A Commitment to Nurture

For over 22 years, our commitment at The VAN LEUVEN Company has been to support efforts to heal, nurture, enrich, and sustain the world. We believe that this is not a singular effort or area of our business model, but rather an all-encompassing philosophy that influences every aspect of our business and the decisions we make. 

 

From partnering with clients who share in these same efforts to minimizing our company’s own environmental impact, we take pride in this commitment to bettering the world we live in for generations to come. Because we know that the next generation of our workforce will be responsible for taking up this mantle, we believe that it is of the utmost importance to nurture future workers and prepare them for their entry into the workforce. 

How Does VLC Nurture Future Professionals? 

At The VAN LEUVEN Company, our care for putting people first starts right here at home—in our own company. The care that we show to our own employees is the foundation for the quality customer service and VLC TLC that the members of The VAN LEUVEN Company share with our clients. At VLC, we place importance on making sure that each member of our VLC Family feels respected, valued, and listened to equally. We believe that we are stronger, more creative, and more capable when we work together to achieve. This very belief is also the foundation for our internship program at The VAN LEUVEN Company. 

Reflections on Internships with The VAN LEUVEN Company

At VLC, we are privileged and grateful for any opportunity to contribute to the professional development of a young worker, wherever they may choose to go after they complete their internship with us. Not all internships are meant to last forever, and we feel honored to be a part of so many young professionals’ journeys. On occasion, however, some of our interns find their way back to us and become full-time members of our VLC Team. 

 

Kinsey Bartlett, current Director of Creative Services for VLC, and Lindsay Hinkle, Account Manager at VLC, are two former interns at our company that have become full-time employees with us. We sat down with them to learn about their internship-to-employment experiences in this blog feature. Read on to learn more about their differing roles between these experiences, how their internships impacted their eventual move into the workforce, and advice for those pursuing internship opportunities now. 

When did you begin your internship at VLC? When did you become a full-time employee? 

 

Kinsey Bartlett: “I began my internship at VLC in June of 2021 and continued as an intern until I graduated from the University of Tennessee in May of 2022. I then became a full-time Account Manager before being promoted to Director of Creative Services.”

 

Lindsay Hinkle: “I started my internship with VLC in May of 2022 while I was finishing up my Junior year at the University of Tennessee. After I graduated in the spring of 2023, I became a full-time Account Manager at VLC.”

As an intern at VLC, what did your role encompass? What did a typical day look like for you? 

 

Kinsey: “As an intern, I worked heavily within the graphic design department of our company. At that time, I was earning my degree in Public Relations, and I wanted to gain industry experience in design, but I also wanted to learn more about the different roles at the company. I supported the Account Managers in their responsibilities, learned more about the clients that we worked with and their industries, and aided in company-wide design efforts.”

 

Lindsay: “During my internship with VLC, I would say I experienced the true ‘sampler platter’ of our company. I was studying English and Business Administration at the time, and I wanted to learn more about and try my hand at all of the different sectors of our business. From copywriting to analyzing marketing data and creating strategies, I threw myself into any and all projects that I could get my hands on.” 

Were there any projects that you supported as an intern that stand out? Are there any that were challenging or that helped you learn more about the field? 

 

Kinsey: “Towards the beginning of my internship, I had the opportunity to design our monthly newsletter, which consisted of sourcing agriculture-based articles and images that I would then design the email around. I also started designing graphics for our monthly social media calendar quite early on. These projects stand out to me as two challenging yet rewarding projects during my internship, because I do not come from an agricultural background, so I had to learn what was relevant to our specific audience as I worked through both the monthly newsletter and social calendar designs.” 

 

Lindsay: “During my internship, I had the opportunity to try my hand at so many of the different aspects of our business, from operations to analytics to copywriting. An ongoing project that stood out to me during my internship was the creation of multiple monthly email campaigns for our client. I was so grateful that VLC trusted my capability to communicate with the client, develop a strategy, write copy for, and collaborate with our designers to bring each campaign to life. Throughout this process, I made a million mistakes that the rest of the team helped me recognize and learn from, but it was such a blessing to have the creative freedom and trust from the team to try it on my own.”

How did your internship help you develop professionally, both in terms of technical skills and soft skills?

 

Kinsey: “During my internship with The VAN LEUVEN Company, I developed significantly as a designer. I’m very proud of the design skills that I have gained through exposure to different industries and clients. I have also been developing professionally outside of VLC, earning a Master’s in Strategic Digital Communication, which has aided in my ability to design effectively for certain brands and within a brand’s aesthetic. Throughout my internship, I communicated with clients and people all over the country with differing backgrounds, and this collaboration was essential in my professional development.”

 

Lindsay: “Throughout my internship, I learned so much about the professional world and developed my technical and soft skills through repeated practice and the guidance of other team members. In terms of technical skills, I feel that my ability to capture a brand’s unique voice and messaging style has developed significantly beyond anything that I could have learned in school, as well as my ability to capture the attention of different audiences. In the realm of soft skills, I believe that my internship allowed me to practice communicating with clients in a professional manner without losing the personability that makes VLC unique.”

Do you feel that the experience gained interning with VLC adequately prepared you to step into a full-time role with confidence?

 

Kinsey: “I do feel that I gained the experience needed to step into a full-time role with confidence from my internship at VLC. After working so closely with the other Account Managers and supporting their efforts, becoming full-time was essentially just scaling up my hours and responsibilities. The training that I had received by the point of going full-time was more than enough to make me feel confident in my abilities.”

 

Lindsay: “During my internship with VLC, I had already felt the trust of the entire team in my own capability, which definitely helped me to be confident in stepping into a full-time role. In letting me take on and have autonomy over projects throughout my internship, VLC allowed me to build the confidence in my own capability that I needed in order to take on the responsibilities of an Account Manager.”

Looking back, what advice would you give to those seeking an internship or working as an intern now? 

 

Kinsey: “I would tell anyone looking for an internship or working as an intern now to view it as a learning experience and know that perfection is not the goal. Making mistakes is part of the learning curve, and your mentors will want to help you learn from these mistakes. Additionally, try to learn as much as possible from the people that surround you. Knowledge that comes from the field and from experience is just as valuable—if not more valuable—than anything that you could learn in school.”

 

Lindsay: “For both future and current interns, I would say to try your hand at every single thing you can, even if you think you may not enjoy it. I always thought of myself as more of a creative, but ended up really enjoying the operations side of the business! You never know what will pique your interest until you try it out, so if you get the opportunity, go for it. Also, don’t be afraid to ask the questions that you have. Understanding why you are doing something is just as valuable as understanding what you are doing.”

 

Nurturing the Next Generation of Workers at The VAN LEUVEN Company

At The VAN LEUVEN Company, our interns are respected, valued, and incorporated members of our company—not coffee runners. We believe in the capability of the next generation, and we know that, if given a place at the table, our interns can make us stronger, more creative, and more capable, just like any other employee. We appreciate the unique perspectives that our interns bring to us, and we view these internships as an opportunity and a privilege to both nurture the next generation of the workforce and learn a thing or two ourselves. 

 

Learn more about internship opportunities at The VAN LEUVEN Company by contacting us today.