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It is with this third installment that the intern introduction trilogy comes to a close. For the last (but certainly not least!) leg of the alphabet, we have R-U, and a misplaced G by the name of me! Hopefully these brief interviews have provided you with an idea of who we are outside of TOMS and our roles and duties within TOMS... Perhaps inspiring you to join the movement, or just to spread the word about One for One.

Ann Ro - Eyewear Retail Marketing & Sales Intern

Hometown: Diamond Bar, CA
Describe what you do in your department: I assist the Eyewear team in prepping for upcoming trade shows, events and special projects. There's literally never a dull moment, always something to be done!
What's your favorite thing about living in California? I love the diversity of the food, people and culture!
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Finding new and exciting places to eat around LA, watching musical theater/dance and going to the beach.
What's your favorite food & TV show? LA Food trucks! My favorite right now is NomNom, they specialize in Banh Mi sandwiches, and my favorite TV show is Friends!

Dana Rudolph - Digital Design Intern

Hometown: St. Joseph, MO
Describe what you do in your department: I work with the digital team to create TOMS artwork for the online/digital world. Common daily projects include designing emails, pieces for TOMS website and graphics for the TOMS social media sites like Facebook.
What's your favorite thing about living in California? Is this a trick question? The beach, of course! I love riding my bike along the ocean every weekend.
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Grabbing my sketchbook and riding my bike to the beach to relax and draw. It can't get much better than that!
What's your favorite song and movie? My favorite song is "Blue Ridge Mountains" by Fleet Foxes, and my favorite movie is "The Royal Tenenbaums."

Erik Soto - Eyewear Sales & Production Intern

Hometown: Blythe, CA
Describe what you do in your department: I help manage and prepare Eyewear sample for sales reps, assist our production and development manager with new product orders, and I also spend time researching new trends in Eyewear design and manufacturing.
What's your favorite thing about living in California? Coming from the SoCal desert, I'm all about the heat…
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Living in Downtown LA, I enjoy rooftop pools and BBQ'ing with my close friends.
What's your favorite quote? "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was in vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act in their dream with open eyes to make it possible." T.E. Lawrence

Whitney Tellache - Influencer Marketing Intern

Hometown: Portland, OR
Describe what you do in your department: I work on a variety of projects with one goal in mind - to organically expand our list of current and future TOMS supporters. With the music festival season sneaking up, our department is working on building great new relationships with the awesome bands and artists in attendance.
What's your favorite thing about living in California? Sunshine all-year-long! Having grown up in beautiful (yet rainy) Portland, I've been taking full advantage of California's sunny beaches in recent years. In layman's terms, I'm a beach bum!
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? You can find me hoarding the sand on the beach, blogging on Tumblr like there's no tomorrow, photographing my favorite people, or simply relaxing with friends and family.
What's your favorite book right now? "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey.

Tyler Uhlenhake - Campus Programs Intern

Hometown: Celina, OH
Describe what you do in your department: I work closely with school administrators, educators and students to help develop social awareness through service learning. I help them spread awareness of the TOMS story by giving them the knowledge and materials to host fun and educational events like One Day Without Shoes campus events or Style Your Sole events.
What's your favorite thing about living in California? Every day is a new experience in California, with new adventures around every corner.
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Sunday is always "beach day," and it starts with brunch at one of the local Venice eatery's to fuel up for the day's activities.
What's your favorite song right now? I'm loving the original soundtrack to the movie "Drive."

Erin Goldstein - Social Media Intern

Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Describe what you do in your department: On a daily basis I use multiple online programs to manage, monitor and track content posted in our social media spheres, primarily our Facebook, Twitter and blog and Community Flag Wall. It's the goal of the social media team to create a unique community experience for the TOMS fan in fun, creative and engaging ways.
What's your favorite thing about living in California? Driving to the beach, surfboard in tow, sunshine beaming brightly and blasting "Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead. My parents fed me an excellent musical diet growing up, and now my favorite songs finally resonate with their full potential, their sounds echoing this landscape.
What's your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Driving up and down the coast discovering new surf spots. Just an hour north or south the coastal scenery dramatically changes, and can make you feel like you're in another time and place. My favorite spot is San Onofre, and coming from Florida, it's always exciting hiking down rocky red cliffs to end up on the most beautiful deserted beach, endless lines of waves.
What's your favorite book and song right now? Since moving to California I was inspired to re-read "Zeroville" by Steve Erickson, which takes a cinephile's delightfully bizarre view of the film industry, life and culture in 1969 LA.


