Northeastern student Remi Wiseblatt recently had the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as Production Intern at Johnson & Johnson, working on “The Road to a Vaccine,” an online video series hosted by award-winning journalist Lisa Ling. With episodes streaming live on Johnson & Johnson’s social media platforms, the series features scientists, global health leaders, and other experts to explore the scientific community’s efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Remi’s internship started last June as a summer position, but ended up extending through the fall – and Remi had the chance to work on content development, social media campaigns, and analytics, while also learning the ins and outs of production.

“It was an honor to work on this incredible series. It is especially unique in that it’s a live show where viewers can ask questions to the scientists,” Remi, who is studying Communication and Media Studies at Northeastern, explained. “That interactive element is really cool, because viewers can ask the questions that are on their minds directly to the experts. Having access to that incredible knowledge is invaluable – for me and the viewers alike!”

As Production Intern, Remi worked on Johnson & Johnson’s Content Lab team. For “The Road to a Vaccine,” Remi helped with developing content ideas (themes or questions for the guests), as well as creating bonus content and running social media campaigns to increase visibility of the series. She pulled analytics for these social campaigns and used the data to improve content and audience engagement moving forward. She also got to work on the BAND-AID® 100-year anniversary video, as well as “Behind the Lab Coat” video series, where a scientist answers rapid-fire questions (similar to Vogue’s “73 Questions Answered By Your Favorite Celebs”). For this project, Remi had the opportunity to go to Johnson & Johnson’s campus and help with production, familiarizing herself with that process and how to use the film equipment.

Aside from that campus visit, Remi’s position was fully remote (read more about Remi’s experience working remotely in this intern profile), but with a supportive manager and team, this was an opportunity, not a roadblock. Remi’s supervisor, Lauren Ruotolo (Director, Creative Partnerships, Global Content Lab), helped make the experience particularly productive and memorable.

“My manager made sure I got to focus on what I was interested in,” said Remi.

I got to explore so many things, and it allowed me to better understand what career paths I want to explore moving forward.

Having now been introduced to and fallen in love with production, Remi is now taking Professor Bill Lancaster’s Producing for the Entertaining Industry course to further pursue this newfound interest and passion.

“The experience at Johnson & Johnson also taught me the importance of speaking up and sharing my opinion – and it gave me the confidence and courage to put my ideas on the table,” said Remi.

I learned about the power of my voice and how to utilize it to help my team.

In thinking about what’s next, Remi is excited to reconnect with friends and classmates both on-campus and remotely. She is involved with Green Line Records, Northeastern’s student-driven record label, as well as Northeastern Hillel. She started her Northeastern experience as an NUin student in Sydney, Australia – only returning to the Boston campus for the first time right before the pandemic hit – so she is excited to get back involved with everything Northeastern has to offer.