Magical Storybook - Graduate Internship Scheme
Magical Storybook is a Radcliffe on Trent based company that researches forgotten fairy tales from around the world, and narrates them for an international audience of children and adults. It is run by journalist and TV producer Rehannah Mian who believes that every child in the world should be able to hear free bedtime stories that are local to them. Read more about her experience with the NTU Graduate Internship Scheme and how it has benefitted her business.
How did you hear about the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) and when did you get involved?
I heard about the Graduate Internship Scheme in 2020. A friend of mine who worked at NTU suggested it to me. I was trying to grow my business and could not afford to hire staff, and she thought that if I was willing to take on an NTU grad it would be a win-win situation, as they could help me in exchange for my training them about working in the industry.
Tell us more about your journey with the Graduate Internship Scheme and how many graduates have you worked with?
The first graduate I took on was a former animation student at NTU. I had just finished my first children’s novel and I wanted a short, animated trailer to promo it to media companies.
In 2022 I took on 9 graduate illustrators from NTU who designed the illustrations for 30+ of the read-along books that accompany the audio stories. They did an exceptional job, and for the most part worked independently to produce some incredible illustrations.
This year (2023) I am working with an artist who is designing timelapse illustrations for Magical Storybook’s fairy tales. These will be used to for the opening titles of the new YouTube story telling strand that I’m producing.
Mia and the Curse of Camelot animation
How do you allocate work to the interns at your business?
I always have a brief of what I would like the interns to achieve to take my business forward, however, this sometimes changes based on the skillset and interests of the individual that I end up taking on. I’m always happy to work with them to produce a wonderful piece of work, which falls within what I need, but that has the interns style stamped on it.
Depending on their skills and interests, the interns have produced cartoon animations, book illustrations, or more art-based, time-lapse animations. As part of the internship I always take time to develop the intern’s business skills and to teach them how to self-promote their talents.
I also do a lot of work with them, trying to get them to take them out of their comfort zone so that they can adapt to client expectations – the skills that will get them a job and keep them employed in the future. They also always have a LinkedIn profile and posts by the time they leave the internship, which I think is important in this industry.
As the sole employee in my business, the work that the interns have helped me with has been invaluable, and it has helped me to move my business forward.
What benefits have you seen from taking part in the scheme, both for you as the business owner and the business itself?
As the sole employee in my business, the work that the interns have helped me with has been invaluable, and it has helped me to move my business forward. The animation that my first intern produced was used as part of a pitch to TV channels to promote my children’s novel, the illustrations that the interns did for me last year have enabled me to complete all the read-along books that I have been sitting on for years as I couldn’t afford an illustrator.
They have helped me to drive forward Magical Storybook’s mission to improve children’s literacy around the world.
The same illustrations have enabled me to create a children’s storybook YouTube channel that will be launched shortly. And the current intern is making me the opening titles to the stories on that YouTube channel.
Without the NTU interns, Magical Storybook would have remained a purely audio platform for a long time, and could not have expanded into a potentially profitable visual media enterprise.
Personally, I have learned a lot about patience in business, and how to bring the best out of interns. I went into the GIS with the expectation that I could just give the interns a brief, and that they would be able to follow it. I have since learned the value of patience and guidance in a business, and I’ve massively improved my own communication skills as a result.
Are there any landmark statistics from your work with the GIS?
Magical Storybook: English Nanny Bedtime stories is the audio part of the Magical Storybook company. It has gained 3 million global subscribers since I launched it in January 2020. I always wanted to have accompanying downloadable read-along books so that children around the world could learn to read, write and speak English. The NTU interns produced the illustrations for 30+ of those books, which is something that I could never have achieved without their help.
What would you say to a business looking to take part, would you recommend it?
I would recommend taking part as your business will always gain something from having the interns there, but you will also be doing your bit to help graduates improve their employability skills.
The advice that I would give is to spend some time working out a structure for the interns to work within. Give them an entire, realistic project that they will complete while they are with you – something that your business really needs, and that the intern can use as a showcase to pitch for jobs. The interns will work better if they can see an example of the end goal, and what it is they are to produce/achieve while they are with you.
Build their the confidence so that they learn to solve problems themselves, and they will help take your business forward.
If you're interested in recruiting NTU students or graduates for your business, please visit our Recruit Students and Graduates pages for more information.
You can also contact us at business@ntu.ac.uk, or on 0115 848 8899.