To find out more information about the TOMS Internship Agents of Change Experience, check out our website here.

Happy Tuesday to all travellers on the information superhighway! I hope you enjoyed getting to know the first batch of our interns and their roles at TOMS in a little more detail. I have six more interns whose names span that vast middle of the alphabet, and whose departments and interests are equally as expansive. I present to you, letters D through P…

Kari Dirksen – Campus Programs Intern

Hometown: Le Mars, IA
Describe your department: TOMS Campus Clubs inspires students, alumnus, educators, administrators and parents to engage in activities and events that raise awareness of the TOMS story and One for One movement. I respond to student inquiries regarding documentary requests and Style Your Sole, Start Something that Matters and One Day Without Shoes events. I’m working on creating an alumni space and finding new and creative ways to reach out and keep them involved and aware of what’s going on at TOMS.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I love being able to bike from my apartment one mile East to work, and one mile West to the beach. It’s the best of both worlds!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? I enjoy laying in my hammock on my patio… I bought it two years ago while studying abroad in Chile and now I finally have a place to hang it!
What’s your favorite song of the moment? I’m currently obsessed with everything Amos Lee.

Andrew Kirschner - Online Content Intern

Hometown: Stony Brook, NY
Describe your department: My department handles all digital content that is created for our online customers. We work across departments to coordinate our products, stories and promotions. Content isn’t just randomly pushed through at random times; it actually involves a lot of strategy and planning to maximize our efforts and our reach. We want to make sure that the TOMS customer base is receiving the information they want, where they want it.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? Being surrounded by people that are health-conscious and outdoorsy. There are actual mountains to climb and hidden gems of nature to visit. Natives are friendly, relaxed and just plain kind!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Sunset. Any evening that I’m able to, I try to catch sunset at the beach. Santa Monica beach is surprisingly deserted around sunset, so it’s just you, rushing waves and the setting sun providing an open yet secluded setting to sit and think.
What’s your favorite movie & book of the moment? I’m on a Harry Potter movie kick right now, and I’m also reading a book called “The Thank You Economy” by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Vivian Lin – Design, Development & Strategic Sourcing Intern

Hometown: Thousand Oaks, CA
Describe your department: My department is responsible for the whole process of sourcing fabric and developing and designing all the footwear. We are involved in the entire process of creating a shoe style, from conception of idea and inspiration, all the way to the end product.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I am a SoCal native, and feel blessed that I am never more than 20 minutes from the coast. Driving along PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) is fun because you always have the ocean to one side of you.
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Exploring my surroundings! A few weeks ago, my boyfriend took me to a beautiful little park nestled in Los Angeles called Vista Hermosa. We sat at a bench that overlooked the city and we could see buildings like the Disney Concert Hall.
What’s your favorite food & book of the moment? Coconut juice from a young coconut, you can find them in the produce area of Asian grocery stores. My favorite book right now is “Cradle to Cradle” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It’s a great book that looks at things in a different perspective – rather than recycling, why not up-cycle?

Josh Ornelaz – Kids & Action Sports Retail Marketing Intern

Hometown: Camarillo, CA
Describe your department: I support the retail marketing and sales team within the kids and action sports channels on specific initiatives and events. I’m currently working with my manager to create a retail marketing strategy proposal for the kids and action sports demographics. I’m also working on getting action sports athletes involved with One Day Without Shoes 2012 to help spread awareness.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? Getting barreled!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? My passions in life are surfing, flowboarding and looking for the next adventure. You can find me in the water anywhere from Silverstrand Beach in Oxnard to Black's in San Diego. If it’s flat and there are no waves, you can find me riding at Wavehouse San Diego in the perfect 8 foot barrel.
What’s your favorite book right now? “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” by Yvon Chouinard. My favorite quote, from the author, "Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all… but we just went for it.”

