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A Month in the Life of an Intern: A Tell-All

When I knew I was going to be interning for a Lacrosse Company I had my fair share of assumptions. Will the chairs at the office be fashioned out of used lacrosse heads and shafts? Would there even be desks? Will everyone be wearing lacrosse pennies with mid-calves? Would it be daunting coming into a predominantly male dominated company? All these questions plagued my mind. This fantastical picture I had painted in my head did not quite add up to reality. Rather, I walked into an office building and saw a bunch of inspiring individuals behind computers punching in the numbers and letters that has made Epoch the success it is today. The chairs were not made out of fragments of a lacrosse stick. There were desks. No one was wearing lacrosse pennies. The male staff treated the women with the utmost respect, the gender disparity was not noticeable. The women’s voices were heard just as much if not more in the work space.

I sat in my chair fidgeting with the pens sprawled out in front of me. Now that I knew reality was favorable, it was even more imperative to make an excellent impression. Little did I know that this internship would evolve from something that looked good in a resume into something that I am really passionate about. I have always been passionate about lacrosse through my high school and collegiate play, however, I neglected the brand behind the stick. Now that I know the story behind the copious hours of brainstorming, planning, design etc. I can use the Epoch equipment with even more pride.

Initially, I did not think about all the tedious work that occurs when developing a product and brand. However, my awesome mentor (Carrie Moeger) taught me the ropes of growing a brand through social media platforms and email blasts. She also taught me the thought process of promoting a product, specifically the new Purpose head. It is easy to glance through advertisements then keep scrolling, but it is hard to process that one advertisement takes hours on hours to design. On top of all of this, I have had the opportunity to write and read several blog posts to grow the face of Epoch Women. When I wrote I would get an open-ended prompt and get time to scribble down my thoughts then translate it onto the computer. The creative inducing work environment made these tasks simple, yet they challenged me to think beyond my prior thoughts of the topics.

Every staff member was willing to share what they were working on. There were people working on everything from design, promotion, sales etc. Even though we were all carrying out different tasks, we all share one big passion—Lacrosse. I would look up and some of the staff members would be trying out the new equipment, discussing a lacrosse game or something related to lacrosse. Through this and my personal sit-down conversations with staff members; I learned so much. For example, every single centimeter on a stick from the butt end to the very top of the head is designed with a purpose. Before working at Epoch, I simply picked up a stick and played with little to no knowledge of its’ design or potential. I always thought that creating a new head was simple because you would just continuously modify one head with guidance from players’ criticism of the original model. This may be true elsewhere, but at Epoch I learned that the inception of every idea (while it may be initially influenced from a previous head) comes from a place of originality and innovation. Sources of inspiration come from more than lacrosse settings, for example, various cars and shoes may influence the formation of heads.

I cannot put near to half the things I have learned at Epoch in this one post, however, my internship has provided me with a solid understanding of the promotion of products and a brand. More specifically, I have learned the story and faces behind Epoch. When I use an Epoch stick I am promoting more than a product; I am promoting a story. This story consists of a room full of passionate lacrosse players putting their heads together with the individual player in the forefront of their mind.

H.M.
Epoch Women’s Author

 

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