3Summers at 3Points: Catching up with former intern Meredith Brumfield
At 3Points, we don’t offer your typical PR internship experience. By virtue of 3Points being a boutique agency, our interns get to see and experience almost all aspects of the company. They get to know and work with every member of our team, including our principal. They see company financials and are encouraged to share their opinions in all-company meetings. In short, they not only learn a wide range of PR skills, but how a small business operates as well.
It’s a lot of responsibility, but we’ve been fortunate to have some hardworking and talented interns over the years. While our winter intern Adam was drafting a blog about his 3Points experience, we realized it would be interesting to check back in with some of those previous interns as well, hearing what they’re up to now and how they have used their 3Points experiences to further their careers.
First up, is our (fittingly) three-time 3Points intern, Meredith Brumfield. Meredith first interned for 3Points in the summer of 2012, after her freshman year at Vanderbilt, and returned to 3Points for the following two summers as well. Now in law school at Georgetown, Meredith spoke with us recently to reflect on her time at 3Points and more.
How did you initially find 3Points?
It’s kind of a wild story, but my godmother’s husband’s cousin worked with [3Points founder and principal] Drew [Mauck] back when they were initially a two-man operation. He moved to the West Coast, and at the same time, I was looking for a summer position back home. My godmother told me, “Mark’s cousin is leaving Chicago, so his co-worker might need some extra hands — you should email him.”
I’ll always remember, when I sent a cover letter to Drew, I wrote “3 Points” with a space in between. He wrote back to me and asked me to resubmit the cover letter with the proper spelling — he said, “lesson number one, don’t mess up your brands.”
It was a tough lesson, but an important one. I have never made that mistake again, with people’s names or companies’ names.
What a way to start things off! So why did you decide to come back for two more summers?
My first summer was a cool, unique experience. The beginning of the summer, it was just me and Drew, as he was still looking for the next full time employee. Lorna [Kiewert] joined later that summer. I got to learn so much with Drew as a mentor, and I formed great professional relationships with Drew and Lorna, so that made me want to come back. And it was the same thing the next summer.
How did 3Points evolve over your three summers?
The size of the team grew, which definitely made an impact on what we were able to do for clients — there were more services that we could offer, and I think the bigger team brought us more respectability in the industry as well. We didn’t lose the important things as we grew, though. We still had our team lunches and team bonding experiences, and I still received great mentorship.
We also upgraded offices. When I started, we were in our old South Loop office — I remember one time I caught a roach under a red solo cup. Drew was really impressed that I took that initiative!
What have you been up to since your last internship here? And what are you up to now?
After my last internship at 3Points, I finished my degree at Vanderbilt, then worked as a legal assistant at a law firm. I also worked at a public defender office for their parole division, which was a great experience because I got to have more client contact than in a trial division.
Now I’m in my second year at Georgetown Law, and I love it. It’s super fun to be back in school, and I love being in the middle of the action in D.C. Just recently, I waited two and a half hours in line for a Supreme Court trial. I saw Clarence Thomas telling jokes with Breyer, Ginsburg asking tough questions — it was super cool, one of those “only in D.C.” experiences.
What skills did you learn at 3Points that have come in handy as you’ve continued your career?
One thing Drew said that stuck with me: sometimes in this modern age, when people are always emailing and texting, you sometimes just have to pick up the phone and call. It’s a great thing to keep in mind — don’t send that email and wait for a response, just call and get it done.
Other than that, it was my first real job, so just learning how to work with others in a workspace. I started to see myself as an adult capable of getting great work done. It gave me the confidence to move forward.
And of course, the first lesson from Drew: check over your work and don’t make simple errors like getting names wrong.
What are your career goals for the future?
Number one is to pass the bar — I’m really excited to be an attorney. After that, we’ll see what happens — it depends on the job. But I would be very happy to stay in D.C. or to come back home to Chicago.
