I saw the people that were the big decision makers of the company, but never had a chance to hear their side, their story and most of all work directly under and for them. By being in such a close proximity to the Wyatt, Geoff and Mark gives you great advantage. Secondly, take time to get as involved in you can. Try to touch at least one part of a project every day. When you’re working for a bigger well known company you do not get to do the sort of tasks that you do at Bamboo. I was a spreadsheet master at Sole Tech! I am sure that you will be spending some time working on those sorts of remedial tasks at Bamboo, but I mean that was my job at Sole, ALL DAY! At Bamboo I was doing the busy office work but, I was also planning ASR, going to trade shows, creating client relationships and becoming a solid brand ambassador. I learned much more with my time at Bamboo and so will you.

I was in your shoes, sometimes wondering if I was making the right decision by investing my time with the internship you have taken on. Now sitting here I can tell you, it was worth it. I made great lifelong friends, participated hands on with  people who know how the industry works and was able to take many things away with me that have landed me in the job I am today. Be proud and don’t give up! Please feel free to reach out with any questions to me that you have! My door is always open for fellow Bamboo lovers. Have an awesome time!

Thank you,

Kelly Loft

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

Congrats to former class 7 intern Brian Rock

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

We just recently got a nice email from our former intern of class 7 Brian:

Hey Geoff,

I just wanted to shoot you an email and thank you for the letter of recommendation that you sent my way.  Because of it I have been offered an internship that could lead to a job at Young & Rubicam in New York City.  They are an advertising agency located directly on Madison Ave.  I am really stoked about this opportunity. 

So, thanks for all that you did.

–
Brian Rock

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

THE ZINE IS DONE

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Afeter redoing the zine multiple times, it is finally done. Everyone who sent in an ad to our contest on loopd can see their ad placed on the back page of the zine. That is right all 74 Bamboo Sk8 ads are on the back of the zine. Make sure you check it out if you participated in the contest.
On a side note. This week officially makes it the half way mark of my internship. For those people looking for an internship I highly recommend this program. I have lerned a lot and enjoyed every minute of my time here at Bamboo Sk8.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

Some intern updates

Friday, August 7th, 2009

As of August 2009, we are pleased to have hired Mark Olson, one of our interns who has spent almost 9 months of interning and then leading the intern class.  By being persistent, learning from his mistakes, being positive, getting results, and a few other quality traits, Mark earned himself a spot when the opportunity arose.  Timing + opportunity + hard work is what paid off.  Despite the fact that we had over 50 resumes for the position, hiring internally is what made sense for us, and all the more reason why we do the internship program; to grow talent.  As our company grows, we hope to continue this tradition.

Another former intern from class 3, Greg, is now working for us heading up our longboard business.  We expect great things from Greg!!

Also, yesterday, we had lunch with a former intern Kenny from the first internship.  Kenny is now helping our old friend Donald at Dark Horse Distribution (Grind King, Termite, Dogtown) with operations, as well as venturing into some new technological things.

Our former intern Krystie who was hired at Fox after our internship is kicking butt over there, and still finding time to help us with various graphical items.  We can’t say enough good things about her!!

Once the market picks back up, we are hoping to see more of our interns find jobs within the industry.  At the same time, some interns find that action sports just isn’t for them… or that they thought they wanted to do sales, but realize they dont… it’s all a part of the process of self growth.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo, intern | No Comments »

To New Beginnings…

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

I still can’t believe our internship is coming to a close. I’m sorry to see it go. The experiences and experience I’ve gained through this program were absolutely amazing. I’ve talked about these before on the intern blog, so I won’t bore you with the same story.

But with every end there is a new beginning. I really didn’t have any idea what PR actually included but I’ve had a blast trying to figure it out and being a little creative with it as well. I will definitely pursue a career in PR just because it isn’t your typical behind a desk nine-to-fiver. I feel I have a certain knack or talent in it and I just enjoy everything that comes along with it; going to events, meeting cool and interesting people, creative writing and trying to “hustle” my way with certain publications to get us some exposure. It’s a blast!

Going into my BambooSk8 internship, I didn’t know what I would be doing. I was given the option to do what I am strongest at and it helped me and it helped the company. I gained  tangible results and received some experience points to mark up on my resume.

