We’re saying goodbye to one of our fantastic interns and wanted to share a mini blog post with her thoughts on the internship. We’re so thrilled for Anna as she continues on in the industry in her new role as an editorial assistant at S&S and will miss her desperately!
If you had told me in February that, come October, I’d still be an intern at The Friedrich Agency, I would have probably made a gently horrified expression. If you’d clarified, though, that I would feel totally at home in the company of five whip-smart agents (who also happen to be wonderfully kind women) and fulfilled by my deepening understanding of the publishing industry, I might have smiled, tilted my head with curiosity. When I started at TFA, I had no idea how much there was for me to learn, or how much fun it would be to step into the agents’ dynamic work environment. I was more than a fly on the wall during Zoom meetings (though I enjoyed nothing more than listening to these conversations); I realized quickly that no one at TFA saw talking with me as a chore, that everyone was genuinely interested to hear what I thought and to know that I felt empowered in my role. I was almost giddy in those early days, though overwhelmed by names and jargon and titles that I wanted so badly to conquer.
A few months into the internship, I still harbored the naïve notion that, after some unknown date, I would wave a virtual goodbye to the agents and be on my way, off into some new job or phase of life. But that proved harder and harder to execute or even imagine as time went on. Once I started working with the agents in person from time to time, I started to recognize all that I understood about their operation that had once been a mystery, all the knowledge I had accumulated. And, seeing how much the agents wanted me to continue on in publishing, I too started to want that continuation, that success—more authentically than I ever had before. I’m so grateful for the (extended) time I shared with TFA. My experiences there gave me a grasp of the industry that previously felt unreachable, and the Friedrich ladies will always hold such a special place in my heart!
—Anna Hauser