From Classroom to Copywriter: My Unusual Journey to RFH

Written by: Lizzy Stock, Copywriting Intern (she/they) 

When I was younger, I was never a fan of people asking me what I wanted to do when I grew up or what my future plans were. As a senior in high school, the worst question someone could ask me was, “where are you going to school?” I told everyone who asked that when I figured it out, they would be the first to know.

I started college as an “undecided” major. My intense fascination with the human mind pulled me toward psychology, but first, I wanted to dip my toe into the collegiate waters and see what was out there before settling on something. I tried a few different things, but I could hardly stay awake in economics, and found myself quite bored in my computer applications class, so I decided to stick with what truly interested me.

I continued with psychology and soon added a mass media journalism major. It was the closest I could get to my new fascination, cyberpsychology. My head filled with dreams of making groundbreaking discoveries about how technology is changing the way our brains function.

I found myself with one foot in the world of journalism, running around with a camera, a notebook, and a one-day turnaround date, and the other in the world of psychology, learning about P-values, T-tables, and cerebral cortices.

I loved both pursuits, but my world grew increasingly fragmented. I saw two paths ahead of me: one where I continued to work as a writer or copyeditor for a newspaper, my life a blur of interviews as I scrambled to meet the next deadline, and one where I went to grad school for psychology, still not certain what concentration I’d want to get a degree in.

Characteristically, when I began my summer internship search, I had no idea what kind of job to look for; psychology and journalism aren’t a very common combination. Someone at my school’s career services suggested I look into copywriting for a health-related company as a way to combine my passion for research and writing, and I figured, why not?

When I came across the Razorfish Health internship application, something clicked. The creative and analytical aspects of the job really intrigued me, and I knew this was the internship I wanted. Staying true to myself, in my cover letter, I wrote something to the effect of, “This is Lizzy the human, not the job applicant, and I would love to work for this company.” It seemed like work I would actively enjoy doing, and I was thrilled when I got the job.

The work I’ve been doing at Razorfish, especially our intern project, has allowed me to use my brain in all the ways I love. I’ve been able to do a research deep-dive into the company our project is focused on, which is one of my passions in psychology, and help conceptualize creative, multimedia ways to present information in a human and compelling way, one of my favorite aspects about journalism. As a copywriter, it’s rewarding to see a project go from the concept stages to completion, knowing I had a hand in making it happen. It’s a little surreal, in a good way, to know I am working on something that is actually going to affect people’s lives.

From being able to talk to members of different teams and hear about their jobs and experiences to going into the awesome Chicago office, my internship allows me to explore my opportunities to the fullest, and I’m stoked to see where life brings me next—even if I’m still not sure exactly what that’s going to be.

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Are you just graduating college? Are you wanting to make a career change? Or maybe you’re looking for a place to start your career? Check out our open roles to see if we have something that sounds like you. We know you are not your resume, we understand you are not your work, and we respect that you are so much more than a job description. You are you. So come be you and do you with us.