Interns of Naiise I

Here at Naiise, we have amazing interns coming in and helping us out in our everyday work. Here's a short interview of the unsung heroes of Naiise who make us what we are today! 

Devi, Product Design Intern. The Badass.

How long have you been interning at Naiise?
For a month!

What is your role?

Design intern. Since I came here, I started working on the planning of the Suntec outlet. After this, I'll be taking on a few side projects. I take on some retail shifts too. I've never done retail before, so it's a new experience for me. The first retail I ever had was at I12 Katong on a not-so-busy day, but Central Clarke Quay was quite hectic for me.

I source for machinery and hardware, the tools for Suntec Set-up. I do a bit of floor plan as well, but mostly planning where the furniture will be. At Cathay outlet's setup, I did a bit of visual merchandising, which was slightly different to product design but it works hand in hand.

I get to see what they see first and as a designer, you tend to be really picky. But a consumer thinks differently from what you thought they will think.

Describe to us how your internship has been.

I was quite surprised that I was given such a big project the minute I came in. My friends, they got coffee, but here, on the first day, I was given this. It was a good kind of surprise. I was surprised at the amount of trust they gave me. 

Name one unforgettable story.

Working until 6am. I've been in Singapore for about a year, and I've always had curfews so I would work until 12 plus. It's nice to do work for such long hours. In school, I get deadlines. And if I don't finish my work, I get a bad grade. But here, it's the real world, if I don't setup the store in time, the store doesn't open. It's a lot more at stake.

The people I was working with and the amount of importance my role was, I wouldn't say it was impossible, if I wasn't there. But here were parts where the seniors would tell me to help them because I designed it. They needed me to execute it. 

It wasn't always a success story, there were some props we couldn't build right?

Yes, but I feel that if we tried, we could have done it. It just would have looked sloppy. But I guess we don't do sloppy.

Name me one product you recommend.

The Floating Bulb by Flyte.

Juliana Soh. PR Intern. The Giggly Schoolgirl.

How long have you been interning at Naiise?

For almost 2 months.

What is your role?

I mainly do PR stuff but sometimes I write for the blog.

Describe to us how your internship has been.

It's been very fulfilling. At first when I came in, I wasn't sure of what to do. As the work comes in, I felt the stress. But I liked working here because of the people I work with.

Most of the time, I handle media requests, such as product loans, product images and coordinate interviews with external media outlets. When writing for the blog, I will have to sit down and brainstorm how I want to write it. We also have excursions for filming too!

Name one unforgettable story.

We went drinking at Serangoon and I was only here for 2 weeks and it was quite fun. 

Name me one product you recommend.
Zoo Pack by Kumo Doodles.

Eunice Chong, Marketing Intern. The Bun-Mian.

How long have you been interning at Naiise?

(Laughs) 4 months!

What is your role?

I'm in the newsletter team. There are no roles in newsletter, basically. I do some editing for the newsletters with regards to the features, pictures and copywriting. I do a bit of buying. I also take on internal side projects. I occasionally help out with the on-site team, and I helped Zoe out to optimise the website before the relaunch. 

Sometimes, I help to outbound stocks to stores, setting up stores, customer service and retail as well. It gives me the experience of working with customers directly.

Describe to us how your internship has been.

My internship has been one that is fulfilling. I learnt a lot of things that I didn't expect to learn, not in a bad way. I've given plenty of opportunities to do things I did not have much experience before. I learn a lot about what a company is supposed to be like. 

The culture here is very family-like. Everyone looks out for each other and everyone is very friendly, casual. You can feel the team spirit because everyone is working towards the same goal. We are all from different departments but we aren't segmented. It's pretty nice. 

My mentor (Serene), is really patient and she's a good teacher by letting you handle stuff on your own instead of instructing you what to do. That helped me learn better. She's quite caring and you can tell she has your back. She doesn't mind explaining to you things although she has explained to you before. She trusts me to do a good enough job and even when there are changes to be made, she gives me a lot of constructive feedback. She's more like a friend instead of a colleague and I look up to her in admiration.

Considering I took off a semester from school to take on an internship, the stakes were pretty high. I didn't know what to expect. And my previous internship was in a more corporate environment. I wasn't used to this! Naiise raised the bar, in terms of where I would like to work in the future.

