Quick Pitch : The Inturnship connects emerging creative thinkers with experienced pros to solve challenges for small businesses. It’s a place for entry-level talent to find the mentorship needed to navigate a new career, and get the experience every application looks for but not everyone can afford.
Problem : Within ad and design, there's no internship program focused at the intersection of mentorship, inclusion, and growth. Covid-19 has shined a light on this. And as the future of work moves online, traditional internship programs are lacking any movement at all.
Solution : The Inturnship. An alternative internship program founded on guidance. By connecting new talent with industry mentors, we help entry-level talent get the experience needed to start their remote careers, and help small businesses get attainable solutions to help evolve their brands.
Business Model : "The Freemium Agency Model"
- Tier 1 – Building Trust : Every client starts with a base collaboration called "Building Trust" which includes 40 hours of unpaid work (4 weeks @ 10 hours a week). The only cost to the client is cost of materials. The Inturnship pays Inturns a weekly stipend (fronted by the founders).
- Tier 2 – Getting It Done : For any collaboration beyond "Building Trust", The Inturnship charges a fee ($100 each additional hour or $1,200 each additional week). As an example, if the full project scope is 60 hours, the client gets the first 40 hours free under "Building Trust" and is only required to pay for the additional 20 hours.
- Tier 3 – Growing Together : As confidence builds for future collaborations, we can charge a retainer for longer-term projects. Starting at a 12 weeks @ 1000/wk, this also helps save the client money versus the Tier 2 rate.
The Team Structure : We have three levels of participation, plus a client point of contact
- Inturns – Incoming creatives and strategic thinkers with fresh ideas
- Leads – Volunteer mid-senior levels who act as a day-to-day mentor for Inturns
- Advisors – Volunteer Creative Directors who give bi-weekly feedback on the work.
- Brand Managers – Client-appointed point of contact who helps evolve the work.
Founding Team : We currently have a team of 7 Inturns and 5 Leads launching the program
- Leads –
- Christopher Puma (Creative Copywriter with background in Google, eCommerce, branding, training and education)
- Harley Garner (Strategist with background in Playstation, platform marketing, CRM)
- Justin Hun (Art Director with background in automobile, social media, and CPG)
- Nallely Ramirez (Project Manager with background in managing cross-functional teams, audience segmentation, customer journey development and campaign and content ideation)
- Michael Palamountain (Brand Strategist with background in branding, social initiatives, music, health and wellness, education)
- Inturns –
- Esther Shin (Art Director, University of Texas 2020)
- Michelle Lam (Designer, University of Texas 2019)
- Johnell Gipson (Copywriter, Georgia State University 2015)
- Megan Watt (Copywriter, VCU 2020)
- Bianca Ocampo (Producer, UC Davis 2020)
- Andrea Rondon (Content Strategy, U of F 2020)
- Kevin Nguyen (Strategist, VCU 2020 / VCU Brandcenter 2022)
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