My name is Edie Bessant and for the past two weeks, I completed a rewarding work experience at Cardiff Life & WCS Agency. I’m in my second year of studying English Literature and French at Cardiff University and I have a keen interest in journalism, which led me to become interested in the Cardiff Life magazine. Its journalistic values aligned with my own – providing inquisitive, creative articles that also hold a sense of pride for the city that we live in. 

After approaching Cardiff Life via email, the enthusiasm and warmth from the team were instantly evident. Having worked on the ‘What’s On’ and ‘Spotlight News’ segments of the magazine before my two weeks of internship, I had some idea of what to expect when I first came into the office, but Cardiff Life exceeded all of my expectations. The Cardiff Life and WCS Agency team were so welcoming and eager to get me involved, so I was all too happy to get stuck in. 

 In just my first few days, I was trusted to complete the Cardiff Lives and Cardiff Works sections of the magazine, which included conducting research about remarkable people in the Cardiff community, sourcing imagery and exploring fresh, compelling angles that would be appealing to readers. Following this, I wrote a four-page spread for the Guinness Six Nations, as well as writing and publishing multiple newsletters and uploading blogs for each of the articles. Another of my highlights of the week was being involved in The Big Interview with Katherine Jenkins OBE. My first week of work experience allowed me to see issue 280 of the magazine become fully formed and ready to print – very satisfying to see when you’ve helped to piece it together!

In my second week, I was immersed in working on Cardiff Life’s International Women’s Day edition, which was particularly exciting to me. In this exclusive edition, the spotlight was on the experiences, insights and stories of women in Cardiff and I conducted extensive research to find 100 inspiring women who have made a meaningful impact on Cardiff in a multitude of ways. I invited them to share their experiences and perspectives of life, work, challenges and successes and, as well as finding content for Cardiff Life, this task introduced me to an abundance of women who inspired me in my own life and career as well. 

Each day at Cardiff Life allowed me to be fully engaged in the incredibly multifaceted task of working on a magazine. Especially seeing Cardiff Life work alongside WCS Agency, I expanded my knowledge of journalism, marketing and content creation just to name a few. I could fully embrace a hands-on approach to interning thanks to the encouragement and trust of the team. My time at Cardiff Life has been an invaluable experience and one that I am sure will influence and support my future career; I’ve proven my ability to produce quality content for tight deadlines, expanded my capabilities working on new software and tackled any issues head-on, improving my confidence in my abilities. I’m so grateful to all of the team at Cardiff Life and WCS, these two weeks of work experience have been absolutely brilliant and I eagerly look forward to future collaboration with them!