This internship has helped me really begin to figure out the career path I want to follow. I've discussed this in a few different earlier blog posts, but one really big thing that internship has helped me figure out is the type of work environment I want to be in. This internship was one of the most amazing experiences that I've ever experienced, and it was mostly due to the wonderful environment. It's such a friendly space, and it's one of the best work environments I've ever seen. It's also had me possibly thinking about doing something beauty/skincare related in the future, just because of all the amazing information I've acquired in the month I've been here. It's not really something I even began to consider up until all of this hands on experience, and now I'm beginning to think about possibly really considering doing something like this as a career. Choosing a career is a really difficult thing to do, but experiences like this are things that really help pave the path to figuring things out.
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My work as an intern contributed to my education by showing me what it's really like to work in a real world situation. It was more of a life contribution than anything, and has helped me so much in figuring out who I am as a person and what my priorities are. It's given me such amazing insight on what it means to be a women owned business, and through Alison, I have met so many wonderful examples of amazing women business leaders. Everyone is so hardworking, wonderful, and inspiring, and they've really helped set an example for me. I think one of the most important things in high school is figuring out who and where you want to be a few years down the road- and up until internship, I hadn't really truly thought about it yet. By seeing so many successful and wonderful women, it's honestly very much directing me onto a path that I hope to continue down. I look up to my mentor especially, and seeing all that she's done and hearing all of her stories is one of the best experiences I've had in the past few years and is so much more meaningful to me than anything else. Real stories and modern examples examples of success always have connected with me well, and I wish we got more of that in school but I'm so glad I'm getting that now.
I made a meaningful contribution to my workplace by being the best intern I could be. I wanted to help out Alison as best as I could, and by doing my internship projects and tasks, I really feel like I did. Working here has been such a wonderful and amazing experience, and I really hope that all of the different projects that Lillie and I have been doing turned out to be very helpful and meaningful in the end. I came to internship everyday extremely happy and excited, and I feel like I contributed my energy to the workspace as well. Energy is an important thing to contribute to any workplace, and I really hope that I managed to spread some of the positivity I felt to others. Regarding qualities and characteristics of others, one thing I really want to develop in myself is true perseverance. Everyone I've met here works so incredibly hard, working through all of the hardships they encounter and working to make the workplace as successful as they can. Perseverance through trial and error is such an important thing, and everyone at the workplace carries through with it so incredibly well. It's so inspiring and leaves me in awe everyday. I talked to Alison a little bit regarding San Fransisco and New York, and those discussions really helped me figure out where I want to go after college. It was interesting hearing from someone who went to college in both, and that insight really helped me a lot. It was informational and important to me and the things I want to do, and was overall just a wonderful discussion to have with somebody. This past week in internship I've been trying to self advocate a little bit more for myself. Mostly, because Lillie, Alison, and I have talked about how that is something I have to get better at. All my life I've always been pretty nervous and frightened when it comes time to ask questions or speak up for myself, but I feel like internship is really helping me overcome that fear. Lillie is someone who is really good at advocating for herself, and is someone who I look up to when it comes to asking people for things I need or advocating for what I want.
I think I am following the advice in "how to be a good intern" and I'm honestly think Lillie and I have both been doing extremely well here at Salud. We've been having fun while also getting our work done and having a good time. One of my friends, a sophomore who also goes to HTHNC, Sami, actually came in for career day the other day and that was probably one of the highlights of internship so far. All three of us all managed to get our respective work done, while also collaborating and even going to lunch afterwards with Lillie and I's mentor, Alison. Everything I do here is so inspiring and fun, and I really hope that my self advocacy will continue to grow and get better as time goes on. Internship has been such a fun and amazing experience and I can not stress that enough! For my internship project I am planning to do a series of mini-projects with my mentor, Alison. Currently, I am working to renovate and spruce up Salud's website, by adding in new pictures with new aesthetics from their most recent photoshop. I am also going to be working with Alison later today to reshoot some of the pictures (I even get to take the photos myself!)
