During my internship with an international winter cultural festival based in London, I worked in a cross-functional role supporting large-scale event operations, partnerships, communications, and business development across festival sites in Switzerland and Norway. Working closely with company leadership, I coordinated essential logistics, including accommodation allocation, guest experience management, ticketing, and time-sensitive attendee communications for approximately 2,500 international guests representing more than 25 nationalities. A central part of my work involved developing sponsorship and activation pitch decks for major global brand partners, as well as creating forward-looking business development materials for prospective brands and future host-resort pitches. On-site during the festivals, I worked alongside executive leadership to manage event setup, monitor guest flow, troubleshoot operational challenges, and serve as a central communications liaison across security, resort staff, social media, and event production teams.
When people ask me about my internship abroad, I describe it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because it changed my life in truly unimaginable ways. Working closely alongside the founder and seeing how much care and passion went into building the company made entrepreneurship feel tangible. I transitioned from feeling like I was 'just an intern' to actively leading meetings, liaising between operations teams, and realizing that being young didn't make my perspective any less valuable. Working two major festivals across the Swiss Alps and Norway gave me clarity, taught me to separate emotions from business decisions, and pushed me to think bigger. I left with the confidence, direction, and vision to build my own ventures from the ground up.
Paige Chen