My work with Drake Cooper was revelatory of the many possibilities and insights of the Marketing industry I had severe limited previous knowledge of. As a music educator, I had experience with promoting myself and my program and was shocked when I was able to see what some of the employees and creatives were able to do within the short amount of time I was with the company this summer.

I was fortunate enough to be given somewhat of a list of tasks and projects to complete over the summer, the first of which being learning and beginning the use of AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, n8n, Gemini, Retool, and several others. Using these programs, I was able to create customized tools for the agency to use in their daily workflows to help streamline some of the more menial work they wanted to eliminate in order to focus more on the creative aspects of the job. I wrote scripts that automated artwork duplication, I built webapps that managed and hosted documents related to the marketing and advertising of their clients, I built custom GPTs that assisted creative developers in brainstorming new ideas, I designed training modules that allowed employees to work through these AI tools to see if they would be helpful to the work they do. This summer was an educational experience I will never forget as I learned more about myself and the skills that I had which I would have never thought possible until this summer.

As I said before, I knew the basics of marketing and advertising and could create what I needed for what I was doing. Now that I have completed this externship, my eyes have been opened to the many possibilities of AI in my personal life, career, and classroom instruction. The dangers of using AI are abundant, but knowing how they now work has also taught me that it can be an extremely useful tool to make the menial less daunting a task to complete. I can better look at and understand what this means for students and recognize where the line should be drawn for it’s use in the classroom, while also helping them see the potential and use it to their best advantage.

I am so ecstatic to have been given this opportunity to work with Drake Cooper and understand and interact with their industry and work. The individuals I met and the work I did will forever be a high-point of my career and I look forward to sharing the experience and knowledge with my students and colleagues to hopefully better make use of their time so they can do more of what matters most.