How It All Began…

I got this internship through Western's Marketing Association (WMA), University of Western Ontario’s marketing club. I found the opportunity through their social media, where I did an online application and then an interview with one of the internship directors. I actually didn’t know which company I was working for until they gave me the email saying I passed the interview.

I had some experience working as a fundraising director in my high school’s athletic council, but this was the first time I’ve entered a professional work environment in a marketing position.

The Atila Family

Team

There is a flat hierarchy structure with our boss/CEO Tomiwa Ademidun at the top, and the remaining employees ranging from grade 12 students to second year university students. We were a mix of business, computer science, computer engineering, and MIT students. I really enjoyed working alongside such driven individuals, since we challenged each other to improve while giving a hand to anyone who needed help.

Tomiwa is really passionate about his business and always seeks to increase the value of the user’s Atila experience. He’s open-minded to new ideas, and will always have something for you to do. After spending a little over ten months with Atila, I can definitely say that it was a positive experience rife with challenges, but also good memories.

Company Culture

Since this was my first time working for a startup, the company culture took awhile for me to get used to. Atila works very quickly and often with tight deadlines and self-learning and independent research are strongly encouraged, but there were lots of opportunities to showcase and develop my skills with the variety of projects that were assigned. 

I love the fast-paced environment that Atila has. There was always something to do, and it was easy to discuss project tasks with my colleagues. With that being said, I wish that Atila had a vision as to where it wanted to go, and what its values were. There was a lot of confusion at the beginning of my internship, since there wasn’t a concrete brand identity that I could reference when completing projects. Although this was challenging to work without, Tomiwa did a good job at guiding us to the brand image that he wanted Atila to have.

Special mention to the events we had outside of work! We had a company social during the school year where we cooked shrimp pad thai together, and then a company retreat in August. These events allowed the Atila team to grow closer and talk to each other outside the context of work.

 

My Projects

#YouthofGTA (My Favorite Project)

New skill: Interview techniques
Improved skills: Canva, use of social media

My contributions:

  • Conducted interviews with student
  • Transcribed interviews and edited the content
  • Co-designed the post layout for various social media platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter) in Canva
  • Promoted the series on social media through the tag #YouthOfGTA

Tomiwa came up with this concept at the start of the internship, and it’s my favorite because I really liked the idea of doing a Humans of New York-esque series and thought it was a really interesting project to be a part of.

World’s Challenge Challenge Pitch Competition

Improved skill: Presentation ability

My contributions:

  • Attended a pitch workshop
  • Troubleshoot various issues in the business proposal
  • Participated in the final pitch.

We made it to the finals and although we didn’t end up placing, it was a good experience!

Atila Schools and Jobs Guide Ebook

New skill: Tableau Public
Improved skills: Google Sheets, editing

My contributions:

  • Gathered data on LinkedIn and then analyzed it in Google Sheets
  • Wrote the All Industries chapter and acted as an editor in chief for the full ebook
  • Made graphics using Tableau Public and Google Sheets

This was the longest running project while I was with Atila and although the work was tedious a lot of the time, I'm glad we were able to finish it and hopefully it will help the people who read it.

Diversity Marketing Experiment

New skill: Facebook Ads Manager

My contributions:

  • Conducted a diversity marketing experiment that used Facebook Ads to determine if targeting certain demographics in advertising is effective in selling the Atila Schools and Jobs Guide ebook

I was only involved in the start of this project, but my colleagues made some interesting observations that you can check out on their LinkedIn which I will link at the end of this blog!

Coding Emails

New skill: Webstorm, HTML

My contributions:

  • Designed two emails using HTML
  • Used stripo.email to design the main components and used Webstorm for any fine-tuning (i.e. colour, photo addition/deletion, content change)

Style Guide

New Skill: Figma

My contributions:

  • Worked alongside two of my colleagues to make design choices
  • Used Figma to create the guide

I've never used Figma before so it was really fun to learn something completely different, and I'm sure that I'll continue to use this program for future design projects!

Tips For The Next Atila Intern

Disclaimer: These are my own opinions based on my personal experience and I do not represent Atila in any way. Feel free to use this information at your own discretion. 😊

  • Take initiative in your projects! Don’t be afraid to take on a leadership role, or step out of your comfort zone to offer ideas or do something completely different.
  • Communicate with your colleagues and boss if you’re having trouble getting work done— there is no shame in feeling overwhelmed! There will be times when work piles up, so reach out to Tomiwa if you think it’s too much.
  • Always ask questions and learn from your mistakes. An internship is supposed to help you learn lots of new things, so don’t be afraid to explore and develop your skills.

Thanks For Reading!

Hope this was able to help you prepare for your internship with Atila. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact me on my LinkedIn!

Here are the links to my colleagues' LinkedIn profile where they posted about their internship experience: