Belle Woodhead

I decided to apply for this internship for many reasons, mainly to gain firsthand experience within the marketing sector, with the added perk of local offices and flexible working hours. Due to the nature of the TVCA, I have been able to work across all of their different sectors, including Visit for tourism, Business to promote our support programmes, as well as Teesside Airport. 

Throughout my time here, I have been lucky enough to be out of the office most weeks, gathering content for socials, interviewing business CEOs, students and airline passengers, as well as attending business summits, and working on our stand at the Great Yorkshire Show. 

I have learnt so much whilst being here, in particular, communicating with stakeholders. This could be when contacting local businesses to write up their case studies for our website, visiting companies in the area when filming content to promote them, or communicating with members of the local authorities regarding business support initiatives. 

One of the best parts of this internship has been the supportive, encouraging culture within the team. From day one, I felt like my ideas mattered and that I was trusted to take the lead on projects. For example, I was given the opportunity to lead an internship collaboration project, which involved coordinating with fellow interns to develop a campaign that showcased the work we were all doing. I also developed the Disposable Camera Project with my colleagues – a creative collaboration with TUI – and created interactive “Tuesday Travel Trivia” stories for social media, both of which allowed me to experiment with engaging new audiences. Taking charge of these projects helped me build leadership skills and learn how to manage a team while keeping everyone motivated and on track. 

One of my favourite projects was with the airport, filming vox pops of passengers. Having the opportunities to experience that level of responsibility and make such an impact within the team was amazing. I was able to come up with the questions, talk to the passengers and edit the videos together ready to be posted on social media. I also helped to launch the airport’s TikTok account, creating content tailored to a new audience and experimenting with different styles to grow engagement. The team put so much trust in you and it’s such a rewarding experience seeing your hard work go up online. This was definitely shown when one of the posts I created became Teesside Airport’s most shared post ever. 

Because of all the varied work I was given, I have gained so many new skills and growth opportunities. On the hard skills side, I’ve developed video production and editing, social media content creation, planning and analytics, basic graphic design and copywriting. On the soft skills side, I’ve grown in confidence when speaking to new people, improved my ability to communicate with external stakeholders, strengthened my time management, learnt how to adapt quickly when plans change, and built creativity in generating ideas for campaigns. 

As I head into my final year at university, I’m taking with me not only a stronger skill set, but also a clearer sense of the type of work I enjoy. This internship has shown me how rewarding it is to see your work make an impact in the real world, and it’s encouraged me to explore marketing and communications roles after graduation. I feel more confident stepping into professional environments and more prepared to face challenges head-on.