In years to come, I know I will look upon my days at BambooSk8 as a truly fun and rewarding experience. And truly life altering. In this crazy economy no one wants to take chances on new college graduates. Employers want people with experience and get results and now thanks to BambooSk8 I have the experience to get a decent career started in the PR field.

And to quote Whitesnake “Here I go again on my own…”.  – TJ

Here’s from an earlier post:

From Unremarkable to Marketable

 

I have to admit, going into the BambooSk8 marketing internship I didn’t know diddley squat. It seemed like everyone else in the program was a Marketing major in College and I was just had a seemingly pointless degree. But the first day of the program I immediately found my niche in the program. I was “creative one”.

 

Let me go through my story a little bit just to let you know where I come from. I graduated from a four year college with a degree in English. Originally, I wanted to be a teacher but decided against it by my second to last semester. So when I graduated, I found myself with a degree that was worthless for the types of jobs that pay above minimum wage. So one day, I was perusing Malakye.com and came across a job posting for Bamboo Buddy. I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical of the whole thing. But after meeting with Geoff and his enthusiasm for the company, the product and helping people out who are willing to work to get where they want to go, I decided this was the gig for me.

 

The first day of the program, we all went to the X-games to pass out fliers. I had a blast! I got to see many skaters that I had only seen in the magazines and videos like Eric Koston and Corey Duffel up close. Then we got kicked out for guerilla marketing in an un-authorized guerilla marketing zone. But that was alright, I laughed all the way out of the competition area.

 

In the upcoming weeks, I got to see what I was really talented at. I chose the public relations route of the program and truly felt like a natural at it. I already knew how to write pretty well; so I decided to make some absurd Blog posts (if you scroll down you will see the Marty McFly blog; that one was mine) Also, did I mention we didn’t even have the first shipment of boards in! So I had to be creative to be productive. Geoff saw the creative potential in me and had me doing all sorts of art direction things to work on from criticizing the website and throwing in my two cents to make it more useful to our target customers.

 

I also got to use my talents by writing and sending out pitch-letters left and right and writing all sorts of blogs and editing magazine articles and press releases. It is amazing to see how a guy with no experience suddenly started seeing his ideas turning up all over the web. 

 

This all turned into great information on my resume and not just padding to BS my way into a decent position. I actually have the ammo now to take to an interview and make the interviewers coo at my coolness (inside joke there).

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »

Reflection

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

I’ve either been actively skateboarding, BMXing, aggressive inline skating, body boarding, or snowboarding since I was 5 years old. Action sports have always played a major role in my personal life and recently I have made the decision to make it part of my professional life as well.

I was at the midpoint of my MBA program and I thought it would be a good idea to start getting some contacts within the industry, especially since I did not have any prior professional experience within the action sports arena. I was already pretty busy with another real estate internship, school and other side projects so I wasn’t really sure how I was going to fit in an additional job into my schedule. I came across the BambooSK8 job posting on Malakye and I thought it was almost too good to be true. They offered experience that I needed within the action sports industry and they only required interns to come into the office once a week. So, I submitted my resume, interviewed with Geoff, and my first day was the following week.

Within the first few sessions, Geoff had each of us interns set goals for ourselves in regards to what we would like to achieve for the company and what we would like to attain on a personal level. He encouraged us to work together and help one another to accomplish their goals. He also put forth an additional effort to tailor responsibilities in a way that would set us up for success. Since I didn’t have any prior action sports industry experience, one of my goals was to learn as much as possible about the intricacies of the industry. Geoff did a tremendous job at showing me the ins and outs of the industry and how I need to position myself if I want to be a successful player.

I have to admit, this internship is definitely atypical when compared to my previous internships. First of all, I come from mostly a corporate background and now being able to wear shorts and a tshirt into work is the most epic thing ever. Being able to come in at 10a.m. is probably just as awesome. Secondly, Geoff Koboldt, the President, gave me the opportunity to really be involved in many of the inner workings of the business and be a part of decisions that directly affect the livelihood of their company. For a President of a company to show that level of trust and respect for an intern is definitely uncommon.

The journey over the past 3 months has been amazing. The time intensity was higher than what I had originally anticipated and only coming into the office once a week quickly turned into working from home on a daily basis. There were several sleepless nights and long weekends but I must say that it has definitely been worthwhile.

KT

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in bamboo | No Comments »