News
Creating Connection and Community: My Internship Experience with AFE
February 25, 2026
By Nora Silverstein
Hello, floral industry! My name is Nora Silverstein, and I have had the privilege of being AFE’s Communications Intern for the past 7 months. My work has primarily been behind the scenes, but as my internship concludes, I wanted to reflect on everything I have learned throughout this incredible experience.
A little bit about me: I am a third-year student working towards a BA in communications with a minor in sociology, and certificates in corporate & community relations, digital media, and public & professional writing (a mouthful, I know!) at the University of Pittsburgh. Public Relations, Advertising, Media, and Communications are my passions: I have always looked for opportunities to apply the skills I have learned in my coursework in a real-world setting, which is what brought me to AFE.
In May 2025, I was searching for a summer internship. I wanted to ensure that I was doing meaningful work while gaining useful experience & skills. When I saw the posting for AFE’s Communications Internship, I knew it would be a great fit. After meeting with the team, I was offered the position and was overjoyed to get started!
I knew next to nothing about the floral industry when I began my internship, but over the past few months, I have learned so much about its different segments and how they each contribute to a successful industry. The more I learned about the floral industry, the more meaningful my work for AFE became, since I knew that AFE was working towards helping such an amazing group of people.
Social media is the primary focus of my internship. Every month, I format a detailed calendar and create each social media post across the AFE, Floral Marketing Fund, and AFE Career Center accounts. I am also responsible for tracking post performance & analytics, optimizing our reach, growing our audiences, and engaging with other accounts on our social media pages. I also assisted the communications team with fundraising promotion, proofreading, assorted communications & organizational tasks, and one of my proudest projects of this internship: building the YPC Social Media Ambassadors program. What started off as a small idea to feature our YPC members more on our social channels has grown into a new reality, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how we’ve developed the program.
This internship has been such a great fit: not only have I been able to apply my communications skills in a real-world setting, but the part-time & online nature of the internship has allowed me to balance putting my all into my work with my busy life as a college student.
Most importantly, the AFE team has made this an amazingly positive experience. They have provided me with so many resources and so much guidance to ensure that I got the most out of this internship. I’d like to thank Gracie, who served as my incredible mentor, as well as the entire AFE team for supporting my ideas (even if it means making TikToks in their pajamas!)
The ending of this internship is bittersweet; while I will miss the incredibly kind AFE team and floral industry, I am excited to utilize all of the skills I have learned as I continue on my educational and career development path. If you or anybody you know is interested in communications, I could not recommend interning with AFE enough!
Nora is now off to her next adventure! Upon the start of her spring semester, she is off studying in Florence, Italy, taking on a new position as a Public Relations Intern with The22, a wellness and fitness company. We are excited to see what she does next!
