Nathalie Quito’s ePortfolio

My journey throughout this semester’s Internship has been an inspirational one. Through professional and personable growth, it has been an eye opener to the potential world of post-graduation within the work field. I have learned to analyze, experiment and implement professional tools in order to guide me through a job within my aimed career. This experience has shown me what I guessed could be, what I expected and what I may have never known within the world field.

I have been fortunate enough to work with a welcoming and understanding organization that has provided me an experience of professionalism through reliability, responsibility and unity. I began with learning the importance of an internship and why they are there for students before or after graduation. From there, I learned and followed the resources and guidelines to successfully fulfill an internships needs.

Evaluating my time from February to present, I have conducted myself in a personable and accountable manner in order to be a dependable coworker and designer. I have worked on keeping great communication and strong organizational skills to keep the workflow consistent and impactful. I have worked on taking criticism well and working together with my team for a greater common goal. Keeping in mind the organizations values have allowed my designs to be effective and vibrant for the community we serve.

An example project in which I learned deadlines, revision and communication would be my first social media creative for the start of spring. As the organizations team was settling in, I learned that the work place is a moldable, changing atmosphere and that I would have to learn adabtability to keep with work flow going. It was important to be reliable, while being compassionate and understanding within the team. I learned to take initiative and plan accordingly for mistakes and improvements. Eventually, I kept a professional open-mind which led me to a successful outcome.

As I approach the end of the semester, I will take with me the following: “Experience” is the instructor that cannot give you a powerpoint to study with the expectations of just knowing. It is the instructor that guides you as you go along the way. Overall, I appreciate the opportunity to work and learn simultaneously, in order to grow through the successes and mistakes. I believe this experience has laid out the tools and guidelines I must take with me to use in future endevours within the professional world.

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For this project, I worked on a graphic design for a specific fundraiser the organization is sharing to the community. I made a creative post for all of our social media platforms to share the Sarika Fundraiser.

This is a fundraiser that is raising funds to help provide essentials for disadvantaged girls in poverty. This is a project to help empower and uplift these girls by providing financial support to their lives and the communities around them. Many girls across the globe are being denied the right to an education, as well as lack resources for their livelihood. Together, the organization plans to team up from India, Bangladesh, Africa, Colombia and Pakistan to work towards the cause. All proceeds go to the girls school supplies, uniforms, and tuition. Overall, we aim to encourage girls to attend school and pursue their dream paths.

As I designed this post for the media, I aimed to keep consistency to the organizations creatives thus far, as well as illustrate the cause we are sharing to the community. The design kept a simple style, while being bright colored to depict optimism and positivity. Included are elements of illustration, such as a silhouette of a young girl, and school supplies scattered around. I finished it off with some typography to include a positive message to the community. This post aired on all social media platforms for the organization.

I am in communication with the team and have been asked to organize content ideas onto an Agenda for the month of March. This consists of the calendar for March, where I plan and organize a minimum of 3 content pieces per week to be shared on all platforms for the organization; Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn. At first, I was not sure what the task entailed, however, I asked questions and got some feedback to situate myself to start.

A realization that I had during this process, was that although I am great with taking directions and completing, I believe initiative is also a well sought out quality from employers. I do believe putting yourself out there to research what one is asking of you, giving a sample, and improving is part of the process of interning and perhaps part of working as a designer overall. When I asked questions, and I still wasn’t sure after receiving answers and some help, I figured I would give it a shot anyway and go from there. I think that initiative is what differentiates one designer from another who just follows as told. I will update on how this first task goes and the feedback I receive from my performance on the next discussion or on my OpenLab blog. Ex:

 

After my phone call interview with the chairman, they walked me through the onboarding process of creating a work email with the organization. From there, I downloaded and joined Microsoft Teams to send over a cover letter, resume, student agreement contract and a headshot photo. Once I sent the 4 documents, I was added into the Communications and Marketing Departments chat on Microsoft Teams. Now connected to the department, I await for the next steps!

This is my first experience finding and applying for a design internship. I reached out to the Chairman for a potential internship opportunity with the organization. It is located here in NY, however the internship I am applying to will be remote via communication platforms. The chairman is the founder of the non-profit organization which began in 2008. The founder strives to improve economic and civic life for all within the community. With the help of donations and partnering with major companies such as CHASE and NYFD, this organization is able to provide many services to the people. The chairman engages with our youth within the community by visiting high schools and sharing his journey creating Unity for Equality.

After looking into what the organization stands for, I had a chance to speak over the phone shortly after I reached out via email. Together, we discussed their beginning stages of putting together the organization and the values behind it overall. They shared with me the goals they have and their education prior to beginning this journey.

Overall, they are determined to make better change for the community, one step at a time. From there, we began the onboarding process. I am currently waiting for the final steps to get into contact with the Communications and Marketing Department. I look forward to joining the team!