A day in the life of a Hurley Intern: Andy Whalen and Chanel Wyett
Interning at Hurley does not mean being a glorified “go-fer.” For proof, look no further than Andy Whalen and Chanel Wyett, two of the interns in the Merchandising department here at Hurley. Andy, a recent graduate from Chapman University, works in the men’s department, while Chanel, a student at Pepperdine University, works in YC. Hurley.com caught up with Andy and Chanel to see what they have been up to this summer.—Chloe Barton and Phil Bannan
Andy:
I came into this internship knowing very little about merchandising because I majored in business with an emphasis in both marketing and management at Chapman. So, this has been a totally new experience for me. I had no idea how much planning went into a line, or how early the planning for a line begun. At Hurley we plan out a season a year before it hits stores. Right now we are wrapping up Summer 2011 and starting Fall 2011. It has been interesting to see how an entire season takes shape from start to finish.
Merchandising is a pretty sick department to work in because people from all different areas of the company are constantly passing through for meetings and such. I am encouraged to attend any meetings that interest me so I go to meetings with different departments on a daily basis. Also, helping Rod manage the men’s merchandising department usually fills up a large portion of my day. It gets messy in there because those racks can get pretty crowded. Rod has trained me to put clothes on hangers properly to make the closet look good. We have a policy around here where I have to do 50 push-ups for every hanger that I drop. So yeah, there is a lot of strength conditioning in merchandising.
My favorite part of the day happens at 2:30 PM when Ryan Hurley initiates the “2:30 Clap.” Everyone in the Merchandising department joins in and starts clapping really loud to boost morale. I don’t think that many companies do things like this… it’s pretty cool.
Chanel:
This is my third summer interning in Merchandising at Hurley. I work in the YC [Youth Contemporary] department with all of the girls clothing. Usually, I deal with the upcoming season and work on everything that needs to get done in order to present the newest line to the sales reps. I set up all of the rigs around Hurley HQ to show off the upcoming season. These displays bring some color to our buildings and showcase the designers’ inspiration for the line. I also find models for our photo-shoots, help plan trunk shows and work at all of the Hurley events. Some other aspects of my Hurley internship include the boring stuff like placing orders and shipping boxes. Helping out with the design process and working with the talented designers makes up for those boring parts.
One of my favorite things we do here at Hurley is the Walk the Walk competition, which will take place at the US Open of Surfing this year. I participated in Walk the Walk when I was at Laguna Beach High School and have worked on many of the events ever since. I have found that each event is different and you can never know what to expect. Last year, I was supposed to manage the students on stage, but I ended being handed a random newborn baby. The mom bailed to go watch her husband perform on stage and I ended up getting stuck holding the baby, which was surprisingly heavy, for three hours until the mother returned. She must have thought Hurley had hired me to be event babysitter. I guess I’ve learned some baby skills while interning with Hurley, but I’m hoping I don’t have to freshen up on those skills again at this year's event.
