My process of finding an internship was quite stressful. It was my forth week of class, and after applying to so many companies and not hearing back, I turned to my professor for help. She suggested that I called The Women’s Press Collective, since they were looking for extra interns. I called that same Monday afternoon after class and spoke to Lisa Daniell, who is the Operations Manager of the organization. She insisted that I come in for an orientation on Saturday at 10am.

Claire, (who runs a similar organization based in Chicago) was in charge of the orientation that morning. After getting familiarized with the work that they do, we later sat down to discuss my skills as a graphic designer and my thoughts about the organization. Danell, the Benefit Program Organizer also sat in on the interview. I felt an unexpected ease during the “interview.” There was no intimidation or anxiety while speaking with Claire and Danell. Right away we started drawing out a schedule on what days I would be available and what hours were best. I mentioned that I work part-time from the afternoons, and they were more than flexible to fit me in during the morning hours. They are a volunteer based organization, so pretty much any hours that I could have offered was more than enough.

After setting up my schedule, I started a print training session with Lisa and a few other interns. It was so informative learning the ins and outs of the printing system. I felt an instant connection from that very first day at the Women’s Press collective. The people, the environment and the overall vibe of the organization felt very comforting.

My roles vary from day to day. There are some days where I’m working on enhancing black and white photos on Photoshop, or updating charts and notes. Recently, I was taught about the
mail-out system for their quarterly magazine, the Collective Endeavor. This was quite time consuming, considering that there are no computer systems that store each member’s information. Each envelope that contained a copy of the magazine, was done one at a time, by looking through a card system that was organized alphabetically. There are two sets of card systems for each member: the Master File and the Secondary file. After finding a member in the Master file, we need to match that member in the Secondary file as well, and update each card. Then after confirming that member has been matched and updated in both file systems, a label is then placed on the envelope and stamped. It was fun to experience the strategy of doing things differently.