By Lindsay Rubin 2021 VOH Summer Internships
If you’re looking for a summer internship to hone your marketing skills for a future job search, then Vineyard Open House Real Estate is your place.
The Vineyard Haven brokerage offers an active summer internship program going back to 2013 and prides itself on the real-world jobs the program's alumni go on to after college graduation. And now after a year's hiatus, the company has just hired its newest marketing intern for 2021, Lindsay Rubin, a senior at Indiana University.
Rubin is excited about the new position as she knows that previous interns have gone on to excellent marketing jobs after sharpening their talents working for Vineyard Open House.
She will work closely alongside Broker/Owner David Lott and is expected to write for a wide range of media channels. The emphasis, says Lott, is on creativity and developing writing skills.
“Our interns are urged to maintain a laser focus on their writing and communication skills,” says Lott.
“While today’s multiple media platforms require a variety of writing styles, your foundation begins with being able to identify your audience, communicate clearly and inspire them to action. We’re very proud of the achievements of our intern alumni who are now doing that out in the business world.”
A Diverse Marketing Background
Lott, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, has vast marketing experience to call upon. He previously was the Marketing Director at CBS for World Tennis magazine, and Creative Services Manager at the New York Times.
While working at the New York Times he produced marketing materials for Golf Digest, Tennis Magazine, and five other Sports/Leisure division publications.
Overall, he has been marketing resort real estate for more than 25 years. For the past 20 years, he has been devoted to the two businesses he founded: GolfCourseHome.com, an online resource for finding a property within master-planned golf communities, and Vineyard Open House Real Estate, a residential real estate brokerage on Martha’s Vineyard.
Rubin grew up in Sharon, MA, and now lives in Boston. She has spent every summer on Martha’s Vineyard for the past 21 years. She has previously worked at WHDH, a local Boston news station where she wrote articles and created content for social platforms.
Her ultimate goal, she says, is to work for a social media company or a fashion/lifestyle magazine.
She’ll get there if the success of past interns is any indication.
Summer Internships: Where Are They Now--Annie Schenk
Former intern Annie Schenk worked at Vineyard Open House for two summers while studying at Northeastern University.
She went on to work at Hasbro in the games department where she helped market renowned family games such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, and Clue. After her time at Hasbro, she joined a small financial technology company in Boston called Smartleaf. At Smarleaf, she did technical writing for their portfolio rebalancing software.
Schenck graduated in 2019 from Northeastern University and started working at Fisher-Price shortly thereafter. She now is a copywriter there, working on packaging and marketing communication.
“I feel very lucky to get to write in such a fun and creative environment, on products I love, and I hope to continue my career in the toy/game industry,” says Schenk.
She recalls that working alongside Lott helped her develop workplace skills while getting a lot of practice writing in ways that she hadn’t before. She also greatly appreciated being trusted and given a lot of responsibility. That trust helped her develop leadership skills that have served her well during her rising career.
John Murphy—A Passion for Music
He selected music by island musicians, such as Phil Darosa and Vineyard Sound, for Lott’s ‘On the House’ real estate radio show. The hour-long production aired on the island’s community radio station WVVY.
Murphy followed up his Vineyard internship with positions at Iron Horse Entertainment in Northampton, MA, and Lunatic Entertainment in the UK, when he studied abroad.
He eventually moved to NYC and got a job doing music supervision and talent acquisition for commercials, mostly working with GM and Walmart.
Today, he is working at McCann New York on IP management for Coca-Cola while also attending grad school at NYU.
Murphy says he still relies on much of what he learned interning at Vineyard Open House, especially the KISS philosophy--keep it simple stupid. And he still has and plays the red Telecaster guitar Lott gave him as a parting gift after his final summer.
Colin Stoecker—Worldwide Connections
Colin Stoecker's internship took place during the summer of 2013 when he wrote blog posts, did research for Golf Course Home, and wrote and presented the ‘This Week on Martha’s Vineyard‘ segment for the ‘On the House" radio show.
Stoecker noted that his time with VOH propelled him to meet a lot of new people in the small Vineyard community. He realized how important it is to be open to new connections and new experiences.
After leaving the Vineyard, Stoecker went on to teach English in China with Education First and then moved to the Washington, D.C., area where he attended Georgetown University and obtained a master’s degree in journalism in 2018.
He is currently working as a Videographer for TV News Station RFD-TV while also learning about IT and cybersecurity.
The next opportunity for summer internships with Vineyard Open House Real Estate is 2022. It’s not too early to think about applying, although applications will not be accepted until after January 1, 2022.
