Around The Triangle Blog – Volume 11 – Intern Melissa Brandes

Twice a month, we will utilize this blog to showcase some of the employees of Pocono Raceway. Today, we feature Melissa Brandes, our communications intern.

Hey y’all! I’m Melissa, better known as Bitzy, and I’m the media relations summer intern at Pocono Raceway. I currently study Public Relations and Marketing at The University of South Carolina, and I will be a junior this fall. I grew up in the Poconos, and graduated from Pocono Mountain East, so the track is fairly close to home. I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest NASCAR fan now, but up until I was about 7 or 8 my brother and I loved the sport. I work in sports production at school, so I was looking for a relative internship for the summer. I found out the track hired summer interns through a friend, who was the media relations intern a few summers back.  I had applied last summer as a freshman, but was a little young to take on the role. I was told to try again next year, so I did, and here I am! I started working in the middle of May, with race weekend approaching quickly. My second day of work was actually the Philadelphia Takeover, so I really came in to the position head on. I think the constant rush of work at the beginning has helped a lot, because it’s caused me to quickly adapt and understand how ready I need to be for event weekends. For the most part I focus on the social media aspect of Pocono Raceway, helping out Kevin, our Director of Media Relations. I have already taken in a lot, especially that you do whatever it takes for a good camera angle, even laying on the ground. I also work under Ryan, who is the Senior Director of Communications at the track. Most of the time I’ll assist in creating graphics for different releases. This past race weekend was such a crazy and awesome first experience. The weather really bummed me out, but Monday turned out to be a beautiful day for the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400. The coolest aspects of race weekend to me were probably the pit crews, and seeing how quickly the track environment changed. The pit crews and pit stops absolutely amaze me! I really don’t understand how they can move that quickly with such heavy equipment, and how a car can be totaled one moment, but back on the track 10 minutes later. Also, the track environment flipped a 360 in the matter of an hour. I would come in earlier in the morning, arriving to a quiet and calm track. Within 45 minutes, the track would be full with event staff, vendors, and fans. It shocked me how so suddenly the track became such a lively place so quickly, which I actually loved. I was able to meet some really awesome fans this weekend, who truly love the sport and love Pocono Raceway. It was super humbling because I was able to see who and what it was I am working for, and get a perspective of the other side. It’s not just logistics and making things happen because it’s scheduled, but it’s because people are actually so stoked to come and see these things happen, which makes everything worth it (I know, a little cheesy, but it’s true). Needless to say I am already pumped for the next race weekend, but I think I’ll catch up on some sleep first.