72 hours. That’s all the time Crachante Laing had to complete and submit a full campaign strategy for a fictional company. Laing, a senior communications major, was applying for an internship with Fincastle Media Group (FMG) back home in The Bahamas.

The submission included photoshoots, an editorial write-up, behind-the-scenes content, social media assets, a rollout calendar and more. Laing said her TROY community stepped in to help.

“In those 72 hours, I contacted classmates who were photographers, friends who were models, and professors who had become mentors,” Laing said. “Through that community, I was able to create a campaign that I was immensely proud to submit, and ultimately, I was chosen to intern with FMG.”

Laing spent eight weeks over the summer at FMG, one of the largest agencies in The Bahamas. 

“Finding my internship with FMG came from me earnestly searching for an internship that would allow me to apply everything I had learned through my communications, public relations, and advertising courses,” she said. 

Established in 2015, FMG is a full-service marketing and public relations firm. 

“My time interning there taught me that they truly do it all,” Laing said. “They work with companies and organizations throughout The Bahamas to improve, promote, and support their businesses and initiatives. During my time there, I realized that FMG can be just as much in front of the camera as they are behind it.”

Laing’s path from Nassau to TROY, and back to Nassau for her internship, was a deliberate one. 

“I chose to come to TROY because I knew my field of work would benefit from perspectives beyond what was available on my island,” she said. “Not to say that you can’t go far in communications without moving abroad, but because the field was still growing in The Bahamas, I knew I didn’t want to be boxed into what was currently available. I wanted to see all the different ways communications could be applied and then narrow down where I wanted to take my career.”

TROY also stood out to Laing because of its support for international students. 

“I vividly remember seeing articles refer to TROY as ‘Alabama’s international university,’ and I knew that wherever I ended up, having a university that genuinely supported international students would be vital to my experience,” she said.

While at TROY, Laing has been active on campus as president of Lambda Pi Eta, the communications honor society. She also serves as a Trojan Ambassador, a resident director and the founder and president of the Communications Student Organization.

Early in her internship, Laing connected almost everything she was doing back to a course she had taken at TROY. In the semester leading up to her internship, she took several high-level public relations and advertising courses that mirrored the work she did with FMG.

“I wish more people understood that the courses we take aren’t just busy work or something we do ‘for a grade,’” Laing said. “They are quite literally preparing us for the work we will be doing in the future.”

Laing gave an example of how one of her assignments prepared her for real-world experience during her internship.

“One of my assignments during the internship was a media audit for a prospective client,” she said. “I had just taken Advertising Media Planning with Professor Sommer Tate the semester before, where we had to do that exact same thing. I remember confidently taking the lead on that task and presenting to the clients while using the same framework my professor had taught me.”

“The same thing happened with the campaign work I did during the internship,” she continued. “The semester before, I took Public Relations Campaigns with Professor Morgan Drinkard. Because of that experience, I understood the terminology, the reasoning behind why clients needed certain things, and the theory behind the work I was doing.”

Another moment that stood out to Laing was writing copy for one of FMG’s clients, the Tourism Development Corporation. The goal was to highlight the many different jobs that exist in The Bahamas and connect them back to tourism.

“I was given the prompt and a very short turnaround time, but I wrote the copy for about seven images,” she said. “A few weeks later, I saw those images, with my words on them, being used in the campaign. It warmed my heart to know that the perspective I had on these workers and their importance was being used to tell their stories. It made me realize that communications and PR isn’t just about creating content. It can also be about recognizing people, giving them a voice, and helping others understand their value.”

Laing said her internship was extremely hands-on and designed to throw interns “into the deep end” to learn quickly. She interviewed FMG’s co-owner and director Georgette Turnquest, who said the approach was intentional.

“She wanted the interns to be ‘plunked into real scenarios, real situations, doing real work,’” Laing explained. “She described that real-world experience as a gift that she didn’t have when she was starting out.”

Because of FMG’s variety of clients, every day looked different for Laing. In her first week, she worked with the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation, writing captions and video scripts. She later assisted with interviewing the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and went over lines with the Minister of Energy.

“That unpredictability is what I came to love most,” she said. “No two days looked the same. As the weeks progressed, I found myself becoming the voice of numerous radio ads, the face of various advertisements, and the brain behind campaigns, data analysis, and brainstorming sessions.”

A highlight for her was receiving feedback and support from people at FMG who were impressed by her skills as an intern.

“I was blown away by the amazing people who work at FMG and the level of talent and knowledge they all possess,” she said. “To hear those same people tell me that they also saw amazing qualities in me was incredibly meaningful. It gave me a lot of excitement and confidence about my future in this field. It reminded me that I’m not just studying something I enjoy; I’m building a career that I can genuinely see myself thriving in.”

She encouraged other students to apply for internships that might seem out of their wheelhouse.

“If you actively listen in your courses and build relationships with your professors, an internship is your opportunity to shine, apply what you’ve learned, and connect theory to the reality of the modern-day world,” she said.

Her message to other international students is simple: Don’t be afraid to explore different opportunities.

“I know sometimes it can feel overwhelming to work so hard throughout the semester and then realize you have to work hard all over again in another environment,” she said. “But that hard work pays off. Stay resilient, stay curious, and stay connected. It is an immense blessing to experience the world through different lenses. That perspective can become one of the things that makes you stand out, if you allow it to.”