I’m Winston, currently a Y2 Business Marketing student at Nanyang Business School (NBS). I clocked off my self-sourced PA over my first summer in NBS as a Content Creator/Strategist at Night Owl Cinematics (NOC).

At NOC, I helmed ideation and production of our podcast series, The Thirsty Sisters (TTS). Despite being an intern, I was no coffee boy. I was pleasantly surprised when I dove straight into ideation to relaunch the brand. I was writing proposals that I would eventually execute in a matter of weeks, speaking to external stakeholders and tracking the numbers on our socials. There was a lot to do, and it was all fulfilling work - being able to churn out content from start to end for a content hub of a huge following, with content verticals of various target audiences.

While it was tough from the get-go, the great thing about the PA programme is that by default you have an attached supervisor who would likely be your in-line manager over the course of the PA. This meant you never had to worry about navigating the functionalities, processes and technicals of the company you’re at. There were also regular check-in sessions with the supervisor to evaluate performance and trajectory of said goals.

Over the course of the PA, aside from some perks such as meeting local media personalities up-close and interacting with them daily, as well as dips on some media drops, I found that the experience genuinely allowed me to extract some of the theoretical concepts I learnt in school and apply it to real-world industry work. 

Several psychological and marketing concepts from Organisational Behaviour, as well as Marketing, also facilitated certain thought processes pertaining to ideation and strategy - this was especially relevant given my role as a producer-cum-strategist in a content hub. In a setting where the consumer is king, it helped that I learnt layers and layers of theories that helped me to understand human behaviour, and how to engage varying target audiences more effectively.

All in all, joining NOC was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Not only was I offered a full-time position while still at school, I picked up and honed skills in production and strategy that only continues to grow in increasingly relevance, especially in today’s digitally normative world. I genuinely appreciate the trust and confidence my employers had in me — if there’s any advice I could give, it would be to fight the hardest for what you want. Be it the dream job, different skill sets you want to explore, or even something as simple as clearing your doubts by asking questions in class. They all go a long way — a lot more than you think.