Interns of New York: Denali Free
Despite Condé Nast terminating their internship program, Denali Free does freelance work for Teen Vogue for the summer. Photo courtesy of Denali Free.
Featured image by Ysabel Cacho
Last year, two former interns at Condé Nast sued the company for being overworked and underpaid. In the end, the publication company had to terminate their intern program. “[The interns] ruined it for so many people because this is an amazing opportunity,” said Denali Free, a fourth-year advertising major from New Market, Maryland. She interned for Condé Nast last year and is back again this year.
When Condé Nast came to SCAD back in 2012, Free was recommended for an interview, despite being a sophomore. Toward the end of the school year, Free found out she was going to intern at Teen Vogue’s art department.
She was part of a small team comprised of the creative director, two senior art directors (one of whom worked part time) and one junior art director. They handled a total of 60 brands, “usually 30 to 40 brands at a time.” Because of the size of their team, Free “had the same responsibilities as the junior art director.”
“As the only creative intern in their department, I got to prove myself easily,” she added.
“Even though I was unpaid, my work was still published and even used in my portfolio,” she said. She created a logo for Olay Fresh Effects, which appeared on the gifts with purchase bags handed out to consumers at Lollapalooza. She even worked on promotional material for the magazine’s events such as Back to School Saturday and the Teen Vogue Fashion University.
During her internship, Free made a career change. She initially had a minor in copywriting, “but after being given graphic design work, I changed my minor to that instead.”
“After my internship ended, I was offered to come back,” she said. “And I stayed in touch [with them.]” However, when Condé Nast’s intern program was cancelled, Free accepted another internship with Coach. “I took a gamble giving up that internship to come back,” said Free. At Coach, she was promised to take over the social media and international projects, “which sounded highly creative, whereas this job was sold to me as coding and working with images.”
Free returned to Teen Vogue “because the people are so great. That’s my favorite part about this internship. They’re helpful and they want you to succeed.” People play an important factor in Free’s decision-making, who explained she wouldn’t mind if the work was boring for so long as the people were great. “But I’m lucky,” she added. “Because both the people and the work aren’t boring!”
She now works as a freelance digital production assistant for this summer. Her current boss, Colleen O’ Connor, is the senior manager of digital and community development.
Free does work for the Insider page on Teen Vogue’s website, which has inside deals and events and advanced lookbooks for the fall. She also helps launch events in 150 malls and stores across the nation. Some of the events include fashion shows and concerts featuring up-and-coming artists. “Any image on the website, I’ve touched somehow,” said Free.
There are more than 40 different brands in the Back to School Saturday webpage. “I create a rotator for every brand,” Free said. “It’s a design challenge because every piece [of clothing] has to be featured at a certain time. I have to schedule 40 different brands. Sometimes they’re not always cooperative.” Aside from doing “every everything,” Free also does brand widgets and social media for It Girl.
If she wasn’t busy enough, Free also does some side jobs for her former boss, Gillian Avertick, the creative director of advertising. She has worked on brands such as Lancôme and Sephora and is busy preparing to launch an event in Times Square. “I’ve never been to the events that my work has been featured in so seeing this will be exciting,” said Free.
Seeing her work featured on Teen Vogue’s website and magazine still excites her. When she first saw her work on the Back to School website, “me and my boss were squealing!”
Although this is Free’s second internship, she feels the real world is “easier” than school. “I can bust out more work,” she said. “I feel like I can do a campaign in a two days as opposed to a two weeks.”
“Work doesn’t constantly nag you even when you get back home,” she added. “Unlike school where, if you’re not working, you’re thinking about work.” She credits the school for pushing her to work extra hard. “If you don’t have eye bags, you’re doing something wrong.”
Unlike the former interns who sued the company, Free’s only issue with Condé Nast is its location in Times Square. She said it is loaded with tourists, tourist attractions and pricey restaurants.
She explained she grew up in a farm so her current residence, Brooklyn Heights, is perfect. It’s not too far from the city but far quieter than Manhattan. She stays in the Educational Housing Services, which she also used last year.
There she has made many international friends from all over the world “because [that dorm] is the first thing that comes up on Google search.” The global aspect of the residents played into Free’s decision to spend last fall quarter in SCAD Hong Kong. Although the city virtually had no space, and she felt her privacy was invaded because of all the crowds, Free was loved having the mountains in the city. “I would go hiking every weekend,” she said. The subway system in Hong Kong is a breeze compared to New York because “it’s cleaner and much easier to navigate.”
Free will spend her winter quarter in Lacoste next year and plans on visiting the friends she made at her dorm in France.
With all the brands and clothing Free is surrounded with, she admits “fashion was something I didn’t really think of before until I got here.” Since then, she used working in Condé Nast as an excuse to buy nice clothes. “The elevators are like a mini fashion show,” she said. “And you never know, you might be sharing an elevator with Anna Wintour.”
