Inside the NBCUniversal Summer Intern Experience

At NBCUniversal, our Internship Program offers early-career professionals meaningful, hands-on experience across key areas of our business—including but not limited to television, streaming, film, news, and technology.

Interns work alongside industry leaders, contribute to real-world projects, and gain insight into the operations of a global media company. Designed to support students from all backgrounds, the program helps develop practical skills, foster professional growth, and prepare participants for future careers in media and entertainment.

This year, there were more than 400 interns representing more than 150 universities across 20 business segments and 13 locations. We spoke to interns across the portfolio as they reflected on their experience, career goals and the most exciting parts of their time spent with NBCUniversal.

What did you learn from working in your specific department?

Ava Rosenfels, Ad Sales, Platform Monetization, Sports Digital Planning: The systems and processes that go into the planning, pricing, and inventory of multi-million-dollar ads, and how so many different pieces come together to make commercials possible on our sports programs! I also gained insight into how different teams across Ad Sales collaborate both pre-sale and post-sale to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Haley Pender, TODAY Show, Production: That you cannot dwell on little mistakes for too long in the world of live production. News is constantly happening, so you have to be able to adapt to that environment. It’s not going to adapt to you and your comfortability as a researcher, correspondent, producer and so on.

Temi Oyefeso, Peacock, Strategic Analytics:  Working within the Strategic Analytics Team at Peacock during this pivotal time truly underscored the importance of making data-driven decisions. I learned how critical it is to leverage insights to inform strategy and direction, especially in a dynamic industry like streaming, where understanding user behavior and content performance is crucial to staying competitive and growing our audience. Seeing NBCUniversal gain recognition for critical shows like Love Island and key sports moments highlighted the direct impact of our efforts on the company's success and cultural relevance.

What has been the most exciting project that you worked on throughout your internship?
 

Alysa Juarez, Universal Pictures, Creative Advertising: Putting together highlights from Jurassic World Rebirth’s international campaign! It was great to see all the incredible things such as photo-ops, interactive activities, and even huge 3D billboards. I loved seeing a culmination of all the amazing creative materials that come from the team and learning about how these things work to create a successful campaign.

Jackson Juzang, NBC Sports, Research/Editorial: I really enjoyed working on both NBA Finals research and Big Ten Media Day prep. For the Finals, I pulled together historical notes and context for internal use, which helped our team stay sharp on-air and behind the scenes. For Big Ten, I researched player hobbies and off-field stories, so producers had angles beyond the game itself. It was a cool mix—one project rooted in legacy and context, the other focused on making athletes feel more human to the viewer.

Gena Giardella, Executive Search, NBCUniversal: There have been many exciting projects but the most rewarding, in my opinion, is the Media Insider project my team does. Each week the team sends out a report of the executive changes in the market, and I’ve found a couple myself and got to add them to this report. It was rewarding to see my work was noticed-- and important to people!”

Outside of your day-to-day role, what were your other favorite parts of the summer internship experience? 

Cris Granada, NBC Sports, Digital Video: Meeting other interns and learning about their day-to-day departments. As I'm wanting to start my career in sports production, being in a building where all the studios are, control rooms, is most definitely an amazing experience!

Paige Seastedt, Bravo TV, Social Marketing: I absolutely loved getting the opportunity to meet fellow interns also working on the Universal Lot! Whether it was at intern connects, grabbing lunch, or coffee chats, I met so many amazing and like-minded individuals!

Ava Pedorella, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Production:  I have loved exploring unfamiliar places around Rockefeller Center. While I grew up in New York, I have recently discovered so many new places around the office.

How did this internship align with your career goals? Do you see yourself looking to do similar work in the future? 

Gabriela Hevia, Entertainment Marketing Group, Project Management: I do see myself learning more about project management. It is a crucial part of the industry, and I am passionate about organization, problem solving, and giving support to achieve goals. I think my past experiences reflect a lot on this field, and I am happy and inspired by what could be next! I am so grateful I got to learn from the art director and designers on my team. I would love to explore that part of the team again!

Haley Pender, TODAY Show, Production: I aspire to be an on-air talent in the future. This internship has allowed me to pitch stories about topics I care about and help prepare segments that are important to me. It has also allowed me to connect with correspondents and anchors who have taken a similar path to being on-air, which I was very excited about.

Jackson Juzang, NBC Sports, Research and Editorial: This experience aligned perfectly with my long-term goals. Interning at NBC Sports gave me a clear look at how a top-tier media brand operates: the pace, the attention to detail, and the collaboration across departments. 

Which NBCUniversal character best represents you?
 

Ava Pedorella: I'm really resonating with Donkey from Shrek right now!

Gabriela Hevia: Mack Mallard from Migration!

Gena Giardella: Jimmy Fallon because of his funny and bubbly personality.

Alysa Juarez: Boss Baby!

Paige Seasteedt: Elphaba from Wicked!

How do I Apply to Become an Intern at NBCUniversal?

Keep up with the NBCUniversal internship program at @ nbcu_interns on Instagram. To learn about applying for an NBCUniversal internship, visit the official careers page.