What is it like to work with Etincelle?

I’m Lydia, a 24 year old Postgraduate student from les Roches Marbella campus. My university degree requires a 6 month long internship to be completed as part of the graduation criteria. When I first began looking for an internship, I knew I wanted to work in London. London is known for its luxury restaurants, clients and lifestyle and hospitality. I couldn’t think of a better learning environment than being surrounded by the grandest hotels and luxury clients, while being close to friends and family. The university encourages students to intern in hotels, so I began thinking about what the most renowned hotels were, and applying to work in their events department. As I toured these hotels during interviews, I realized their work environment did not match my preferences for maximum learning opportunity. I felt as though I would be a cog in the machine, almost a sense of being hidden away as offices were on lower ground floors, lacking in natural sunlight and invisible to clients.

During interviews I was faced with interviewers informing me that I would have no contact with the clients, I would be doing menial administrative tasks requiring no particular skill and would need to be on call for the events that they were producing at least 2 weekends out of the month. It felt as though they produced so many events, and yet all I would be doing is emailing internal departments about what each event required such as Reception, F&B or Housekeeping. These were things I felt I had already touched upon thanks to my degree. I wanted to challenge myself to find an internship that the university would approve of, but would throw me in the deep end and expedite the learning process of being in events.

Fortunately, I kept searching for an internship, convinced that I would find an internship that would match what I had hoped for myself. I knew I needed a strong leader, a person that was organized and dedicated to creating the clients vision to the best of their ability. I wanted to work for a company that took pride in the events they produced, rather than each event being one of many copy paste events at a hotel. I wanted to discover the world of events - to have contact with clients, learn by doing, and take part in every aspect of the event from the first meeting, finding suppliers, building relationships, being on-site, understanding the differences in roles of an event planner or decorator and more than anything, watching, learning and taking part.

Etincelle is exactly the dream internship I had envisioned for myself. Jennifer taught me everything I know today, as she thankfully did, in fact throwing me into the deep end. I interacted with every single aspect of the events. I met clients in my first week, I was encouraged to give my opinion, to voice my suggestions, to problem solve. I knew that even with little to no experience, Jennifer valued me and my thoughts. Over time I became more comfortable and therefore more vocal about ideas, and as they were proposed to the clients and implemented it felt like small accomplishments with a huge impact on my self confidence in joining the industry.

Jennifer guided me through helping her organize a wedding in August, which not only opened my eyes to all the possibilities for creativity, but allowed me to experience the ups and downs, the stress and relief, the success of knowing that every and any challenge can be surmounted - even at the last minute. I was able to follow the entire process of the organization, take part in most aspects and watch our efforts behind the scenes come to life to create the Bride and Grooms dream wedding venue in their own backyard. This project included me taking on the supervision of the building of the Marquee venue, progress of the assembly of the decor, production, delivery of glassware, catering material (amongst others) for a few hours in the morning of the event - all whilst staying on top of the contacts and emails and concerns of suppliers that we were expecting.

I learnt to operate well within a team, to apply pressure to suppliers in a diplomatic yet effective way and communicate clearly. I learnt how to remain organized in my thoughts and actions in what may have seemed to be chaos from an outside perspective - yet is apparently to be expected on the day. I have never heard of another internship that would encourage taking on so much responsibility, really allow me to put everything I had encountered during the previous months of planning into action, whilst still continuing to learn about delegation, group dynamics and manoeuvring suppliers.

As I finish my internship for Etincelle, I can only hope I have picked up half of the wonderful hard work, dedication, leadership, organizational, motivational and many other inspiring characteristics that Jennifer demonstrates and has immersed me into. Her energy is immeasurable, and continues to amaze me in her ability to never stop striving for perfection in all of her projects. Moreover, Jennifer not only makes each and every event her absolute priority, she does so in a way that really demonstrates her desire for the client to feel as though their event is the only one. Each minute is calculated, every detail is analysed and her events make it look as seamless and as if it had all appeared at the wave of a wand.

I could write a book about everything I have learnt, discovered, taken part in and how much this internship has made me grow in confidence, my knowledge, my motivation and developed my sense of direction. I will forever be grateful to Jennifer for taking on my inexperienced, yet very hopeful and eager self, and shaping me into a confident young woman with even greater dreams of becoming a part of the event planning industry. Working at Etincelle, will always be a marvellous experience that I will cherish as my debut in the industry, and remember fondly. I will always be grateful for Jennifer taking a chance on me.

(Internship from June 2022 to Dec 2022)