How This Audible Intern’s Experience Influenced Her Career Direction

Sheirleyn Maneiro has been working shoulder-to-shoulder with Audible employees since joining our high school internship program in 2018 as a junior at Science Park High School in Newark, New Jersey. After the end of her school day, Maneiro worked with our marketing operations team, gaining valuable skills that she has taken with her into freshman year at NYU Stern School of Business. She is now an Audible Scholar, an extension of our high school program that welcomes our alumni back to our campus to further their work experience during their college breaks and supports them throughout the year with monthly stipends.

Read about how her time at Audible is influencing her career direction.

Tell us about your intern experience.

My internship at Audible was one of the highlights of my high school career. I genuinely looked forward to leaving school every day to come to the office, which is something I really miss since quarantine began. If it wasn't for my Audible internship, I wouldn't feel as confident entering college as I did. It was very reassuring to be part of such a positive environment surrounded by supportive people who were willing to share their own stories and knowledge with me. Coming in, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do and never even considered going into business, but seeing how purpose-driven Audible is with all the different community and economic initiatives the company has in Newark definitely influenced my career direction. The best part of being on the marketing operations team was feeling empowered to pursue the things that interested me. My manager always encouraged me to branch out (and still does!).

What was it like pivoting to a virtual internship program?

Pivoting to a virtual program felt very strange and difficult at first, as I’m sure it was for everybody, but ultimately, I had to accept that the current situation was out of my control and put my focus on what I could control—my work. Switching into a virtual program made me hyperaware of details that would impact my work day—like team schedules or campaigns that would impact my team’s availability to answer my real-time questions. My notepad became my best friend when it came to organizing my workload.

What are some of your biggest takeaways that you’ve learned through your managers, peers, or team?

Throughout my internship I’ve learned a lot about the importance of authenticity, taking initiative, and a positive work environment. Everyone always treated me like an equal and made sure to ask how I was feeling or gave me advice, which really helped a lot. Respect (for myself and others) and communication were also key in having such a positive experience. In order to truly feel happy and comfortable, something my manager always reminded me was to maintain balance. As someone who is very curious, there were times where I’d want to take on a lot at once and my manager always reminded to respect my own boundaries and be mindful of what’s on my plate.

A big thing that most interns don’t really talk about is how hard it is to transition between high school and work. In high school, most students don’t have that sort of communication with their teacher where we openly ask questions and get help or resources. Because my team really made me feel like no question is stupid, open communication became much easier.

I am also really inspired by the other interns. What I learned from them is regardless of any outside hardships, success is still attainable and shared unity can be an extremely powerful tool. It takes a lot of resilience and strength to juggle half of what most of the Audible interns do on a daily basis. Imagine having to do your regular household chores, and take care of siblings, and go to school, and have enormous piles of homework, and study for the SAT, and cope with personal obstacles, and apply for college and scholarships (while being first-generation), and…well you get the point. Now, imagine having to do those things while also being an intern at Audible. The interns around me were my definition of determination and drive to achieve our unique goals.

What will you take with you from your Audible internship?

I’ll be taking with me a background in marketing operations, the accomplishment of pitching a marketing campaign that brought in many new subscribers to Audible (with help of course), some skills in SQL, a new sense of leadership, supportive mentors, a newfound pride in Newark, and amazing new friends.