Life as an OakMega Intern: Iris Liu's Internship Story

OakMega is a startup just over three years old. Beyond growing the business, we want to stay energized and driven, so we regularly bring on interns whose diverse perspectives spark fresh ideas. Iris, an intern on our Marketing and Customer Success teams, joined OakMega in July last year (2022). Here's a look at her internship.

An internship is a chance to rediscover yourself and uncover hidden strengths. At OakMega, I could take bold swings, learn from my mistakes, prove my value, and chart my own path. For me, it's been a truly meaningful journey.

Why an Internship?

Before her senior year, Iris did an internship managing CRM and worked closely with a CRM manager. That experience gave her a picture of what customer relationship management could be, so she applied for OakMega's summer internship. Iris had set a few goals for herself: a challenging role, opportunities for cross-team collaboration, and a flat structure. OakMega's role and work environment checked every box.

“The flat structure of a startup was another reason I chose it,” Iris says.

What She Worked On

Iris's internship at OakMega spanned two areas: marketing and customer success. On the marketing side, she owned content marketing, figuring out how to find new topics and get them in front of people through articles, social media, and more. On the customer success side, she helped Customer Success Managers resolve client issues quickly, and producing biweekly reports and QBR (quarterly business review) reports was the benchmark for her work.

“I spent a lot of time on content marketing,” Iris says.

Most Memorable Projects

The brand refresh was Iris's most memorable and most challenging project. Less than a month after she joined, the company launched a major overhaul of its corporate identity. As a member of the marketing team, she naturally pitched in, and it turned out to be a great way to get to know the company's products.

Iris also told us about writing the JLR case study. “I never imagined I'd produce a full customer success story.”

Writing had been a recurring struggle for Iris; even her content marketing blog posts took many rounds of revisions. But she happened to be helping the Customer Success teammate dedicated to JLR prepare materials, and had been involved since JLR first came on board. That meant that as she assessed whether the story was feasible, pulled the data together, and went back and forth with the client, far less was likely to slip through the cracks.

Toughest Moments

“I've gained far more at OakMega than I expected, and I've hit all the goals I originally set,” Iris told us, circling back to our first question. Still, everyone hits a wall at some point. For Iris, the most immediate challenge was the company's fast pace. “I think about how to allocate time across tasks, then look back to find the pace that suits me best, and work out the approach that works best.” That's how she described handling it.

Conclusion

OakMega encourages everyone, in every role and on every team, to share their ideas, and that spirit carries through to how teams communicate and how quickly they act. As her internship draws to a close, Iris sees her time at OakMega as more than just helping out. She felt like a real contributor, someone who had to come prepared and mentally strong in order to push past her previous experience, challenge herself, and still hit the goals she'd set. “Even if you're facing something brand new every day, go in with the mindset of overcoming it, and become a master of time management.” That's Iris's advice for anyone looking to take on a startup challenge.

‍