Image from Billy Walker’s post on landing Magnolia Bakery internship.
LINKEDIN / COURTESY
Sarah Rolka Asst. Features Editor
Billy Walker, a senior communication major with a concentration in media production, has recently landed an internship with Magnolia Bakery as a content creator and outreach intern in New York City.
In this position, Walker will have the opportunity to support their marketing team by creating content for social media and help grow the bakery’s influencer network. Walker spoke to The Quadrangle on how it felt to get the call from Magnolia Bakery that he got the job.
“Kind of surreal…The whole job kind of fell in my lap,” Walker said. “It felt really rewarding and successful finally getting the call. But I was happy [and] relieved after all the hard work I’ve done.”
Walker’s hard work can be seen all around campus and on social media, most notably being Manhattan Media Network’s (MMN) co-founder and president, WRCM radio’s technical director and an admissions ambassador.
Over this last summer, Walker worked with the admissions department as a tour guide for Manhattan University (MU) and additionally helped out with the department’s new social media account. Anissa Latif, assistant director of communication, events and technology, commented on his work at admissions and recognizes his hard work.
“[I’m] so proud of him, but not really that surprised [that he landed the internship],” Latif said. “Having worked with Billy for quite some time now, he is super creative, this is what he’s good at. Over the summer, he was working in our office as one of the tour guides and we had just started our admissions social media account, and so he was supportive and helped us create some content over the summer.”
Latif also acknowledges his work with MMN, and how his passion working there also showcases Walker’s creativity either in-front or behind a camera.
“If you see all the [work] that he’s been doing with MMN, you know his face is everywhere,” Latif said. “He’s not afraid of a camera and he’s really creative, so it’s not a surprise that Magnolia [Bakery] reached out.”
Walker comments on the experiences he’s accumulated over the years and mentions how they all have, in some way, helped bring him to where he is now professionally.
“I would say all the extremes I’ve done so far, regardless [of] what it is, whether it’s social media or not, has 100% set me up for this internship and probably other internships and jobs in the future,” Walker said.
Sadie Fox, a communication and English double-major with a sports media concentration, has worked closely with Walker over the last few years. Fox spoke about working together with him and how that process has been.
“It’s been really fun,” Fox said. “I feel like, creatively, me and him are kind of in-sync at this point from working together for so long. So it’s [been] a lot of bouncing ideas back and forth off each other and it’s been really fun.”
Fox additionally mentions that Walker has been a great mentor throughout the years to everyone and that they’ve been able to grow together as a club.
“I actually met him before I came to [MU], he was my tour guide,” Fox said. “And then when I got here, I joined MMN and he was a great mentor that first year, and now it’s become us working hand-in-hand, and it’s been super fun getting to grow together as a club and getting to do all that fun stuff.”
Walker mentioned that since he’s started interning at Magnolia Bakery, they’ve been surprised at the high quality of work he’s put together and that yet to him, it just feels like second nature.
“I just sat down for an hour at Magnolia [Bakery] in their office and just edited a bunch of videos together of all the Valentine’s Day products and they’re like, ‘We have never been this prepared for a holiday season before’,” Walker said. “And I was like ‘Really?’ because this is what I do almost everyday. This is like second nature.”
Walker also explained that he feels very grateful for this opportunity and that landing this internship has been the “icing on top” to all of the hard work he’s accomplished.
“I’m hoping this really sets me up, I hope this is like the layer on top,” Walker said. “Not to have a cake analogy, [but] we did it all, and this is going to be the icing on top. This is going to set me up for, hopefully, the rest of my future…I’m just super grateful that this happened and everything that’s happened to me while being a student here.”