My Experience

I’m Daria, a senior at Montclair State University majoring in Communications and Media Studies. This summer I interned at Rakuten International, and my experience was nothing like the job description. Well, sort of.

What was true to my expectations was a 10-week stint working with the Corporate Communications team, where I developed essential PR materials, wrote original copy, captured content for social media campaigns, audited our owned media channels, edited senior thought leadership articles, and more.

What the job description didn’t mention is that the person saying their final goodbyes would not be the same person who walked in on their first day.  

That change formed subtly through the daily moments — team calls, intern activities, tasks, and assignments.  ‍

Somewhere along the way, my skillset got sharper, my network expanded, and I found my voice.

Top Five Takeaways

Here are five things I gained from my internship at Rakuten:

An Expanded Toolkit

Supporting PR and owned media campaigns helped me build tangible skills I can add to my resume. Sitting in on campaign planning meetings sharpened my communications strategy, and producing social and blog posts fine-tuned my content creation toolkit — also giving me practice on both sides of the camera!

My work came with a bonus: as part of the intern program, I got to participate in curated workshops which offered great tips for furthering my professional development. I took a strengths assessment test, learned the essentials of financial planning, and was coached on building a captivating elevator pitch. My favorite workshop was a session with a LinkedIn employee who shared insider tips on how to build a standout profile.  

Confidence to Speak Up

At first, I found it hard to believe I could make meaningful contributions as an intern, but my experience proved the exact opposite. Rakuten operates on the idea that the only way forward is to challenge the status quo, and putting that into practice gave me permission to trust my own perspective.  

My team told me that throughout the course of my internship, my confidence shift was palpable (and I felt it, too). Not long after starting, I began speaking up in meetings, and eventually presented to team leaders on actions we could take to improve our social channels — all without second-guessing myself.

A Professional Network

Throughout my ten weeks, I found community with fellow interns and bonded tightly with my teammates. I edited an article for a chief product officer, wrote executive briefs for a chief marketing officer, and even sat face-to-face with the CEO and COO in Q&A sessions that reshaped how I picture my own career.

What stuck with me most is that people here genuinely want to see you grow. That made the relationships I formed — and the lessons tucked inside each one — worth far more than any LinkedIn connection.  

Real Ownership, Real Impact

Interns here don’t go on coffee runs or do busy work. It’s almost like an unwritten rule.  

Instead, my team made sure that every project had a purpose. Whether I was creating high-visibility content to support executive thought leadership, revamping our department's intranet page with creative freedom, or getting the green light to implement my proposed content recommendations, I always saw the impact of my work. Wherever I go next, I'll have a portfolio to show for it.

A Clearer Sense of What Lies Ahead

Though I’m still building my professional future, working on the Corporate Communications team of a global business made my career goals a little clearer. I got firsthand exposure to how communications has to function across borders, intricacies and all — something I couldn't have grasped from a job description alone.

I also came to understand why the work I did mattered. Communication is how a company tells the world who it is: it shapes reputation, earns trust, and turns a business into something people actually recognize and believe in. Seeing that up close helped me realize that the function is just storytelling at scale, and though I’m not sure where this next chapter leads, I do know that I want to keep telling stories.  

Rakuten International’s internship program is designed to foster the next generation of leaders and innovators. If you're a student thinking about applying when the next cycle opens next spring, keep an eye on the Careers page.

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