Work Diaries: YouTube intern leads an Editorial meeting for the first time

We’re peeling back the curtains with our series, Work Diaries, where you can experience the inner workings of YouTube. How do decisions get made? What goes into a product, feature or policy? We’re asking YouTube employees to give us the low-down during a five-day period.

Featured today: I’m Kennedy, a Global Communications and Public Affairs (GCPA) and Build Opportunities for Leadership & Development (BOLD) intern. I work on the YouTube Editorial team and help bring stories to life on the YouTube Blog.

Monday

7:00 a.m. - I’m a morning person, so I usually wake up pretty early (even on days I’d rather sleep in). I start off by heating up some water for my morning green tea and do some stretches. It’s also been pretty hot lately, so I make sure to water the flowers in my window box before it starts heating up.

8:30 a.m. - The beginning of the workday starts with emails. A lot of emails. Once I’m able to clear my inbox, I feel much more ready to tackle the rest of my day.

10:00 a.m. - All hands on deck for the upcoming BTS announcement going live on the YouTube Blog. Even though we are all working virtually, I can feel the excited energy surrounding this major blog post.

“Who is in charge of uploading this incredibly important announcement from the world’s most famous boy band?” you might ask. Well, that would be me. No pressure, right? At this point in my internship, I have uploaded a lot of blog posts, but I’m still pretty nervous about this one (saying BTS is a big deal is an enormous understatement). I triple-check that the layout flows well and all the information is correctly entered before handing it off to another team member for final checks. Phew!

Today’s highlight: Working from home means extra time with family! For dinner, my family and I got together to cook one of my favorite meals, veggie lasagna.

Editorial team picture — Editorial Team Picture

Tuesday

10:30 a.m. - Today is my first time leading the Editorial Team Weekly meeting. I also share some exciting progress on one of my intern projects. I’m creating a blog post for the YouTube Blog to celebrate the YouTube interns on #NationalInternDay! This blog post will spotlight the Build Opportunities for Leadership & Development (BOLD) interns and their work in various business functions across the company. We just got some of the media assets in, so I can’t wait to let the team know.

12:30 p.m. - After lunch, I make a quick smoothie and then head into a Coffee Club meeting with my fellow GCPA interns. The topic for this meeting is building executive presence, a term I wasn’t familiar with before coming to YouTube. Through interacting with teammates and supervisors, I’ve realized that a big part of executive presence is not just taking the space to share your ideas, but also demonstrating leadership by making space for other people. It’s a skill I want to develop as I continue to grow.

4:00 p.m. - Another day, another exciting blog post! I take a break from answering emails and work on uploading an announcement about new ways to get medical information on YouTube. There are a lot of media assets for this post, so the layout is a little tricky. But it’s turning out well!

Today’s highlight: California summer nights are too nice to spend indoors, so my family and I have a movie night in our backyard! It’s really relaxing, but the mosquitos are brutal. Yikes!

Wednesday

9:30 a.m. - I start off my day by watching lots of YouTube videos. I’m working on creator research for an upcoming Q&A with an executive, so I am watching as much as I can in preparation. I still can’t believe I get to watch YouTube videos as part of my job!

2:30 p.m. - I have a meeting with Veronica, a comms manager, to chat about upcoming YouTube Originals. One of my projects is to plan for upcoming calendar moments, so I’m researching YouTube Originals content.

4:35 p.m. - I’ve got mail! My YouTube intern swag just arrived, and it’s such a nice surprise. Since my family is also working from home, they get to open it with me. I’m also making a YouTube Shorts to commemorate the moment.

Today’s highlight: I’m making a lot of progress on my various intern projects. It’s really satisfying to shift from the planning stage and see all of my ideas come together!

Kennedy and the Golden Gate Bridge — Golden Gate Bridge!

Thursday

11:00 a.m. - Don't have any meetings this morning, so I'm able to take some time to focus on another one of my intern projects. I’ve been developing a set of education materials to help streamline the training process for our content management system (CMS). There’s a lot of information to cover, so it all has to be clear and succinct.

12:00 p.m. - While I eat lunch, I also attend a Latinx Art Showcase with Gloria Felix. This event is hosted by the Hispanic Opportunities in Leadership & Advocacy (HOLA) Latinx Employee Resource Group. Gloria’s artwork has such an interesting quality of magical realism and her use of color is so playful. Hearing about how her heritage and family influenced her art is moving. Great way to enjoy a lunch break!

3:00 p.m. - I’m meeting with one of our agencies to discuss the graphics for my upcoming National Intern Day blog post. They sent over the second round of edits and they look amazing! It’s really cool to see all the pieces come together for this blog post.

Today’s highlight: After work, I went on a boat ride in San Francisco! The views of the Golden Gate bridge were amazing and we even saw some dolphins.

Friday

9:00 a.m TGIF! I start off the workday by meeting with my intern host. It’s great to connect with her and touch base at the end of a busy week. We discuss goals for the next week and go over feedback on my projects.

2:00 p.m - It’s time to user-test my educational materials. I am meeting with an Editorial Team member to guide them through uploading a blog post via our CMS.Their feedback is so helpful and has inspired me to make some new additions to the materials I have so far.

Today’s highlight: During my lunch break, I decided to treat myself and get some boba! It's a really refreshing way to celebrate the end of a busy week.

^{Interested in a career at YouTube? Peruse through open positions}^here^.