Wintec communication student on the “Good” scoop

Monday, 09 December 2019

From intenship to employment for Wintec student Makayla Wallace-Tidd

Wintec Communication student, Makayla Wallace-Tidd says her internship at Good Magazine has given her a major confidence boost.

They say that magazines are a tough industry to tap into but sometimes opportunity knocks. For Wintec student, Makayla Wallace-Tidd, a five-month internship at Good Magazine has now turned into a full-time writing position.

Editorial work has always been the goal for Makayla, who is finishing a communications endorsed Media Arts Degree at Wintec’s School of Media Arts. Now, almost three years down the track, finding a job in the industry has been ticked off the list too.

Once a week, Makayla has risen at 5.00am to join the Good team in Auckland as part of a five-week internship. Good, a lifestyle magazine for conscious-living people who love life, style and the planet, provided Makayla the platform to have a go in all the things she’d learnt about during her studies such as online article writing, article sourcing and events.

“Internships are very beneficial because they add so much to what we learn while studying. Going into a real-world workplace, I’ve seen how it works,” she says.

Her shining moment came when her feature article, ‘The future is recycled’, exploring electronic waste and sustainability featured in the Spring 2019 print issue.

Makayla’s internship cumulated in a feature article in the Spring 2019 issue of Good Magazine titled, ‘The future is recycled’.

“It’s a very strange feeling of exhilaration and nervousness seeing your work in a magazine, especially one I’ve been following for years. It’s priceless.”

Internships are an integral part of the Bachelor of Communication says Sam Cunnane, Group Director, Media Arts at Wintec.

“Our internships place students in real-world situations and give them the opportunity to gain confidence in the workplace before heading out into the world of work after graduation. This gets them past the hurdle of needing experience to get work and needing work to get experience. Nuggets of wisdom learnt during this time are taken with them into their future careers.”

For Makayla, the experience has taught her practical lessons too.

“I’ve learnt the hard way to always have a recording backup when conducting an interview and to always link statistics to your writing because that gives it credibility,” says Makayla.

Makayla recently had her first day at Good Magazine.

“I was ready to jump into the workforce after the internship – I’d had such a confidence boost! Everything is going great and it feels wonderful to be in such a creative environment every day.”