Charlotte Park – Strategic Partnerships Intern

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Describe your department: My department works on growing TOMS' brand equity by partnering with other companies to create a collaborative product or event. I’m constantly researching brands and people for potential collaborations and keep my department up-to-date in the marketing landscape.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? Born and raised in sunny southern California, I love how you can travel from the beach, to mountains, to the city all in one day! Every weekend is like a mini vacation because I can easily visit all my favorite places like Malibu, Mammoth, Palm Springs, and Napa Valley.
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Sleeping in my bed with all the windows open – you feel the cool breeze and the warm sun while being wrapped up in a soft blanket… Can't get better than that!
What’s your favorite book and food right now? “The Abolition of Man” by C.S. Lewis. It's short but so substantial, you need to read it about 5 times to soak up all the goodness. And my favorite food is sushi from SugarFish by Sushi Nozawa – it's like butter, totally melts in your mouth!

Matt Pinzon – Alternative Sales Intern

Hometown: Orange, CA
Describe what you do in department: Right now, I’m responsible for connecting with community organizations and informing them about One Day Without Shoes 2012, to raise awareness for TOMS and its One for One movement.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? First thing has to be the weather! Living in Southern California is also awesome because there are so many different cultures that provide some great spots to eat.
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Skiing at Bear and catching up with friends.
What’s your favorite song of the moment? “Don’t You Evah” by Spoon.

Stay tuned for Meet the Interns, Part III!

As promised, here is the first part of my “meet the interns” special edition blog post. It was tough deciding what order to introduce everyone, so after much deliberation and playfully re-arranging the group in every imaginable way – by hometown & by department title to name a few – I decided on the tried and true alphabetical method. Without further adieu, from letter B to C we have…

Kelly Benson – Print and Retail Design Intern

Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
What are your current projects? Right now our department is working on all the Summer 2012 campaign materials. Everything from window graphics and in-store displays to direct mail pieces.
What do you like about your department? Being a part of the creative team is great because you really get to help create what TOMS looks like each season. It's fun to see how the brand has evolved over time from a creative standpoint.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I love being able to ride my bike to the beach every weekend. I've always wanted to live by the ocean (for at least part of my life) and I've been taking full advantage of how close it is!
What’s your favorite food? My favorite food is and always will be--chips and salsa!

Jenna Campbell – Fashion Retail Marketing Intern

Hometown: Greenville, TX
What are your current projects? A big project I’ve been working on has been the launch of the ballet flats. Things like getting stores geared up for the super cute flats and making sure they have all the marketing materials they need to showcase the shoe, and also creating fun events for the retailers that are having ballet flat launch parties.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I love the beach! I actually love all outdoor activities – hiking, bike riding, you name it! I’m from Texas, where it’s scorching hot outside most of the year and it’s miserable to just walk to your car, let alone take a long bike ride!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Going to the beach and hanging out all day, watching the sun set, and then lighting up the fire pit and roasting marshmallows!
What’s your favorite book of the moment? Right now, it’s The Hunger Games series… I’m in the middle of the third book right now. (Team Gale!)

Iris Chan – Environmental Design Intern

Hometown: San Gabriel, CA
What are your daily activites? My position is technically under the creative department, and we handle everything involved in the window displays - designing the decals and display fixtures, even the 3D stuff like building frames or benches for the store windows. Each season there is a different campaign so we chance the designs accordingly.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I love the California weather and the awesome Cali-Mexican cuisine, especially all of that fresh avocado!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Being a California resident, how can you not go to Disneyland?! Hands down that’s my favorite thing to do, and it doesn’t hurt having an annual pass.
What’s your favorite food of the moment? Greek yogurt! When you are at the office all day, you get into the habit of snacking and I just found this company that makes greek yogurt in super convenient containers with different toppings. I love it and it’s sort of healthy!

Michael Chan – E-commerce Merchandising Intern

Hometown: Clovis, CA
Describe your department: A small division of the e-commerce department, the merchandising team works hard to maintain the website and the shoes, eyewear, apparel and accessories it displays. I’m currently working on a top secret project that will debut later this year!
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? I enjoy the sheer amount of people. Nope, that isn’t sarcasm. Everywhere I go, there’s a new face and a new experience!
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? Exploring LA coffee shops, restaurants and nightlife. Spotting the occasional celeb is pretty cool too.
What’s your favorite song of the moment? I’ve had Madeon’s “Pop Culture” on repeat for a while now. The song mashes 39 different tracks into a giant ball of awesome!

Tanya Corpus – International Sales Intern

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Describe your department: My department focuses on the international growth of TOMS. A lot of my work consists of being culturally aware of TOMS happenings around the world and strategically thinking how we can incorporate TOMS into the everyday traditions and customs of the region.
What’s your favorite thing about living in California? The unbelievably gorgeous weather and the wonderfully diverse food options.
What’s your favorite non-TOMS weekend activity? When it’s hot, going to the beach or hiking, and spending time with my younger cousins.
What’s your favorite food? It’s a tie between ice cream and French fries!

