From Intern to AC: Life at Sage
Former George Mason University student, Sarah Grace Fitzsimmons started her PR journey through an internship at Sage Communications in January 2022. We spoke with Sarah Grace to learn about her experience as an intern and how it shaped and prepared her for her current role as an account coordinator.
Q. Why did you choose Sage?
A. I was a George Mason student looking for an internship, and my professor, Suzanne Mims, introduced me to Sage’s President, Julie Murphy, at the Mason COMM Career Forum. I liked that Sage is a mid-sized PR agency and the idea that I’d get hands-on experience, and that the internship would cater to my needs and my interests as a communications major.
Q. How did Sage tailor your internship experience to your unique interests and skillsets?
A. Our intern coordinators who oversee the internship program made it clear from the beginning that they wanted our experience to reflect our interests, and that if we had an interest in something we should voice it. Knowing this made me feel very supported in my pursuit to learn what I wanted to explore within the PR and communications industry.
Q. What kind of tasks and assignments were you interested in?
A. I enjoyed media relations and coordinating media interview opportunities, and still do today. I remember securing one of my first media opportunities as an intern and how excited I was – it was a podcast interview for the CEO of one of my clients. What I loved most about this opportunity was that it came about when I was emailing the publication regarding their editorial calendar. One thing led to another, and the conversation evolved into securing the interview.
Q. How would you describe the Sage culture and environment – how does the firm invest in and empower its interns?
A. What I loved about being an intern at Sage is I felt valued and truly heard. It was clear the tasks given to me were important and meaningful. I could see how the work I was doing directly benefited our clients and how my contributions moved our accounts forward. The fact that my teams trusted me made me feel empowered and contributed to my growth.
As for the company culture, I could tell very quickly that the culture was welcoming, friendly, and accepting. When I first started as an intern, everyone was kind to me, and my colleagues were always willing to answer any of my questions.
Through observing the interactions between people that have been at Sage for a long time, I realized many people have built great friendships and relationships here. I was also impressed with the effort Sage is taking to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and that women were in positions of leadership. These aspects drew me to the Sage culture and spoke volumes about the kind of company I was a part of.
Q. Did you learn anything about yourself through your Sage internship? How did you grow from the experience?
A. I’ve learned that I’m capable of handling more at one time than I was aware of. I’m even learning that now as an account coordinator. I tend to be a perfectionist, and I love to focus on one thing at a time and make sure each task or project is as perfect as it can be. But through my internship I realized I had the potential to stretch myself, work on multiple accounts, and handle multiple deliverables simultaneously.
Q. What challenges did you run into during your internship, and how did you overcome them?
A. I was a student when I had my internship, working 30 hours a week at Sage, so I found it a challenge sometimes to balance my schoolwork and the internship. I overcame this challenge by being very communicative with the intern coordinators, managers, and leadership. I explained to them how I was feeling and what I was going through. By being open, we were able to brainstorm solutions, whether it was having a more flexible schedule or carving out time during the day in my internship to work on schoolwork. I learned that by communicating my struggles, managers and leaders were able to step in and support me.
Q. How did your Sage internship prepare you for your higher-level PR position?
A. Sage built its internship program so the work interns do is very similar to that of an account coordinator. I felt that because I was much more confident in my work as an AC. I think if anyone has an opportunity to do an internship, it’s so valuable because it allows you to get an idea of what a job is going to be like, since half the battle is understanding expectations.
Sarah Grace Fitzsimmons is a PR account coordinator at Sage Communications. She is on the Sage Culture Crusaders taskforce and Social Media Advisory Group.
