• by Larissa Faw , August 11, 2017

An intern has selected Fitzgerald & Co. as the shop where she will launch her career after a summer-long program in Atlanta organized by Advertising For Change (AFC).

This diversity organization partnered with the 4A's Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP) to rotate 10 multicultural interns across four Atlanta-based agencies this summer: 22squared, Fitzgerald & Co., Moxie and J. Walter Thompson Atlanta.

Then during this week's The Face of Talent Leadership Luncheon to celebrate the end of the program, one intern -- Lisa Marie Rainford -- was offered a job at each shop and accepted an offer as a junior strategist at Fitzgerald & Co.

This year's AFC Internship Program was designed to showcase the collective strength of the Atlanta advertising community in order to help the region attract and retain top talent.  Interns were responsible for their usual MAIP events/requirements, but spent their Fridays at these shops for added visibility and experience.

AFC interns were also divided into two groups to develop a campaign for a local non-profit supporting homeless LGBTQ youth in Atlanta, Lost-n-Found Youth. The teams pitched directly to the client before heading to The Face of Talent week, and the winning campaign will be produced pro bono.

Among other summer agency internship programs, this year WPP's Kinetic chose to expand its ongoing partnership with Habitat for Humanity and its annual all-company build day in October to introduce a second build day for its agency interns. All interns and their managers participated in the build on July 26th to restore a single-family home in Queens.

And Arnold Worldwide's 10-week creative internship program helped to bolster social content across its client roster. A team of seven formed the School of Makers and Breakers that took over the Arnold Instagram and Snapchat channels, and curated cultural events in Boston like an Insta-meet photo walk sponsored by Leica. Here is a video highlight reel of their work this summer: