Life after graduating – with Kathryn and Ryuku!
Life after graduating can seem daunting. As a senior now, I’m beginning to think about what direction I want to go in. This process involves researching on the internet, attending the various workshops and talks that the Career Services offer, and also talking to alumni. I found that talking to recently graduated alumni can be really helpful as it provides fresh insight into what life (and internships) is like after graduating from Parsons Paris. Art, Media, and Technology graduates have very different interests due to the nature of the program, this is reflected in the internships they choose to take on. I had the opportunity to ask two graduates, Kathryn Frey and Ryuku Otsuka (both class of 2021) some questions about their internships.
Kathryn Frey is currently interning at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She is dealing with communications, publication, and social media material like videos, images, publications covers, and podcast blurbs as part of the Communications team for the Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs directorate within the organization. She was first introduced to the OECD in 2019 as part of the sophomore year AMT collaboration they do every year for their conference. She applied to them after seeing an opening on a job board. The application process involved the submission of her resume and portfolio, an online challenge where she was asked to create some publication designs on the spot, and finally, an interview with the team she was going to be a part of. Her internship requires her to have a good handle on the Adobe Creative suite and also Excel as she is also working with graphs and charts. Her team also works with economists, policy analysts, and researchers on how to best display and illustrate the data provided.
For Kathryn, her experience as an AMT major has helped her understand how art and work can look in one’s life and how to be transformative in her work, not staying stuck to a medium or a mindset. This helps her keep an open mind between what she does for ‘work’ and also keeping up a personal artistic practice. Her day job doesn’t prevent her from creative passions and dreaming up new ideas for performance art. Even though her role at this organization can feel like a small part of a huge machine, the studies and publications that the OECD produces are really important not just to specialists but also to the general population.
Ryuku Otsuka, on the other hand, is the assistant designer at men’s textile and accessories at Louis Vuitton. He was attracted to this internship because of his interest in design, having previously worked at K3, a furniture design company. Ryuku’s strong suit is digital drawing which helped him attain this internship. Along with that, he was required to have good analog drawing skills as well. He attributes AMT projects and his passion as something that helped him build his skills. As AMT projects are multimedia-driven, it helped him have good control over the Adobe creative suite. At the internship, he has learned to create paper mockups, technical drawings, and gained textile knowledge. Like Kathryn, he has come to understand the workings of a big company.
Both of them are enjoying their respective internships not only because of the new skills and perspectives but also because of their teams and overall environment.
ADITI s 2021