My summer internship at Pass the Torch for Women Foundation has given me way more than just marketing and communications experience. I’m leaving this summer with a better idea of how non-profit organizations run, and a plan of everything I need to do to prepare for a job as I enter my senior year. This internship has also shown me exactly what kind of job and work environment I would love to be involved in someday.

Communications Skills

As the job description describes, the marketing and communications apprenticeship has provided me with much more experience regarding social media marketing, design, and creating a formal fundraising campaign. While I had some previous experience in graphic design, writing blogs, sending newsletters, and planning social media posts, I had so much independence and responsibility in this internship that it felt entirely different. At other internships, you may be assigned random projects here and there to “help out.” At Pass the Torch, I was planning all the daily social media content. 

I also had my first taste of the challenges of fundraising and development for non-profits. During my internship, we launched a fundraising campaign for a need-based mentee fund. I came up with a formal marketing campaign, and wrote content to send to sponsors and board members.

Mentorship

During my internship, I was also matched with my first formal mentor. My mentor gave me a precise roadmap for navigating my senior year of college, with specific tasks to help me network and apply to jobs in an effective way. I am now going into my senior year of college knowing exactly what I need to do to be successful, and I feel more confident because of it.

A Nonprofit Environment

As an introvert, I have always felt more comfortable in small, intimate work environments where I can get to know all of my coworkers in a relaxed setting. Pass the Torch for Women has a huge network, but a small fulltime staff. I immediately felt welcomed and I knew my work was being valued. The collaborative and intimate environment also made me feel like I was really in on the action– I got to listen in on phone calls and know exactly what was going on by attending staff meetings. It made me love coming into work.

Storytelling Experience

The biggest project I took on during my internship was a Mentee Spotlight video project to promote our need-based mentee fund campaign. I interviewed six mentees, and shot and edited the six videos myself. I also wrote corresponding blog posts and made graphics for social media to promote their stories. I hope that these videos will be valuable in showing Pass the Torch’s impact on mentees long after the fundraiser is over.

In summary, my internship at Pass the Torch for Women Foundation not only helped me advance my communications skills, but it also helped me build a more concrete vision of what I want my future career to look like. I am thankful for the experience, confidence, and knowledge I have gained!