Senior Wong taps into creative core by working at a music management company

By Julia DiFiori
Life Editor

On top of coordinating her school work, college applications, family and friends, senior Raina Wong is the account coordinator for A\IDEA, a creative branding agency in Culver City.

Last summer, Wong interned at Atom Factory, a music management company known for working with artists like John Legend. At Atom Factory, she created one sheets, which summarize talent for publicity and sales, wrote press releases and conducted preliminary research on talent. When the company launched A\IDEA, the executive creative directors asked Wong to be the account coordinator.

“This opportunity has been beyond an incredible experience that I am so grateful to have earned,” Wong said. “To be working alongside my co-workers as an adult has been an invaluable experience that has shaped my career aspirations.”

Although her schedule varies, Wong typically works after school until mid-evening honing brand strategies as well as creative development and positioning of clients. Wong works with clients such as model Karlie Kloss and the program Cities of Learning, an organization that makes learning opportunities available to the youth of various cities in the United States.

“Being involved in such a creative field, getting to work with incredible clients and having to be immersed in the pop culture environment have been the most fun aspects of this entire process,” Wong said.

According to Wong, one of the most valuable lessons that she has learned through A\IDEA is the importance of time management. In addition, she has gained experience as an employee for this agency that she believes is helpful in becoming familiar with being an employee in the workforce.

“Having to flip the switch from being a high school student during the day and functioning in the real world, coming home, tutoring and doing homework has been crazy but absolutely worth it because I have learned so much from it,” Wong said. “I have been incredibly fortunate to begin my career at such a young age.”

While attending college at Columbia University this fall, Wong will interface with east coast clientele and write for SMASHD.com, a recently-launched online A\IDEA publication that fuses technology, culture and “hustle,” the idea of being committed to succeeding in one’s chosen area of interest.

“I have always been very creatively inclined, and writing is very much part of that, so while I do not intend on pursuing writing, I think that this is a great venue in order for me to further my writing abilities,” Wong said.

Out of all her experiences as the only high school-aged intern at Atom Factory and employee at A\IDEA, Wong believes that she has learned the most from her fellow employees. She plans to continue furthering her career after completing her college education.

“I think what’s most interesting is that all my fellow co-workers, my boss and my clients all come from such a breadth of different backgrounds and experiences, and being exposed to people with so many different stories and perspectives on life has been an incredible experience, and it’s definitely helped widen my perspective and shape what I want to do and pursue,” Wong said.