Weekly Reflection
Saying that these last three weeks were fun, would be an understatement. It has been a privilege to work with and become friends with this incredible staff. I have learned so much throughout the course of my internship and just being in New York City has been such a great experience. I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity and to have been able to meet some great people along the way. Life Vest Inside will always have a special place in my heart with such great memories with it. Wednesday was the event that I put together for the company and I am so happy with the way it turned out. We were able to turn some people's day around, spread kindness, and spread the mission of LVI. It was really empowering to be apart of and I am happy that we could interact with the public in order to spread the kindness.
Wednesday 3.18.15
Today was my last day at the office, and while I am sad to be leaving, I feel that my time spent here has been very useful and significant in my life and in the lives of others. I started off the day doing the daily tasks and then interviewed my mentor. Today was also my event and I am so happy to be leaving on such a high note. Those who attended the event that I planned were given bags with water, granola bars, cheeseburgers, and a note inside. They were asked to find anyone who looked in need of a meal, something to drink, or a kind reminder. Below you can see pictures of people handing them the bags. We also handed out Act of Kindness cards that encourage others to pay it forward and continue to spread kindness. It was a great feeling making someone's day a little bit easier, and I am so happy I could do it along side of such selfless and wonderful people.
Tuesday 3.17.15
Today, I completed my daily tasks and put together the material we will need for the event, which is tomorrow! I did some finishing touches to the scavenger hunt to make sure it will go smoothly and put together the bags so the participants can utilize the given items to spread kindness around New York. I wrote a brief explanation of who I am, what I have been doing, and why I am here to share with the people at the event. Tonight there was a staff get together, we all went to see a Broadway show and it was so much fun! It was great to get to know the staff outside of the office.
MOnday 3.16.15
I spent monday making a lot of follow up phone calls to people that were invited. This was good learning experience for me because it taught me how to make a professional phone call while trying to make it not sound scripted or like I was trying to sell something. The invitation process has been more challenging than I had expected and New Yorkers do not tend to have any spare time to attend an event. But, I did learn a lot about the process of planning an event which was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and hopefully it will be successful.
Weekly reflection
The second week of my internship was wonderful! I had so much fun being able to be independent and I have continued to make new friendships and connections with the staff. Each day I completed the same tasks which are content creation, spreadsheet organization, social media outreach and event planning. I have learned a lot about event planning in particular this week, seeing as the event is next week. It has been a lot of work but I have had fun with it. I had a lot of freedom creating my event, so I chose to do an interactive scavenger hunt where the people who attend will be given a bag of items that they will utilize to spread kindness on the streets of New York. It was a success that I finally completed the schedule for the event and started to invite people. It made a few mistakes along the way when I started to invite people via phone call, that did not always go as smoothly as it could have, but I was able to learn and grow form that. I help the staff a lot by helping them create content as well as completing a lot of the social media work that they do. My goals for next week are to have a fun, successful event, and to enjoy my last few days at the office. Unfortunately, Wednesday is my last day in the office because I am flying out early on Thursday for a volleyball tournament. So I will take advantage of my last week here! :)
Friday 3.13.15
Office is closed.
Thursday 3.12.15
After completing my daily tasks, I began to invite more people to the event via email. I also helped my mentor find deals for material that we will need to purchase for the event. It is really important to stay within the budget during event planning because in the actual event planning business, the client is expecting you to stay within their set budget. So it has been interesting to plan within the budget and figuring out everything to stay in budget.
Wednesday 3.11.15
Today I completed daily tasks and did a lot of work on the upcoming event. I wrote an email for the founder to send out to a lot of the people who have participated in LVI before and have expressed interest in the organization. I sifted through a list of phone numbers with my mentor of people to call to invite to the event and I wrote a script as to what I am going to say. I was finally able to get the event accepted on meet-up after a few tries of not knowing it could be rejected in the first place :/ but alas, I have the event set up and now just need to do the finishing preparations for it.
Tuesday 3.10.15
Today I completed my daily tasks that I have been assigned for the week. I was able to complete all of the tasks very independently and more efficiently. I was happy that I was able to accomplish my assignments without asking any questions! I also refined the schedule for my event and continued preparation for it.
