On Wednesday, 6 November, 2024, BurdaLuxury Thailand began it’s new initiative, led by BurdaLuxury’s Regional Talent Acquisition Lead, John Mark (JM) Junio, to partner with local universities – inviting fourth year students to experience what a day in the life of a media/publishing organisation is like, and in turn, offering them an internship opportunity within the organisation.
The first group of fourth year students to join this partnership programme were from Chulalongkorn University’s Bachelor of Arts Program in Language and Culture (BALAC) – a flagship global liberal arts programme and Thailand’s first cultural studies programme. BALAC is an international programme taught in English, aimed at providing carefully selected students a globally-oriented liberal arts education, fostering critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and clear communication through a wide range of cultural studies classes.
20 students arrived at BurdaLuxury Thailand’s offices, accompanied by Assistant Professors Dr. Treeporn Kirdnak and Darintip Chansit, and were given a tour of our offices by Tipapa Chandarasrivongs, Content Writer for Lifestyle Asia Thailand, and Ploylada Prommate, Head of Creative Content (Thai Language) for HELLO! Magazine Thailand and Lifestyle Asia Thailand.
Having settled in to the environment, students were given an introduction to the organisation and the media and publishing industry by BurdaLuxury’s CEO, Björn Rettig, and COO, Christoph Pagel. Following an introduction into BurdaLuxury and the brands within the organisation’s portfolio, the students were provided with a deeper understanding of each of the departments by its representatives: Vichayut Chantan, content writer at Lifestyle Asia Thailand and fellow BALAC alumni shared insights about the growth and challenges that come with being a content writer, including the opportunities for specialising in certain verticals; Jeerapat Nantanapramoth, Events and Partnerships Manager (Masterclass) provided greater details regarding the masterclass initiative and what event management actually entails when it comes to media and publishing; Regional Director of Marketing and Communications, Venita Prommaporn provided an introduction to marketing and creative services; and Regional Head of Social Media, Pataraporn Hemachandra expanded the student’s knowledge on what it takes to successfully manage and navigate the world of social media.
The students were then divided into two groups for an afternoon workshop, with Ashima Sethi, Senior Editor at Prestige Thailand and Lisa Gries, Creative Content Director at Lifestyle Asia Thailand leading the Creative Writing workshop and Andrew Chevrier, Regional Head of Video Content and his team leading the Video Editing workshop, offering the students a start-to-finish experience in editing a video for Lifestyle Asia Thailand’s Best Bites campaign.
The day concluded with a Q&A panel where students and their professors had the opportunity to gain an even wider understanding of BurdaLuxury and the media/publishing industry tailored specifically to them following what they learned during their workshops. Team members answered questions ranging from how to approach clients from a sales perspective to the secrets of knowing what topics and content attracts a large volume of readership.
“The day was a resounding success,” said Junio, Regional Talent Acquisition Lead, BurdaLuxury. “I am so happy to see this initiative come to life and to see that the students thoroughly enjoyed their day and learned a lot during their time with us. This is very promising moving forward as we plan on inviting more universities to take part and in turn also offer these students with internship opportunities post-graduation.”
The second university to partner with BurdaLuxury is Mahidol University International College (MUIC) and will be held on Tuesday, 11 December, 2024.
To learn more about BurdaLuxury’s university partnership opportunities and explore available internships, please click here.
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About BurdaLuxury
BurdaLuxury is one of Asia’s most vibrant and progressive media houses. Our portfolio includes a variety of successful regional publishing brands in lifestyle and luxury markets across Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Our portfolio of brands includes Prestige, Lifestyle Asia, PIN Prestige, AUGUSTMAN, Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Macau, Travel + Leisure India & South Asia, HELLO! Magazine Thailand, and Architecture + Design. BurdaLuxury is part of the Hubert Burda Media family, one of the largest media companies in Germany. Burda is active in 14 countries, employs around 11,000 people, and publishes over 500 products.
