Bianca Hillier

 

 

Bianca Hillier is a sophomore student at Ohio University who has received the 

 

opportunity of a lifetime to intern with the TODAY show. She is currently living in 

 

NYC and working day-to-day alongside news anchors we see every morning. Many 

 

of us couldn’t imagine spending a whole semester away from Athens, but this girl 

 

has worked her butt off strategically to make it to the top and beat out every other 

 

possible intern for this position. 

 

 

I got the chance to ask Bianca a few questions about her experiences and how she 

 

made it to the top. 

 

 

Her Campus Ohio U: You’re only in your second year of school, were you worried about not being 

 

prepared for this internship or missing out on important classes?

 

Bianca Hillier: I actually did not have any fears about being prepared enough for my 

 

internship at TODAY, and I think this actually says more about TODAY and 

 

NBC than it does about me. Since the people who hired me are NBC staff, I 

 

knew how qualified they were and trusted their intellect and decision-

 

making. I trusted that the people who worked here and hired me were wise 

 

and experienced enough to only choose an intern who, through applications 

 

and interviews, they knew were qualified enough. They knew my abilities 

 

when they hired me and I knew they would not have hired me if they didn’t 

 

truly think I was the most capable candidate. As for missing out on important classes,

 

I was upset that I was going to miss being a part of Midday and Hardwood Heroes.

 

Both will still be around when I return, though, so I’ll be ready for them when I get back

 

to Athens in the fall.

 

 

HCOU: If you could live anywhere and have any job, what job would it be and where?

 

BH: If I could live anywhere, it would be anywhere near my three older sisters. 

 

Growing up, all of my extended family lived in Australia and South Africa, so I 

 

never had aunts, uncles, cousins or grandparents in my life. I don’t want that 

 

to be the case for my own children. 

 

I have never spent time in any city other than New York City, but I really 

 

don’t think I need to. New York City is where I want to live because I want to 

 

work for the network programs and this is where all of the jobs I would be 

 

interested in are. My dream job, honestly, changes every month. One of my 

 

dream jobs, though, is to either be a producer for TODAY or for 60 Minutes. 

 

These two programs are inherently and fundamentally opposites, but I see 

 

the value for each of them in the TV world today and respect the content that 

 

has been produced at each for years. Both of these jobs would also be based 

 

in NYC, so that only adds to why they would be a dream for me!

 

 

HCOU: What is the best and worst part of living in NYC?

 

BH: This is possibly the most difficult question of this entire interview. But, the 

 

best part of living in NYC is that despite millions of people live here, each 

 

person’s NYC life and experience is different from the person next to them. 

 

Living in one part of the city as opposed to another changes daily life enough, 

 

regardless of the other one hundred factors that create a chaotic city life. This 

 

is the best part about the city because it inevitably attracts so many different 

 

people for so many different reasons, so you get to meet people from all 

 

different backgrounds going in every direction possible. Oh, and the sheer 

 

power that some people have here… it’s astounding, inspiring, terrifying and 

 

wonderful all at the same time.The worst part of living in NYC is the monetary

 

price of living in NYC. Everything is so expensive. Everything.

 

 

HCOU: What advice do you have for people trying to get their dream internship?

 

BH: No matter what internship you have in mind as your dream internship, it is 

 

important to HAVE a dream internship in mind. What I mean by this is you 

 

will never get where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re going, so 

 

having a specific internship goal will be extremely helpful in achieving that 

 

dream. This way, you can look at the application even when you know you 

 

don’t fit the criteria and see exactly what it is that you need to do/improve on 

 

in order to become the perfect candidate. You will be able to mold your 

 

projects/classes/time to fit the criteria on the application, therefore making 

 

yourself much more marketable to that company/publication than if you had 

 

spent your time getting other experience that they might not necessarily 

 

value. For example, for a previous internship at Zazoom Media Group, 

 

months before I sent in my application, I was studying their videos and 

 

learning their voice so that I could create some of my own content that was 

 

similar to something they would produce, themselves. This way, I could send 

 

in these clips with my application and they could see how well I would help 

 

and hit in at their company.