Monday 3.9.15
Today I completed my daily tasks of responding to social media, content creation, working on my event and helping with spreadsheet work. One thing that was particularly interesting about today was that we had a visitor come in who is paring up with LVI. He is creating an app that strives to make people happy. The app is inspired by the non-profit, so he came to present the app to us. It was fascinating to see an app in the making and behind the scenes of the app. There was a lot of feedback and questions from the staff regarding improvements, user mobility and the logistics which was really insightful to sit in on. Another thing that was interesting today was the $120,000 dollar grant that LVI got from google apps. Since they partnered with this guy creating the app, they were able to win grant money which is the backbone for all nonprofits, again this was really interesting and significant to learn about.
Saturday 3.7.15
Weekly reflection
My first week has been so much fun. It has been a pleasure to get to know such wonderful, and humbling people who work to make the world a better place. Throughout the week I complete a number of tasks including spreadsheet organization, content creation, social media outreach, and event planning. I have learned a lot of communication skill so far, they are very connected and communication oriented so I have been able to be included in a lot of that so nobody is repeating tasks that have already been done. It was a success to be able to connect with a lot of the LVI community and I also see how impactful their mission is to the public which is super empowering to be apart of. I did in fact make a mistake when planning my event. In order to get public involved in my event I was using meet-up which helps the people near you hear about the event you are hosting, I am not very familiar with the site and I accidentally sent out a draft of the event proposal to the public. I was able to fix it by going back the next day and canceling it but it was a good learning experience for me to deal with that mistake. I have been working with my mentor a lot, but I have also been collaborating with the rest of the staff as well. I helped tackle a lot of the tasks that the staff does and I contributed to the founder writing her book! I did make progress on my link project, I work on it almost everyday. My goals for next week are to continue being enthusiastic and to help as much as I can in the office. I am also hoping to finalize my event and prepare further for it to take place on Wednesday the 11th.
Friday 3.6.15
The office is closed on Fridays. TGIF AMIRIGHT.
Thursday 3.5.15
Today I learned more about the social outreach that is necessary for a non-profit. One of the cool things about LVI is that they try to respond to every single comment on every social media that they have... which is a lot of work. I was taught how to formally reply to the public and to further promote the non-profit within the reply. I also started a meet-up for the event and had a meeting with the founder about what exactly needs to be done for that. Mostly, I have really been able to see the dedication that goes into a non-profit and how important each job within the organization is in order to keep it functioning.
wednesday 3.4.15
Today I continued to work on the outline for the event that I am planning, which consisted of creating a detailed plan as to what exactly I want to be doing. I have been learning how to produce a productive and insightful event. It is important to start with focusing on a target and the people you want to reach out to. It is also crucial to have a specific purpose for the event. So, today I spent time thinking that through and how I can make this as insightful as possible. I also had the opportunity to help the founder with content creation for the book that she is writing. The staff has a spreadsheet of daily acts of kindness, and the founder was in need of a few more for her book. I was able to add some to the list that will be featured in her book! On a side note, I have also been introduced to the different pace of New York businesses. The founder is incredibly fast-paced, driven, and productive, which is difficult to keep up with, but also a key component to having a non-profit and I really think that was important for me to see.
Tuesday 3.3.15
Today I got to branch off on my own for a little bit. I completed some of the tasks that my mentor would on a regular basis. I did some social outreach and contacted people who were showing interest in the non-profit. I also began inviting people to the event that I am planning for the organization. I did so on a website that allowed me to reach out to a lot of LVI's committed followers. I planned my event in greater detail and ran it by the head founder to get her approval. Not having Nancy right by my side today, definitely felt more like a real day at the office, which was a great experience for me.
Monday 3.2.15
Today was my first day at the office and I am already learning so much! I began the day with finding my way to the office which conveniently is right by the Empire State Building so if I ever get lost I just have to look for the giant needle in the sky to find my way. Navigating the city has been so much fun and is honestly an experience in itself. Once I got to work, Nancy showed me what she generally does on Monday's which consists of social media work, organizing spreadsheets to have them prepared for later in the week, and I began to brainstorm my event. Nancy also included me in a lot of the key communication aspects of the organization so I can get a taste of how they effectively communicate and progress throughout the day and week. I was introduced to the importance of social outreach in a non-profit and it opened my eyes to perseverance that goes into a business. I was given some guidance regarding the event that I am planning but for the most part it is a very independent project. Today was really insightful and motivating!