A series of mini projects just seemed to work a lot better for Lillie, Alison and I. That way, we could get an abundance of things done instead of just one major thing. Whatever Alison needs done, Lillie and I will do our best to complete it to the best of our ability. (and make it awesome!) Materials will change depending on the assignment/task so there's not a set "list" of things I will need to get. Everything is just going to depend on what task is assigned by Alison that week! Currently, the only thing I really need to get my tasks done is a camera, and I already brought that from home! The only support that I really need, is helping set up and arrange the products to photograph, and Alison has already promised to help with that. Today, I had the absolute pleasure of getting to intern my mentor Alison. Lillian Fletcher and I both switched off asking questions, and you can find the questions that Lillie asked on her blog. (
The first question I asked Alison was: "Is there anything you wish you knew realized about the world of work when you were [My and Lillie's] age?" Alison: "I wish I had more perception around other people having different life events happen to them to be who they are today, good and bad. I think when I was younger, I thought you could just mentally switch gears and be in work mode, or be in friend mode- or you know, be in all these different modes that you need to be in when you're older. But some are often time it's just pattern behavior. If you didn't learn to play nice, or learn to speak respectfully or didn't learn to not be triggered by other people's things, then you will be very reactive when you are an adult too. It doesn't change. If you don't learn to respond vs. react as a teen or a young adult, you won't suddenly become a good listener who doesn't react as an adult." "Why did you choose to work here at Salud?" Alison: "I always knew that I wanted to have my own business, I knew probably around the age that I wanted to have my own shop. I didn't know what kind of shop it would be though. I have great Aunts who have worked in a bakery that they've always had, so they're my version of entrepreneurs. Both of my grandparents were seamstresses, and I didn't realize how closely I would end up in the industry that they came from though. It wasn't until a high school art teacher [told me I could go to school for design] because all my life I was told you go to school at a university, and you get a degree in English, Science, Math, be a Doctor- but nobody actually mentioned you could go to school for art or design." "How important is it getting along with other people in your career?" Alison: "It's important to be authentic, with the other person. So sometimes that doesn't mean you're going to get along, but I think if you can show up as close to your honest self as possible it will help the other person see that what you're saying, while it doesn't necessarily come in agreement with what they're saying- they still respect you as a person and why you're sharing that information. In my career path I've had to have a lot of conversations where I tell someone it's not in agreement 100% but heres why I feel the way I do. More often than not, people say they trust what I tell them, because I have a lot of integrity." "What are your main duties and responsibilites?" Alison: "Well, as the owner, it encompasses all aspects of the brand. So, what that entails is the business values, which is the unseen aspects of a business, all the way to making the product. So, because I sell skincare, I batch the products myself, I have to plan my days and inventory based on whats available as the time. Also sales, I have to know finances enough to know my budget to reorder product, or when I'm planning an event, how much inventory I have to make. A lot of things!" "What is the purpose of Salud?" "The reason I named Salud that name is because it translates to a toast to your health in Spanish. To me, I want the values of, the lifestyle, healthy lifestyle to be accessible to every person. In the journey of building a brand, I realized it's not only about offering products that are sustainable in a certain way but it's also learning about why people don't necessarily feel they deserve that kind of lifestyle. Which can come through nutritional health, mental health, emotional health, so those are the other areas I've tried to include in the brand, so that it's living a sustainable lifestyle. As soon as you come in touch with Salud, that's what you come in touch with." Interviewing Alison was such a lovely experience and I had a lot of fun! She's someone who I look up to greatly, and can't wait to work with more! Interning here at Salud has really opened my eyes to so much about myself and business in general. I’m surrounded by so much good energy and light heartedness that it makes me really look forward coming in everyday. This experience is something that I’m really grateful for, and I can’t wait to see what more comes from my time here at Salud. What strikes me the most about my workplace is probably how calm, happy and at peace it makes me feel. From what I've heard from my dad, and close friends, workplaces usually don't do that. The atmosphere is always so friendly and warm and it's very lovely to be around. It's always clean and pristine, and I absolutely love being there. Lillie and I share a nice desk, and each have our own respective spaces. It makes me feel extremely professional, and I love it a little bit more than I should. It's not extremely crowded, and never filled to the brim with people and co-workers rushing around to get late work done. It's a lot better than the school atmosphere, and at Salud, I feel like my ideas are actually listened to and taken into account.
