POWDER Seeks Interns

Plus, a firsthand account of an intern's journey to manhood...sort of

Former intern Kade Krichko after finding a nickle in the sand with his metal detector. PHOTO: JOHN CLARY DAVIES

POWDER magazine has two summer internship openings. To be eligible you must be able to receive college credit.

Design Intern
The Design Intern will assist the Art Director with design for web, print, merchandise, and branding. Must be proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). Must report to office in San Clemente, California. To apply, please send three to five samples of your work (or a link to your portfolio), a resume, and cover letter to Mike ‘Basher’ Taylor at Basher@Powder.com with the subject line: Design Intern.

Editorial Intern
The editorial intern will assist the editorial staff with Powder.com and Volume 42 of Powder magazine. Candidates should have strong writing and organizational skills, have great attention to detail, as well as a strong skiing background. Interns must report to Powder’s office in San Clemente, California. To apply please send a resume, one-page cover letter explaining why you’d be a good fit for the position, and two work samples to John Clary Davies at Davies@Powder.com with the subject line: Editorial Intern.

What It’s Like…

I moved across the country from Boston with my life in two backpacks. I was going to stay with someone I’d exchanged emails with just a handful of times. I slept on the floor, before commandeering a free roadside mattress (I sprayed it with Lysol, that disinfects right?). I rode my bike three miles uphill to the office and shopped for groceries (aka bread, eggs, and pasta) at the 99-cent store, while wondering just how many times I could wear the same jeans to work before someone noticed. In general, I really put a new twist to “ballin’ on a budget.”

Even still, I showed up—something I think the POWDER crew took to heart. Everyone’s experience had been different, but they had all been there at one point—knocking, clawing, scratching at the proverbial door so that someday they might get a shot at doing what they love for a living. And, fortunately for me, they never forgot what that struggle was like.

The result was an internship where I was accepted into a collective whole, rather than becoming recyclable free labor. Sure, I learned more postal codes than I care to admit and made more company food runs than Biggie Smalls’ road manager, but I also got a chance to write. Actually, I was expected to write. I contributed to the website consistently and even got a chance to produce work for the magazine. My name appears on all of POWDER’s Volume 41 mastheads, and I’m proud to say that I was a piece of this year’s publication.

More importantly though, I was part of the crew. I was the obnoxious younger brother, but to play out the metaphor, I was still in the family photo. I learned how much work goes into making a magazine, both on the print and digital sides, experiencing the frustrations as well as the creative breakthroughs that happen at 10 p.m. on a ship week. But I also got to hang, surf, make campfires, and share a beer (or four) with everybody—the real intangibles of working at a place like POWDER.

Not many interns get to rub elbows with someone that they’ve watched on the silver screen or tried (unsuccessfully) to emulate in the park or in the trees. And it’s not everyday you get a chance to share a beer with Rory Bushfield, watch the World Series with Giants diehards Cody Townsend and Elyse Saugstad, and get worked at paintball by the Armada crew. I know that was some serious name-dropping, but the picture had to be painted—my experience was rad.

All in all, and without sounding too much like a gushy infomercial testimonial, I’m stoked I didn’t second-guess my decision to hop on with POWDER and rip up Southern California for a summer. In the end, I came out with a stronger understanding of ski journalism and have a laundry list of connections within the industry. Even if the industry doesn’t remember me outright, POWDER interns have a funny way of reappearing at all levels of skiing, whether it be as journalists, photographers, film producers, or skiers. I’m quietly optimistic. —Kade Krichko