Internship Abroad

Throughout my life I have always had a passion for business, not business in a general sense but specifically entrepreneurship. I was raised by two hardworking parents who both started their own businesses. I have been given the opportunity to take on challenges that an average student my age wouldn't be able to starting from my experiences back home in San Francisco. I have built a website, marketed my mom business, bought merchandise, re-merchandise the store, and lastly accounting and inventory management. My mother has allowed me to get my feet wet, and “Her” store has become “Our” store, but this has all been a part of contributing to family business. Prior to Italy, I yearned for an experience in another company or even industry, to learn how other businesses work. I was excited when Benedetta Maracchi, owner and founder of Marakita Firenze, offered me an internship thinking it would be similar to the previous opportunities I had been given.

Marakita Firenze is a company that manufactures accessories and home décor. On an average day I would complete excel file sheets for potential clients if I wasn’t selling an item, but basically everyday was a new adventure. Although Marakita Firenze is off the beaten path of the center, there is still a steady wave of customers that pass through. Whether it is for information about the brand or inquiring on personal pieces, Benedetta is open to a plethora of ideas. She is willing to work one on one with clients. This aspect is what allows the company to be successful and one of a kind, due to allowing all the pieces to be customizable to the clients needs and wants. When I was interning for Benedetta, I was able to dabble in an immense amount of different tasks, not only focusing in on marketing, which was an aspect that I was familiar with. I was given the task to over seen the other interns, basically being Benedetta’s right arm, this gave me the opportunity to manage people, and see how challenging that also can be while also running a business.

However, there were two downfalls from this experience that I would like to reflect on. One was the inability to have her input on specific tasks. Many times Benedetta would leave me with a task, and then just leave it up to me to figure out what she wanted, being very vague. This became frustrating at times when she would have me redo it because she was looking for it to be done in a specific fashion. Another issue was I felt as if I was always “on call,” this required me to anxiously check my email and whatsapp multiple times per day. The internship in many aspects became more of a job, due to how I was needed a lot more than I originally expected. Although these downfalls at times were challenging, the overall experience working with Benedetta was astonishing, and I learned a lot.

My internship with Marakita was an experience of a lifetime. Going to Paris for Maison Objet, modeling the purses for the website, contacting potential clients, making “lookbooks”, attending meetings for returning clients, and even the “busy work,” allowed me to get a glimpse of what it is like to own a business in Italy. This was interesting to me because it allowed me to see the differences in European retailers and American retailers. The American retailers that would come in were actually quite rude, and would at times not given Benedetta the time of day or talk over her. This was so embarrassing! Here I am representing Americans my age in a sophisticated and polite fashion, but Americans only a couple years older than me were so impatient and rude.

Benedetta made me feel as if my opinions truly mattered, rather than just simply an intern. She always included me in important business decisions, from bring able to be apart of designing the new spring collection to asking my input on potential clients. Albert Einstein once said, "The only source of knowledge is experience." This directly correlates with my experience working in Italy in the retail industry, and being able to experience real life situations and circumstances you can only learn by doing.