My mentor, Alison, is one of the sweetest women I've probably ever met. She's so passionate about what she does, and always has a positive attitude and a smile on her face. She's so friendly to everyone who comes into the shop, and treats everyone with a great amount of kindness and respect. Alison doesn't look down on Lillie and I at all, and treats us just as equally as anyone else. On Thursdays, we work with another intern named Grace. Grace is very kind as well, and has been nothing but sweet to Lillie and I since we've been here. She only comes on Thursdays though, so we don't see her very often. When we do get to see and talk to her, it's nothing but pleasant. What strikes me most about the job I'm doing is probably how much fun I'm having. Every morning I wake up with a smile on my face knowing that I get to come into Salud. It's such a fun internship, and I couldn't wish for a better one. Even in just the first few days here, I've learned so much about myself that I never would've known without Alison in my life. I genuinely have so much fun working here, and I'm very glad that it's a month long activity. I'm excited about all there is to come. Alison recently mentioned that she's going to teach Lillie and I how to make some of the formulas for the skincare line, and that's something that interests me deeply. I think it would be so interesting to learn, and something that I probably wouldn't get to learn if I was somewhere else. I'm also just excited for anything Alison assigns me and Lillie to do. I love it here! The only thing I'm genuinely worried about is probably the internship project. The only reason I'm even worried about that is because I want it to be extremely good, and that stresses me out a little bit- but I know everything will turn out just as it's supposed to. As long as I put in good effort, and continue to keep up with it, it'll all turn out fine. My first impression of this work space was that it was just as I thought it would be. It's a very open and visual space, with a beautiful and calming energy. The company I'm interning with is very small, so the space wasn't hectic at all. It's the type of place that I myself like to be in, one that isn't too crazy and messy, with everyone scrambling to get things done at the last minute. This place was quite honestly, the exact opposite of that. The outside is painted pink, but the inside is cool and minimalistic, with high white walls and neatly arranged wall shelves. It smelled like the oils Salud Shoppe sells, lavender and sweet honey, and everything was very pristine. There were little succulents sitting on the window, and it was very cute and reminded me of the little succulent garden we're creating at school for the library. The back rooms were a little bit more crowded, but not by much, still following the minimalistic theme of the main part of the shop.
A typical workday at this site is honestly impossible for me to properly pinpoint. It's the opposite of a normal 9-5 job, mostly due to the size, so I'm pretty sure that it just depends on everyone's schedule and what's on the agenda for that day. When I had gone in for career day, it had only been me, Alison (my mentor), Lillie, and another intern who only works on Thursdays, named Grace. We had gone in around nine o'clock that day, and what we did that day depended on how much time it actually took us to go over all of the fashion designs and finalize them. This space is much more business casual, but everyone is still very on top of all the tasks they need to get done. It's very relaxed, and I really appriciated that. Everything is very collaborative- and in that sense, it very much reminds me of High Tech. I dont know about all of the people I am to interact with on a day to day basis, and I think it very much depends on what needs to be done on a certain day. Most likely, it will always be my mentor Alison, or Lillie. On Thursdays, when Grace works, we'll mostly be talking to her as well; the conversation directed towards the fashion line that Salud shop is creating. I believe this business, like any other, prefers interns or employees to show up on time, unless they have a very good excused absence or holiday. Regarding the dress code, the dress code is also very business casual from what I've observed, but it's still a little bit hard to tell because of the size. Alison and Grace were both dressed very nicely, but still comfortable to lounge and work in. My career day experience was overall very insightful and exciting. I was able to help look at how the brand is looking to grow, as well as how they decide on what pieces of fashion to produce. That was probably the most interesting part to me. Alison and Grace had such an interesting way of working together, and seeing all of the inspiration boards and effort they put into making this whole fashion line happen is very inspiring to me. I even got to put in my own input! They valued my opinion just as much as anyone else's. When it comes to high school classes, I wouldn't say any of them particularly prepared me for an internship like this. I feel like the thing that helped me the most, especially due to the fashion focus, was the Palomar college courses I took over the summer that focused on sewing. Due to those classes, I knew a lot of the terminology they were using, and was able to really put in a good opinion on the clothes and ideas based off all of the different things I had learned. Although, the overall 'collaboration' idea that High Tech implements, was extremely helpful as well. |