week 13: Introspection
The bittersweet introspection of a semester long internship.
Going into my internship I wanted to feel like I had made tangible contributions as an honorary member to the company. Begrudgingly speaking from experience as an frequenter in the entry level world, I dread the oh so common reality of interns filling up useless space and fulfilling monotonous grunt work. Where is the boarding pass out of this undervalued fun house!? Turns out the ticket out is being willing to do the work till you find the right fit!
This semester’s internship at Banded was finally a space that I felt truly took advantage of my skillsets as an honorary member of the team. I’m genuinely going to miss showing up every week for the Monday morning meetings and learning from a table full of confident professional women in the industry!
5 takeaways:
I want to work for a small to mid level company. I’ve had the previous experience of being a tiny fish in side a gigantic corporate pond and did not enjoy it. Interning for Banded was the nudge I needed to realize I crave connection and cross functional work relationships with other departments in a company. I loved the small company culture and how it lends itself to everyone being a key player for the team.
I want to work for a company that allows for flexibility and life alongside your professional career world. We are humans and should be allowed to live a life alongside our career. Juggling work and home life will always be a challenge, but it was refreshing to see a company who does it right. The small level company allowed for more flexibility and understanding when it came to leaving early, family emergencies and remote work environment. I’ve had the thought that this may have been heavily influenced by the fact that this company is owned and fully run by women. Women who already possess the “family comes first” lens when they walk into work. Some food for future thought!
I love to be part of a team. This may seem like a cheesy line or a given in the work force, BUT I’m going to open a door into the world of my overachieving tendencies. Childhood projects and “team work” created the opposite than intended affect on me. I preferred working as a lone wolf. I think other overachieving perfectionists can resonate with this when I say I almost ALWAYS found myself carrying the heaviest load to “protect” the outcome. I struggled with finding the value of team work till adulthood because of a simple missing ingredient. Connecting and networking to work within a team of other “A Team” players. I want to clarify that an A Team player can look like an incredibly artistic soul, a passionate individual, a money minded professional, and just anyone other than yourself with a fresh perspective or new idea! I grew into believe everyone has the capability to rise to the occasion and shine in their own way. It just took a while for me to realize this hidden gem value and honestly gold mine of creative opportunity. This AHA moment has been solidified time and time again as I work with other creatives in my field and watch them work in the professional world (i.e. internships). I now want and crave a space where I can be part of a team. I no longer want to be owner or lone wolf on projects, but rather harness other people’s perspectives and strengths to create things I never could have accomplished on my own! What a freaking FREEING mindset and new starry eyed way to look at each new connection! The world is now an oyster of opportunity.
I want to work for a company that is able to use/produce original creative designs through use of a development process vs. curating a line from pre-existing items. This takeaway is particularly pivotal as I never knew this way of working existed! I was able to watch a team curate and modify a collection from available products, using the lens of their unique mood and design direction for the season. This process is time and cost effective but essentially allows for less opportunity in the creative design process than I would like. I see the value in this process, and there are moments to allow for entirely new product if needed, but I want to create everything from the ground up to feel like I’ve made something entirely my own.
I like procedure and calendar checks. Who knew my artistic soul craved organization and frequent check ins/cross-functional collaboration! I have discovered the life saving essential tool of a planner. When I’m eyeballs deep in juggling school, internships, work and personal life…. nothing comes to my aid like a weekly planner session. I found this to be the same exact feeling as I was able to be a part of weekly meetings. Weekly checking in a cross-functional collaboration gave the team the opportunity for fresh ideas, opinions and kept everyone organized together! This would obviously differ depending on the size of the company, but I think this is definitely something I’d love to incorporate into any work setting moving forward!
Time to say goodbye to my temporary peek into the world of Banded.
I was able to learn, I was able to contribute and I was able to grow as a professional. This is everything I could have hoped for as a learning experience. Shout out to the team for mentoring students on a regular rotating basis and making an impact on the expanding minds of student designers!
