After graduating from The University of Alabama, an opportunity at Wray Ward that brought me back home to North Carolina. Wray Ward made sure it felt like the perfect homecoming, too. That was not just because of our stellar clientele of home and building brands, but also because of the stellar leadership and an immersive environment where the team was genuinely eager to help us begin FORMing our futures.

Wray Ward brought together two parts of my story: my background in the furniture industry and my passion for advertising, which I discovered through Minerva, the two-year portfolio program at my university. After an incredible summer filled with amazing work, I was thrilled to officially join Wray Ward as a junior copywriter this fall.

The Fab FORMies

Getting to Wray Ward started with a LinkedIn message. In April, I reached out to fellow Minerva alum and Wray Ward copywriter Megan Johnson. Little did I know, I was reaching out to someone I’d eventually sit behind at work who would become a great mentor and friend.

By September, Megan and I had connected over a call, and when application season rolled around in December, I was ready to put my name in the mix. After rewriting my cover letter about a dozen times, interviewing in March and getting advice from my mentor, I finally signed my offer.

June 1 arrived, and my brain was running a mile a minute: What do I wear? Remember names. First impressions matter. There are no dumb questions … I hope. Luckily, the other interns, Ella and Amelie, quickly became two of my favorite people. We clicked from day one, and our shared enthusiasm for creative work made collaboration feel easy. We also explored Charlotte together, from Charlotte FC games to new restaurants and coffee shops.

My advice to future FORM interns? Get to know each other outside the office, too. Those friendships make the work even better.

Diving Into the Work

Getting hands-on with client work was one of the best parts of my internship. Here’s a peek at a few projects I worked on and what I took away from each.

• Building Brand Voice: Shortly after Wray Ward acquired a major sustainable building materials brand, my supervisors encouraged me to jump into the concept deck alongside them. Getting that kind of direct access forced me to master their brand voice fast. What started as a silly monster spec campaign in my student portfolio blossomed into me becoming a trusted voice for a major brand. Fast-forward to today, and I am now the full-time writer on that account!

• Concepting for Awareness: I got to dive into a spec campaign for a nonprofit aimed at driving local awareness of housing needs. Pitching big, unconventional, out-of-the-box ideas alongside my design counterpart Amelie Salahi taught me how to push creative boundaries while keeping the core cause front and center.

• Tackling Web Copy for Community Impact: I had never written website copy before, so this was a new hurdle. Unlike campaign headlines, web writing requires thinking about user flow, hierarchy and how to guide someone through a digital experience. Working alongside designer Linnea Stoops, I wrote an entire website designed to connect people with local resources and put practical tools into the hands of the community.

• Diving Into Social Campaigns: I also worked on Meta ad copy for a major pool brand. With the campaign already shot, we sifted through a huge library of photos and paired the strongest images with new headlines. The fun part was keeping the copy consistent with the existing campaign tone while adding a fresh spice to it.

• Exploring Scriptwriting and Studio Production: We turned the office into our set and cast the people around us, sometimes on the spot with zero warning. I even wrote a full sitcom script for us. While some cuts had to be made (the behind-the-scenes footage is strictly for internal eyes only), the process was a blast. Add in a field trip to a local antique mall and a photo shoot in the studio with John Roberts, chief executive officer and chief creative officer, and Lewis Dameron, cinematographer and studio manager, where we jammed out and snapped away as our vision came to life.

I was raised to go after what I want because the worst someone can say is “no.” I brought that mindset to my Wray Ward internship, setting up periodic check-ins to make sure I was performing well, meshing with my team and keeping the door open to continue learning.

After many conversations with our team, putting my best foot forward and continually making my goals clear, the effort paid off. I am endlessly thankful to the leadership and mentors at Wray Ward who opened this door for me, took a genuine chance on a fresh grad and saw potential in my voice.

Onward and Upward

Studying advertising in college, I learned the terminology and became familiar with the typical roles at an agency, but I didn’t fully understand how it all came together until I was in the middle of it. Seeing how every department operates completely changed how I approach writing.

Good copywriting doesn’t happen in a silo. Understanding the strategic skeleton underneath the work helped me see what an account truly needed and how each piece fit into the bigger picture. The relationships we built as interns across the agency gave us an exponential boost in knowledge, helping us understand how the whole agency machine works and making the leap into client work that much smoother. No single person can be good at everything. Everyone brings their own unique talents to the table.

Whether you are fresh out of college or a seasoned executive, the truth remains the same: We are all constantly learning, pivoting and growing together.

We are truly never fully FORMed.