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If you’re knee-deep in an Excel spreadsheet or drowning in a sea of your boss’s paperwork, it can be easy to lose sight of why you took an internship in the first place. If you feel like the lowest rung on the ladder, don’t worry, you’re not alone – and it won’t last forever. Your internship experience will help build credentials to land exciting new business opportunities in the future. Just ask these six celebrities who began just like you: as an intern. Check out how these superstars paid their dues.
Now one of the most well-known television personalities, Oprah Winfrey got her start as an intern for WLAC-TV, a CBS affiliate station in Nashville, Tennessee. Before landing this internship, and eventually a full-time position as an anchor, Winfrey studied communications at Tennessee State University. Oprah’s entertainment media empire now includes her OWN Television Network and “O, The Oprah Magazine.”
Known for comedic roles such as Tom Haverford on “Parks and Recreation,” Aziz Ansari once interned with satirical news publication, The Onion, while a sophomore at NYU. Aziz insists he was too shy at the time to tell his co-workers about his budding comedic passion, and spent his time playing foosball in the advertising department instead.
Before joining the cast of The Office as a writer-performer and starring in her own TV show, “The Mindy Project,” Kaling interned on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” Rather than making photocopies or doing the tasks she was hired for, Mindy focused her energy on learning all she could from Conan. The female actress jokingly claims this made her “the worst intern who ever worked on the program.”
Even at 12 or 13 years old, the Apple co-founder tenaciously went after what he wanted. In search of parts for one of his projects, Jobs picked up the Palo Alto phone book and cold called Bill Hewett (of Hewlett-Packard). After a 20 minute conversation, Hewett agreed to send Steve some parts and offered him a summer job on the assembly line.
Similar to her character Hannah on the HBO hit show, “Girls,” Lena Dunham held a summer internship with an independent publisher while attending Oberlin College. Unlike Hannah, Dunham was not fired from the job. Her former boss, Richard Nash, told The Los Angeles Times, “She was great as expected.”
This female actress got her start in show business with the prestigious NBC Page Program. Pages give tours of the NBC studios and get assignments on leading shows. Aubrey, however, couldn’t resist adding some improvised “facts” to her tour speeches and was eventually asked to leave. Before departing, Aubrey got a cameo as a page on an episode of “30 Rock.”
P.S. If you’re looking to start your own career in the media world, you can apply for the same NBC Page Program online.
Hopefully that excel sheet is looking a bit brighter now! It’s all about the end goal and as these celebrities prove, your internship is your first step.
