My Internship at Brilliant Earth

I started as an intern at Brilliant Earth in June. The first thing I noticed was how welcoming everybody was in the office. It was my first time being an intern, and they made me feel like part of the team right away. For my first and second week I had a lot of organizing to do. I focused primarily on the ring sample bins. I tagged the rings, relabeled the folders, and reorganized the bins. Because of my sample bin makeover the bins are now much easier to sort through and find what you need. While organizing the rings I got to see all the different beautiful settings and familiarize myself with all the names. I really liked all the colorful settings, especially those with sapphire. I also had some favorite names such as Vintage Diamond Baguette and Serendipity. For week two I got to do some quality assurance. QA required a magnifying glass so I could check that all the earrings said 14k. Brilliant Earth is very thorough and wants  the very best for their customers even if it’s for a free surprise gift! 

For week three at Brilliant Earth I got to work with the production and marketing team. On Monday I shadowed the photo team. I learned about the various machines used to photograph the diamonds and jewelry. I also learned about how BE photoshops their images and got a mini tutorial on how to use photoshop. Brilliant Earth uses photoshop to select the best images from all the photos taken that day. They want to make sure they pick the ones that are in focus, where the lighting is right, so that they appear professional and consistent on the website. If there is a photo that is almost perfect overall but the diamond isn't in focus or is not emphasized enough they will find another photo they took of the diamond that better captures the stone and overlay that picture over the other photo. On Wednesday I got to go to a location shoot. In the morning I showed up at the beautiful house where we were shooting, ate bagels with the crew, and helped take out the wardrobe of sparkly dresses. The shoot was extra special because it wasn't just a regular product shoot in the studio. There were props, dresses, backgrounds, a model, and a makeup artist! Shoots like those only happen a couple times a year and I’m so happy I got to go to one. Since the new collection was inspired by celebration, bubbles, and champagne, everything about the shoot was bright and sparkly. For the rest of the day I assisted setting up backgrounds, holding the lights, and generally helping around wherever it was needed. For the most part I just got to watch and learn about what the photo team does and how everything works. The photographers always made sure to show me the shots and include me in the process because they know how much I love photography. The shoot was continued on Friday for very close up shots of the diamonds for the page of the collection on Brilliant Earth's website. On Friday most of my day was spent shadowing Mary, the Marketing Manager. I helped her short through Wednesday's photos and pick the best. I  also got to learn about her job and follow her to meetings. She gets to do everything from social media to photography to communicating with influencers. I got to learn how Brilliant Earth works with other companies, how they plan their events, and how they budget. I also was able to interview Mary and learn more about her job which was very exciting because her job combines many of my interests. 

Working at Brilliant Earth so far has been very busy but such a great learning experience!  BE is such a supportive and great community. Every new team I went to work with was so welcoming and always made sure I knew what was going on. I’m so glad that I was able to be exposed to so many jobs that interest me and learn more about them. I learned about all the small jobs that are crucial in creating the final product. I've got an inside look into how a business is run which is more than most high school students can say.