During the summer of 2013, I worked as an intern in the Corporate Communications department at FedEx Freight. During this internship, I was expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and work on anything that my coworkers and boss assigned me. My success at FedEx Freight was contingent on my adaptability. In a single day, I could go from copy editing a daily newspaper to writing a press release to planning a company-wide communication initiative. Working at FedEx Freight taught me that no single approach can accomplish the task at hand; creativity and flexibility are key.

Copy Editor

My largest role during my internship was that of copy editor. By the end of my summer at FedEx Freight, I had such a reputation for being a great copy editor that nearly everyone in the office would me send me their writing before submitting it. Not only did I edit my coworkers' writing, but I also worked on a variety of company communications. Every day, I edited the company-wide daily newsletter prior to its publication. I also edited quarterly regional newsletters and the quarterly company-wide newsletter, Delivering the Promise.

Writer

A large majority of the communications that FedEx Freight produces are written; consequently, I wrote a lot during my internship. These writings can be broken down into two categories: press releases and newsletter articles. 

FedEx Freight is extremely proud of its drivers, and as such, one of my tasks was to write press releases about the various awards that drivers around the country had won. These press releases would subsequently be submitted to the drivers' local news outlets for publication. 

 In addition to press releases, I also wrote two articles and co-authored an additional two articles for FedEx Freight's company-wide newsletter, Delivering the Promise. 

Planner

A large part of a successful corporate communication initiative is having a well thought-out communications plan, which details the timeframe of the initiative, the message of each communication, the channels through which those messages will be communicated, and the overall goal of the communication initiative. A major project during my internship at FedEx Freight was to create such a communications plan for an initiative to educate FedEx Freight employees on their available benefits. 

See examples of my work at FedEx Freight