Indaba Music’s 2012 Summer Interns

At Indaba Music, we’re known for having amazing interns. Nearly 50% of our staff began as interns that we just couldn’t let go. Each semester we look forward to meeting exciting and passionate students who connect with our staff and want to help bring our international community of musicians professional opportunities.

This summer, I’d like you to meet Alex, Allie, Kevin 1, Kevin 2, Charles, Ieva and Milton. They’re an incredible bunch and though we had wanted to share stories from each, one intern in particular wrote a heartfelt piece about his experience at of our offices.

We hope you enjoy the letter below and if you’re ever looking to join the fun, please email us at jobs@indabamusic.com. We think you’ll like it here.

Ambition is built on passion, ambition is driven by motivation, motivation is heightened by self-fulfillment, and self-fulfillment feeds itself back into passion. This is a cycle in which we are all caught in seeking the way forward into the real world; this is how we find ourselves.

Greetings. My name is Milton, and I have been an intern here at Indaba Music for the last 10 weeks. I work with Allie, Kev and most recently, Dani on the Business Development team, led by our blindingly brilliant supervisor Kleio, the outrageously charming Eric S., and ferociously charismatic Sean.

The last two and a half months have gone by in a flurry of work and school for me, and all I can call to mind of the time gone by is listening to cruelly boring lectures in class, and ridiculously fun times at work here at Indaba. The one and only point necessary for the explanation of my positive experience is: Indaba is one big familial village of creative energy.

No one hesitates to say hi, have a good chat, invite you to lunch, play ping-pong with you, or even have a beer (only after hours) with you. More importantly, no idea gets looked over, no one’s voice goes unheard, and hierarchy is given leniency in favor of vertical integration during meetings and discussions. This gives each and every individual a personal attachment in Indaba’s interest, and makes every one of us feel excited to be here and contribute to the fabulous magic happening in the office day in, day out. And this self-renewing motivation keeps me going, even tempting me to get work done and be on the lookout for opportunities for work outside of my designated hours.

All these things have pulled me out of a shell I often find myself in: a shell of apathy and passivity.

I look back fondly on the daily ritual of running off to Chipotle with the other interns to grab lunches, and of struggling with difficult, tedious tasks with my teammates. They remind me of my days spent in the army, and the essential concept is no different in that it builds and works off a sense of solidarity and common goal.

Interns got to participate in the Indaba Third Thursday Industry Meet-up, and that was an excellent opportunity for us to meet and speak with a wide array of industry bigwigs and experts, opening up countless doors for us in the process. The lovely folks here are genuine, and they are real. And they are willing to give back to you in exchange for what you give to them. These are people I feel attached to, and people I want to give my best to to further their aims, without any strings attached.

And that brings us back to the fundamental statement: being an intern at Indaba has given me self-fulfillment, from which motivation is derived. Motivation violently fuels my ambition, and that kindles my passion to work in the music industry to an infectious flame.

A good internship experience should not only look good on your resume, as many of us are primarily concerned with, but should also teach you invaluable field knowledge, and deepen your interest coming out of your transient tenure. And I sincerely believe that Indaba has done absolutely that for me, putting me on my right feet to keep running forward in an industry that is often filled with uncertainty.

In other news, it’s time for me to end my rant here and grab a beer with some of my mates in the office. Drinks up!

- Milton.