Internships and apprenticeships are a time-honored rite of passage in many industries. We’ve asked some brilliant folks to share some of the most important lessons they learned during these early experiences in their career.

Michaela Munsterman

I was fortunate enough to intern with Dr. Michael Jones, the creator of the Medical Exercise Training Institute. This institute’s purpose to help those with medical conditions manage them through exercise. Read more>>

Madison Young

Internships are amazing and such an immersive and life-changing way to gain knowledge and experience in your industry if you are lucky enough to get one. I say lucky because it truly is a privilege to be able to work (most of the time in my experience) unpaid, doing something you truly love. Read more>>

Erica Vinyl

Once my teacher had retired from my old middle school, I, unfortunately, lost contact with him. The town we live in isn’t necessarily big, but I wasn’t able to track him down no matter many times I reached out to anyone who might know. It devastated me because I wanted to show him how much he and his love for music have impacted my life. I wanted to show him that I was managing a shop, and it was all because of him. Read more>>

Dennis Duffy

While I was still in design school at Parsons in NY, I did an apprenticeship for a residential design firm. One day, while accompanying the principal of the firm to a client presentation / meeting, we stopped to pick up something. He went inside and left me to take care of his car as it was a very busy street (they are all busy in NYC!). Read more>>

DiAnne Davis, MD, FAAD

As a young African-American woman, when I decided to pursue a career in medicine, I fell in love with dermatology because I am an extremely visual learner, so I can see what it is I’m diagnosing. The second part of that story is that I suffered with acne as a young adult, and I found very few dermatologists that looked like me in the field. Read more>>

Doug Swinton

I went to art college and learned nothing. I spent almost 4 years and got nothing from it, yet here I am making a living from art. Read more>>