Brianna Jackson| Contributing Writer
Brianna Jackson, far right, and her roommates enjoy a last brunch date before the end of her internship. Courtesy of Brianna Jackson
Brianna Jackson, a 2018 Hampton University graduate, earned a paid news internship at Bloomberg this past summer after taking Professor Butch Maier’s JAC 451 Business Journalism course. Bloomberg reps visit Professor Maier’s class several times each semester.
This summer, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to be a news intern at Bloomberg L.P. in New York City for 10 weeks. During my time in New York, I chose to live in the dorms with three other girls at New York University in the heart of Manhattan.
Living in the dorms made working this summer job more convenient and livelier. Taking the subway to the office in the morning became a quick and easy feat, being only two stops away if you take the express train.
Also, the dorms were not too far from Union Square, with people playing music, putting on performances, and many shops and eateries only a few blocks away.
In addition, most of the interns (both at Bloomberg as well as other companies) live in the dorms, too, making it easy to get together for brunch dates, shopping in SoHo, going to museums and going out for happy hour to rooftop bars.
The first four days of your time at Bloomberg include training on writing style, ethics and news judgment. On the fifth day, it’s time to meet up with your assigned team in the newsroom and get to work.
The team I was assigned to this summer was energy and electricity. I covered stories on wind farms, solar power, energy burden, and even electric cars and trucks. My daily assignments for each day included checking the New York power markets for potential quick news updates and sending out tweets for the energy Twitter page.
During our time at Bloomberg, we also participated in a day of giving back called the Intern Day of Service, where all the interns are placed at different locations to help those who are less fortunate. I worked at Bowery Mission for the day, folding clothes, organizing the pantry and serving food. It was one of the most humbling and rewarding moments ever.
Being at this illustrious company taught me many important lessons as a writer at an accelerated rate. I learned to navigate the Blomberg terminal to find pertinent news information for my team, to work in a fast-paced environment where deadlines could be as short as 20 minutes, and I learned the core basics of business journalism at one of the top global news companies.
My biggest takeaways from this experience are the progression in the stories I wrote over time as well as the unforgettable memories and connections I made.
To read some of Brianna Jackson’s Bloomberg stories from this summer, go to: https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/ATsVbFZJ2W8/brianna-jackson
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