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.

Minjia Du

During my undergraduate graduation period, I worked as both the production sound mixer and post-production sound editor for a friend’s thesis short film. It was a highly valuable learning experience for me. The film paid homage to Wong Kar-wai’s style, emphasizing atmosphere and rhythm, with multiple transitions between reality and fantasy. This provided great creative opportunities and flexibility in sound design, making the process incredibly enjoyable for me. In the past, when working solely in one role, I focused mainly on dialogue clarity and certain action sounds during production sound recording. Read more>>

Angelina Cotham

I owe so much of who I am as a photographer to my aunt Twylah. She didn’t just teach me how to use a camera — she taught me how to see. How to look for light, for emotion, for connection. But more than anything, she believed in me before I ever knew how to believe in myself. Read more>>

Alexa Heathorn

One of the most pivotal and formative experiences I had as an apprentice was working alongside one of my graduate school professors—someone who not only taught me the science of nutrition analysis but also invited me to co-author a book on Metabolic Syndrome (Mets). Read more>>