Intern Spotlight: Erika Nunotani
Name: Erika Nunotani
Major/Minor: Economics, Design, Business
Class: Psi
Position: Ad Tech Ops Intern
Company: Pandora
Location: Oakland, CA
Describe your internship in one sentence.
Ad agency work with a tech company lifestyle and a focus on music.
What does your day-to-day look like?
After saying hello to my team, I usually get breakfast and have meetings with other teams. A lot of my job is working as the technical liaison between the Ad Tech team and Client Services so I work on internal products for different teams. I hope to learn more about the actual code (JavaScript and HTML) used for advertisements.
What is your favorite part of the company culture?
My favorite part of the company culture is the focus on music. Everything in the office is music themed, our largest conference room is accurately named “Backstage” and has curtains as the backdrop. There are instruments used for decorations. Every week or so, we have artists come in and have stripped down acoustic sessions for all the employees called, “Whiteboard Sessions.” Plus, getting sent to Outside Lands for work? Score.
How has Delta Sigma Pi prepared you for your internship?
Interns receive coffee cards that we are allowed to use to take out full-time employees to learn more about their experience. I try to reach out to as many people as possible from my department and from other departments and even from other offices for virtual meetings! This is similar to the networking done within the fraternity. By interviewing brothers, I’ve learned about the media and advertising industry, even though at the time I never had an internship within it.
What is the most valuable takeaway you’ve gained from your internship?
Since this is my first corporate internship, I’ve learned that networking actually is extremely important. You can’t expect people to become your best friend overnight. Even though your mentors are there for you, you have to be proactive in getting to know your coworkers and even interns from other teams!
Do you have any advice for people who want to get into the field of Advertising?
Learn about each of the different roles from client services, to creative, to media, to ad tech. It will really help you understand the bigger picture of who is trying to buy what ad space and the responsibilities of each team.
