Orientation week
Today I mark the end of my second week of my internship. It has been extremely interesting to see the back-end of a startup. In the past, I’ve had a few mini businesses on my own and one proper one all sophomore and junior year (it is currently on hold until I decide what to do with my life); But they have all been a one man business. I have never had interns or run a full time business. It is hard, it is hectic and it involves a lot of multitasking. I am one of six other interns and it has been extremely fun because we all come from such different backgrounds and career paths, yet we are all connected in a much deeper sense; we all want to have a life with meaning and the chance to make a difference in the world we live in. In this case we are doing it by empowering women and fighting against malnutrition and poverty, but one of the interns works with her local Jewish community in new jersey, the other teaches art in the weekends in schools in Harlem. It is fun and encouraging to hear about their experiences and share our goals and challenges.
The first few days of the internship were a little overwhelming, but like everything in life there is a learning curve to everything. As the days passed, I learned how to use all the systems, handle logistics and carry on the day to day tasks. Once I was more effective with my daily tasks, I had a little more freedom to look at the macro perspective of the business and what it encompassed. One of my goals was not only to learn how startups work but also learn from the founder. I wanted to take this opportunity to not only grow professionally in terms of managing startups but to grow personally as well, by having Francesca as my mentor. It’s early on in the internship, but what I can see is in a startup there is never time to waste or rest. Every day there is an extra task to do, things never go in according to plan, and even though this is frustrating at times, it is refreshing not to have a monotone schedule. I have learned to be flexible and always look at the bigger picture and the impact I’m having even by counting how many shoes are in stock because there was an issue with the excel spreadsheet. Patience and perspective were the learning points of these weeks.