Name one unforgettable story.

Unforgettable story? I can't exactly pinpoint one situation. But I can say that one of the more unforgettable moments is when we have to work really late. The website launch was kind of unforgettable. It was really impromptu, but everyone was kind of up for it. 

I wrote so much copywriting that the word "quirky" seems a bit off now. Everything is "quirky", it's not even a word to me. It was the first time I stayed in the office until that late...until the morning. It felt more like a group project, I didn't feel like I was alone.

The part where we played Ukulele outside the office and when Ashraf rapped. He did it really badly but he said " It's okay, as long as you are confident." And I was like, " Okay, you do you man!" (Laughs)

Name me one product you recommend.
I will recommend the Mokuyobi Patches. Because I think patches are a good way to dress up something. It's high quality and it's at a good price! They make a statement! 

Zoe Nguyen, On-site Intern. The Zoh.

How long have you been interning at Naiise?

Around 4 months!

What is your role?

On-site marketing, so I take care of the website. I jump here and there. I helped out during the setup for Singaplural. I planned out the marketing side. I also did customer service, replying customers' enquiries and following up on their orders. I do retail as well and setups! I paint the furniture and the VM of the Cathay Store. 

Describe to us how your internship has been.

It has been amazing. It has been fun and it's enriching. I get to learn a few stuff and lead my own projects. The seniors have been very helpful and friendly and they tease me. Work-wise, it's demanding and challenging. You see the problems and you get to solve the problems on your own so there's a sense of fulfillments.

My mentor ( Amanda ) is slightly intimidating at first, but I like working with her. She gives me a lot of opportunities. She has a strategic mind, so you get to see her long-term vision. 

Tell us more about the launch of the new website

To be honest, right up to the last minute, I still felt unprepared. It's quite scary to launch something. It was the first time doing my own website. I was not trained technically, and I was thinking, "What if this goes wrong? And I can't fix it? And customers that can't click it?"

I was quite happy with the website. The overnight stay was a bit crazy. At first, Ashraf and I thought we could do it on our own. But the rest of the team stayed with us and helped us out, and I was so grateful. We couldn't have done it with the rest of the team. It felt more like a sleepover.

It felt like my baby, this website. I was working on it for less than a month. It was insane. We had to tag products on the website and I learnt a different aspect in doing a website is also doing the " Sai Kang" (manual, tedious) jobs. But doing it with the whole team made it easier.

Name one unforgettable story.

I talked to my mum about staying here. I was stressed over how to tell her. How do I pay the rent? What happens when I move out and become a working adult?

She was worried about me and kept telling me to have a backup plan. We had a company meeting and Dennis gave us a long talk. I realise I want to stay. I talked to Eunice and she told me, "Dude, if you leave you will regret." 

Name me one product you recommend.

Daisy the duck by Jax and Bones

Jocelyn Choo, Editorial Intern. The Ultimate Xiaomeimei.

How long have you been interning at Naiise?

For almost 5 months!

What is your role?
I also help with customer service, store setups and outbounding stocks to stores. I write blog posts and create Google ads. Sometimes, I help out with the operations team (un-officially...haha!) too. I am also working on an internal project for the company that will launching soon.

Describe to us how your internship has been.

It has been fun because I did a lot of things I never thought I could have done. This internship stretches me. I worked on Singaplural, which I was quite happy with. It was stressful because we never thought that we would be given such a huge task so I needed to do a good job. We had to stock count and outbound the stocks to the site and build the shelves to hold the stocks. I was quite happy with the outcome!

Name one unforgettable story.

It has got to be the store setups. During Singaplural, when I was tagging the products with the other interns, it felt like it was something of our own. We conceptualised the store, determined the product range for the store, and built the furniture needed. When I saw the previous projects, we felt like we needed to outdo ourselves.

Name me one product you recommend.
Grizzly Bear by Doob! I want both sizes so that I can share with my family.

Stay tuned for more intern stories from us. We'll leave you with a really weird gif of our intern (this is her usual self if she's close to you).

If you would like to be part of the Naiise family, write in to us at careers@naiise.com.