The workout routine chosen for that day was yoga. The location was Washington Square, which is 1.2 miles from the student housing at the New School (8th Ave and 20th). It was a beautiful morning, so it was a great day for a short run. Yoga was a new experience for nearly all the students who participated. Rachel led us through the infamous “downward dog” and “warrior 1 and 2 poses”, which after an hour of strenuous exercises didn’t bring the sarcastic laughter they used to. The workout ended at the usual time, 8:00 a.m. We then returned to our rooms to shower, refresh, and prepare for our day’s internships.

On my first day, my boss told me he expected me to make at least one sponsorship deal before the eight weeks was up. Being that I am interning at Leverage Agency with MSBA’s very own Ben Sturner, this is the sort of expectation placed on all the interns. For some this might be daunting, however, what it really shows is the opportunity that we have. I’m not treated as the lowly intern who gets coffee and pushes papers. I’m a part of a team and a well-oiled machine designed to generate sales. I was given an account (two actually), and the opportunity to showcase my skills and abilities. I have no sponsorship background, but I spent my first three days reading up on the accounts and familiarizing myself with the brands, and today, Day 5 (Day 4 at the office), I was ready to start selling.

Throughout the day I was focused on the one of my brands, Kick It, which is a 3 vs. 3 National Soccer Tour. I researched about 40 brands which I felt was a match for the target market of soccer moms. Then, I began drafting emails to each of the account managers to begin the sponsorship conversation. It was very exciting for me to think about how my emails could potentially generate a sponsorship of six figures. By the end of the evening, I had contacted several of the brands and was excited at the thought of hopefully hearing back from them tomorrow.

I took a break at 6, and went out to get some famous NYC Pizza. Then, I came back to the office for the Speaker Series. The rest of the group reconvened at 7 p.m. to hear Jamey Sunshine (Senior VP of Corporate Partnerships at Lagardère Unlimited) in Leverage Agency’s main conference room. Jamey was a phenomenal speaker and my personal favorite so far. It was hard not to love the guy who lived up to his name. He talked about his background working on both the brand side at Red Bull and the sponsorship side at Lagardère. He showed us some case studies from Mardy Fish getting a deal with Bumblebee Tuna and Caroline Wozniacki gaining six sponsorships in twelve months. After everyone was duly impressed with the successful sponsorship deals done by Jamey and Lagardère, he gave us his 6 tips for success.

•  Network, network, network

•  Prove your value through real results

•  Work your way up; not only about the money

•  Become an expert in an area of business that you love

•  Thank you notes; don’t burn bridges

•  Nothing can replace a strong work ethic

Jamey showed us how in his career he had lived out each of these six objectives, and then how it had brought forth fruit in his professional career. Inspired and motivated, we thanked him for his time and went home pondering how we could better maximize our internship opportunities.