How Emily Dengler’s remote summer internship at Phia Salon helped her learn about the business world

Emily Dengler, a student at Ohio University studying Communications with a minor in marketing and two certificates in social media and entrepreneurship, took a deep breath and shared her summer internship experience at Phia Salon. Through the summer, she embodied the mantra: Take a deep breath. Work hard. Ask for help. Plan, plan, plan – but recognize when you can’t plan it all. 

Emily wasn’t sure how she wanted to gain professional experience this summer. Possibly, it was something in marketing or event planning – but she didn’t have a clear picture after her original internship cancelled due to COVID-19. She whispered, as if someone might overhear her if she spoke too loudly, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Whoa. Finally, someone said it. The most classified college secret of all time. You know, when an adult asks what your plans are for the future, most of us have practiced our response to a tee – we’re majoring in X and are hoping to work in X field after college. Maybe throw in a line or two about grad school, law school, or med school. We list our majors like trophies and hope the adults can’t see through our facade of false confidence.

However, it’s not important that someone is unsure of where their life is leading – but how they react to their uncertainty. Emily raised her voice back to a conversational volume and said, “So I’m going to ask these people who seem to know what they’re doing to make sure I know.” In just that line, one could see her dedication to a bright future.

Emily has used every resource that Ohio University offers. In January this year, Emily wanted to apply for some summer internships, so she started scrolling through an app called Handshake. Handshake is a resource students can use to find internships, part-time jobs, or full-time jobs. Now, pair this with strong networking skills, whether that be in person or connecting on platforms like LinkedIn, and the chances of finding a position are much higher. For example, all of the interns that worked with her at Phia Salons found their internship through Handshake or LinkedIn. To apply for these internships on Handshake, Emily needed to update her resume and create a cover letter. “I’ve had internship coordinators help me with creating my resume,” Emily said. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten this internship without Scripps.” When she had finished modifying her resume, she uploaded it to the app with her cover letter. And then, just like that – click click click – Emily had applied for several summer internships. (See tips for how to use Handshake here!)

When COVID-19 swept the world, many businesses that were hiring interns no longer had the means to hire. However, because Emily had prepared and applied to several different places, she found an internship that made the cut. After a phone interview, she was officially employed as one of three interns for Phia Salons, which was comprised of three hair salons in Columbus. She said, “I never would’ve thought that I’d work for a salon. I have one salon I go to in my hometown. I have one stylist that I would trust with my life.”

While she had never ventured beyond her own hometown hair salon, she recognized the value in accepting this internship. Most students seek out internships to gain professional knowledge in their field. So how would working at a salon help her reach her post-college goals in the business world?

Emily was hired as the marketing intern. Here, she would be able to put her minor and certificates to use. She said that the marketing internship had “social media aspects, which I thought would be really good and broaden my resume a bit.” On social media, she learned what it meant to keep a “clean feed.” On Phia’s Instagram page, they keep a clean feed by posting pictures with lots of white in them. When she was looking for images to post, she made an effort to maintain the white color scheme. Because of COVID-19, Emily also had to make sure that all of the people in the Instagram posts were wearing masks. This way, clients knew that the three Phia salons were being safe and following proper guidelines. 

Not only did the internship have social media aspects, but she also developed Google Analytics skills, a software that helped her collect data on how to best optimize the current Phia website to attract more clients. Here, she was able to directly apply knowledge from her entrepreneurship and business classes to her internships.

Emily quickly found a routine in her internship. When she started the work week, she said, “I get up, I go work out, and then I come back and I have my stylist meeting at 9 am.” At these virtual meetings, they spent time talking about the stylists. They even had fun incentives for the stylists to schedule more clients – the stylists' names would be put into a raffle to win $50 or a gift card.

But let’s not forget that Emily was doing all of this through the middle of a pandemic, surrounded by others that were also working remotely from home, whether that be in Circleville, Ohio or all the way in San Diego, California, where her internship coordinator was stationed. Emily said that at the meetings “they would give us COVID numbers. Because I’m from Circleville, OH, so I was in Pickaway County, my level was different from Franklin County. And of course, there are different levels in California.”

In the midst of all this work, Emily learned a lot about herself. COVID-19 challenged her. All in one breath, she said, “I have a to do list every day. I have a weekly to do list. I have a white board calendar. I have an agenda.” The words spilled out faster and faster. With COVID-19 dictating our lives, Emily couldn’t do what she was best at: plan. “It makes me feel helpless, truly.”

Despite this helpless feeling as the summer was coming to an end, Emily reacted to it by reminding herself of the little things in her life that she can count on: “Even though I don’t know what’s happening all the time in the outside world, I do know I have my desk. I know I have my living room. I know I can do work.”

Remember, like Emily has exemplified: Know what you can count on. Take a deep breath. Use resources like Handshake or LinkedIn. Lean on professors and staff for connections. Work hard. Reach out to experts. Ask for help. Plan plan plan – but recognize when you can’t plan it all.

By the end of the summer, Emily had an array of new skills, all while working in the marketing department for Phia Salons.