INTERNal Perspective

This week’s blogs are brought to you by 1-800-Flowers.com finance interns, Nicholas and Gina, who have spent their summer learning about the company’s budgets and costs.

INTERNal Perspective: Nicholas Hayman

I have been very fortunate to intern at 1-800-Flowers.com this summer. Before starting, I was searching for an internship experience that would be challenging and rewarding. So far, my experience has met the criteria. Under the leadership of the Brand Finance team, I have felt like a team member since day one. They have all taken the time out of their busy schedules to speak with me, train me and contribute to my professional development. I have learned so much already, but continue to learn more each day.

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The merchandising team is responsible for ensuring that 1-800-Flowers.com provides our customers with a wide variety of products that are sure to deliver smiles. Summer interns Isaiah, Donna and Sade are helping the team this summer. Find out what other fun activities they participate in during their internship.

INTERNal Perspective: Isaiah Rowe

My experience here at 1-800-Flowers.com has been very unique. I am a rising sophomore at Farmingdale State College and this is my first internship. Generally, when I hear internship, I think of getting coffee, stapling and collating papers. Though I’ve done my fair share of organizing paperwork, this experience has been much more. My team within the merchandising department has made me feel like a vital part of the team in addition to making me feel at home in the office. Outside of my department, I have had a plethora of opportunities to experience different aspects of the company including attending the annual fiscal year kickoff meeting and participating in an intern video assignment.
I’ve definitely had a lot of fun this summer at 1-800-Flowers.com. If I had to narrow it down to the highlight of this internship so far, it would have to be our Lunch and Learn workshop with Founder & CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com, Jim McCann. It was amazing to sit down and listen to his story of building the company from the ground up. He is a hard-working and diligent man with a strong will to win and a sprinkle of luck. One thing that stuck was the importance of networking and connecting with people on a personal level. His exact words were “Build relationships first and do business second.” I was inspired by this because he was so candid and authentic. This internship has been a great opportunity as well as a great learning experience and I am very thankful to be one of thirty-four interns who get to take this all in. It will prepare me for the future and help me to be successful.

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This week, get an inside look on how 1-800-Flowers.com products are developed and curated – Ilana, Lisa and Megan discuss their roles in Product Development and Merchandising!

INTERNal Perspective: Ilana Faibish

Interning at 1-800-Flowers.com has been a valuable and informative experience. I currently study Music Performance and the Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology at New York University and was very excited when I found out that I would be interning in the Product Development department. My manager has been such a pleasure to work for and I learned so much about the company. Product Development is an integral component of 1-800-Flowers.com that works very closely with both the Merchandising and Photography teams to ensure that products on the website are fresh and meet the expectations and needs of the customers.
Half of my experience this summer has been spent in the office and the other half in the studio. When I’m in the studio, my manager and I are usually processing the bouquet orders that come in from Procurement. Currently, Product Development and Merchandising are working together to determine which new vases should replace older ones and how we can utilize excess inventory. We test these bouquets with a variety of vases in store that we may want to bring in, meet with the Merchandising team and determine which will be financially advantageous. When I’m in the office, I am updating and editing our Spring and Valentine assortment plans with adjustments according to the Gross Margins. By working in the office and the studio, I learned the different aspects of Product Development.

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This week, Patrick, Madison and Simone from the Marketing Team discuss their internships. Though they are all part of the Marketing Team, each intern has a unique experience since they are a part of different departments.

INTERNal Perspective: Patrick Hartnett

Email Marketing Intern

My name is Patrick Hartnett and I am an intern on the Email Marketing Team here at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. I am a rising junior at Binghamton University where I am majoring in Business Management with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Spanish.

In the first few weeks of my internship, I was immediately immersed in the fast-paced work environment of a corporation. With no previous corporate experience, my time here at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has been eye-opening. As a member of the Email Team, I have had the chance to interact with a variety of teams including Creative, Merchandising and Web. This exposure to different areas of business has helped me learn the everyday rhythms of a corporate work environment.

In respect to email marketing, my internship experience has showed me how much hard-work and dedication goes into every single email. The Email Team works weeks in advance to plan out and create the email campaigns that will be the most effective in connecting with the customer. Overall, my experience at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has been invaluable. I am very happy to be an intern here and I am excited to see what the rest of my internship has in store!
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This week, we are pleased to introduce five interns interning in 1-800-FLOWERS.COM’s Information Technology (IT) department. Parker, Gary, Erik, Michael and Shaffir all contribute to the company’s IT team in different ways, find out what they have learned and gained through their summer internships!

