Brand Scientist Intern — Fall Graduate Fellow

About La Barra

La Barra is a media venture founded by Mike Berland — the Momentum Master — built on storytelling, conversation, and commentary at the intersection of sports, entertainment, culture, and AI-driven brand intelligence. We're building a new category from the ground up, and we're looking for graduate students who want to be part of it from the ground floor.

The Role

This isn't a coffee-and-spreadsheet internship. We're looking for Brand Scientist Interns — graduate students with sharp analytical instincts and genuine curiosity about AI — who are ready to contribute real work from day one. You'll support brand perception research, help build client-ready deliverables, and get hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI tools including Claude and Profound. You'll work closely with Mike and the team, with remote flexibility.

This is a fall engagement starting in September, structured to work alongside a graduate school schedule.

What You'll Be Doing

• Supporting brand perception audits — monitoring conversation volume, sentiment, and trends across Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and beyond
• Aiding with LLM/AI brand presence audits using Profound — learning how large language models describe and rank brands relative to competitors
• Helping synthesize findings into clean, insight-forward slide decks for sophisticated business audiences
• Using Claude and other AI tools to support research, surface patterns, and accelerate delivery
• Keeping projects organized and supporting multiple workstreams simultaneously
• Learning and contributing to the proprietary methodologies we're building at La Barra

What We're Looking For

• Currently enrolled in a graduate program (MBA, MS, MA, or PhD) in marketing, communications, data science, business, or a related field
• Genuine curiosity about AI — you've played with Claude or similar tools and want to push what they can do
• Strong writing and communication skills — you can turn information into a clear, compelling narrative
• Detail-oriented and organized — you can manage tasks and deadlines without being chased
• Background or coursework in social media, marketing, consumer insights, or brand strategy is a plus
• Familiarity with Talkwalker, Profound, or similar platforms is a bonus, but not required

What Makes This Opportunity Different

You won't be filing papers or sitting in on meetings you don't belong in. You'll be doing real work alongside a founder who has spent decades at the frontier of brand intelligence and public opinion research. For a graduate student looking to apply classroom thinking to live client problems — and see what brand intelligence looks like in the age of AI — this is a rare opportunity to do exactly that.

Compensation

$17/hour