Stayed tuned for Meet the Interns, Part II!

It’s been slightly over a month since our intern class joined the TOMS family, and we’re truly realizing what everyone meant when they told us during orientation “you’re more than an intern.” We’re not fetching coffees and our days aren’t filled with menial busy work tasks. Next week I’ll be breaking down the departments and sharing some details about what each of us is up to in our daily tasks and long-term projects; for now, it’s all about this singular cohesive group that we call our intern family.


Back row: Kari, Tiffany, Erik, Michael, Josh, Matt, Tyler; Middle: Dana, Charlotte, Iris, Whitney, Vivian, Ann; Front: Kelly, Erin, Andrew, Jenna, Tanya, Caroline

Caroline, our amazingly energetic intern program coordinator, has been working with every department at TOMS to organize weekly/bi-weekly “Snack and Chats” for us. With piping hot coffee and pastries in hand we gather together to learn the nuances and interact with departments outside our own. These meetings are so valuable – it expands each of our scopes of understanding about this incredible brand we’ve become a part of. It’s in these moments that we recognize the integral connections between each department and see where we fit in. I feel a deep sense of respect that such busy managers, directors – even the president! – graciously take time out of their work day to engage with us about their positions, experiences and answer our many questions.


Coffee chat, with campus programs intern, Tyler, speaking

One of the most interesting and powerful meetings was with the Fall 2011 interns. It was so impressive to witness how they’ve integrated from intern to full-time employees. They were extremely honest and transparent with their experiences and advice about the intern program; their most compelling stories were about the bonding and long-lasting friendships that began during their own internship. They beamed inside jokes and joy, and I think we all took a subconscious cue from that coffee chat… because before the week was over we were planning our very own beach day!



With music, frisbee, snacks and sun, we spent hours lounging and laughing a relaxing Sunday away. There was no TOMS “business talk,” other than that we needed to have several dozen photo shoots with our TOMS flags and bare feet. We huddled around the fire pit as we watched a beautifully vibrant west coast sunset. A group nearby released some sky lanterns when all sunlight had officially vanished, and it was an awesomely symbolic following their bright glow into the night sky, packing up and departing when we saw the last flame extinguish.

Hello TOMS fans, followers and random passersby! I’m Erin, one of eighteen fresh faces that just began the intern experience here at TOMS headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. As the Social Media department’s intern I will be running this blog for the duration of our internship.

It’s technically our second week here, but it feels like we just finished orientation yesterday. The Brand Experience department organized an incredible two days for a group of strangers to come together, all with different backgrounds, school and job experiences, with the one common thread that we were all thrilled and awed to now be a part of the TOMS family.



If only one theme stuck in our heads during our first few days, it would be that TOMS is more than just a company or a business. The One for One mission statement goes beyond being a simple (and revolutionary!) business model – it is the essence of everyone’s existence here. All departments, from Customer Service to Alternative Sales seem to operate on the foundation of giving and storytelling.

“What’s our story?” we were rhetorically asked several times by employees from different departments, as they were spending quality time with us, explaining their jobs, inviting questions and offering incredible words of wisdom.

The sagest advice can be summed up here: to enter humbly, explore your assigned department, volunteer outside your area and to engage fellow TOMS employees, gaining knowledge from their own experiences.


(L to R: Kelly, Dana, Kari and Michael)
“TOMS is great not only to be able to work for, but to meet and get to know people from all over. On our first day off, some of us interns had the chance to get together and hike to the Hollywood sign for fun!” Kari, Campus Club intern

As orientation continued, a palpable sense of pride emerged in our group. We are wearing shoes – a simple pair of consumer merchandise, with four simple letters – that carries meaning beyond the canvas and rubber constituent parts. We are now part of the story! We are contributing our own unique perspectives to the philosophical and physical story that is TOMS.


A favorite moment from orientation was the Style Your Sole activity – it felt like we were doing arts and crafts at summer camp!


“It was so fun to be creative and to see how different everyone’s shoes turned out!” Jenna, Retail Marketing intern, fashion

The spring 2012 intern class is full of energy, ambition and inspiration! We are psyched to be a part of the TOMS movement, and look forward to sharing our future experiences.