INTERNal Perspective: Parker Rappaport

Working at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has been a great experience so far. I currently study Computer Science at Brooklyn College and am interning with the IT Quality Assurance team, where I’m gaining valuable information on to test software in a large scale.
With a year left in school, I had a desire to work at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM because I wanted to be in a professional work environment close to home and work in corporate setting where my work was important to the company. I want to make an impact and that’s what I’ve been given the privilege to do here. I’ve already learned so much, not only about my field, but about the corporate environment as a whole and how much goes into running a large company.
Though I want to be a software engineer, this internship has exposed me to the different areas of the software development cycle. In addition, proper testing of software is something anyone working with software development needs to know.

I’ve worked on programming projects in school, but we didn’t test any of the projects as I have experienced at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. In school, everyone would try to work on everything which was confusing, but here, everything is broken up into separate departments to get work done much more efficiently. This is something I’ll keep with me when I go back to school and when I start working full-time post-graduation.

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1-800-FLOWERS.COM Interactive Marketing team is made up of several channels. Here are interns Jessica, Mack and Mary-Kate’s experiences working within this vast division.

INTERNal Perspective: Jessica Flareau

SEO & Interactive Marketing

This summer, I am lucky to experience a potential career path as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing Intern at 1-800-Flowers.com! As a Business Management major with a concentration in Marketing, I couldn’t wait to put some of the things I’ve learned to use. This is my first meaningful corporate experience and within the first week of this internship, I learned more than I could have possibly imagined about search engine optimization, various programs, and how the company leverages blogging. Though I’m already one month into the program, I still learn something new every day.

The best part about this internship is that my work is actually being used by my manager, other coworkers and often put directly onto the website or blog. I attend meetings, contribute work, and feel like I am a part of the team. Additionally, I am working with a group of four other interns on an internship project in which we are creating a business plan for a potential start-up brand. With this project, I feel like I’m taking the skills I learned in school and putting them to use.

Everyone that I have worked with has been great – from my fellow interns all the way to my supervisors. They are remarkably interested in teaching and training their interns and I never have to feel frightened about asking for help. I am very excited for the weeks to come, the events I will attend and the things I will continue to learn.

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Coming back for their second year at 1-800-Flowers.com are Liza Pititto, Winston Jiatu and Melissa Meehan. These returning interns share their experience and what they’ve learned so far in comparison to last year.

INTERNal Perspective: Liza Pititto

Online Marketing

I interned at 1-800-Flowers.com last summer, so I was extremely excited when I received the news that I would be able to work for the company again this year. I felt that my first year in college would allow me contribute even more to the company. In fact, during my year at Cornell, I used the information I learned during my internship about search engine marketing and social media marketing on a regular basis. When I began my internship this summer, I was happy to jump into marketing at 1-800-Flowers.com. The high energy of the marketing department truly reflects the passion that exists throughout this company. There is not a single team member here who does not reflect ideals of compassion, kindness, and hard work. Even as an intern, team members would speak to me as an equal and would never hesitate to help me with a problem. When I didn’t quite understand an assignment, my supervisor is always willing to set aside time to work with me and help me grasp the concept. I have learned the lingo of the search engine marketing (a bit harder than expected) and I understand what each term represented, how it was calculated, and what the implications were.
Already this summer, I was able to visit the Google offices in New York City with the search marketing team. This experience was absolutely amazing. I learned so much just by sitting in on meetings with the Google and 1-800-Flowers.com teams. I saw how the work we were doing on our side was affecting our position on a Google search page when consumers search words like “flowers,” for example.
I am so proud to be interning once again at 1-800-Flowers.com. It is a privilege and I feel even luckier knowing that my internship is with a company that values learning and is willing to teach the interns instead of asking them to get coffee or file papers. I am so excited for what’s in store for the interns this summer. If it is anything like last summer, I know it will be an absolutely amazing experience.

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Summer is finally here, which means it’s time to bring back “The INTERNal Perspective” by our blooming group of interns! Returning for its third year, “The INTERNal Perspective” captures our intern’s individual experience and contribution to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. Each of our 33 interns bring along different sets of skills fit for almost every department ranging from vendor relations to marketing and information technology. This year, not only are the interns juggling assigned work from their departments, but they are also participating in “Summer of a Million Smiles” community events as well as a Summer Internship Project to create their own start-up company under the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM brand. It will be a jam-packed summer so stay tuned for weekly updates on “The INTERNal Perspective!”

In her second post for the INTERNal Perspective, Public Relations Intern Sarah Melley shares her experience interning at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and her involvement in the Imagine the Smiles and Summer of a Million Smiles initiatives. Here’s Sarah in her own words:

“I have learned so much about Public Relations while interning here at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. As a Public Relations intern, I have participated in two major company-wide initiatives, Summer of a Million Smiles and Imagine the Smiles, to deliver smiles in the community and beyond. I was involved in donating flowers to the Island Harvest Mobile Food Pantry in Freeport and was a part of the committee that selected the winners for the Imagine the Smiles campaign from the numerous nominations. It’s great to be a part of something bigger than myself and I always feel good knowing I helped deliver a smile that day. Continue Reading…