The Eye of the Storm: Interning at We “R” Listening

For my internship this semester, I have been working as a social media intern at We “R” Listening. We “R” Listening is a small but mighty non-profit organization based in New York that is dedicated to e-mentoring young girls. In addition to giving girls one-on-one time and attention, We “R” Listening also hosts virtual workshops as well as community events (prior to Covid-19). Because We “R” Listening’s presence is mostly virtual by design, they were ahead of the curve when Covid-19 happened. Starting this internship last summer was an excellent decision, as We “R” Listening proved to be the eye of the storm that was 2020. While the world was rapidly changing and becoming scarier, We “R” Listening was a lovely source of consistency.

I chose to apply to this internship for a couple reasons. The first was that since my concentration within advertising is copywriting, I wanted an internship that would allow me to have creative freedom and We “R” Listening has done just that. On a more personal note, I wanted to apply for this internship because I’ve spent many years as a camp counselor and one of my favorite parts of that was influencing the next generation, which, interning at We “R” Listening has allowed me to do.

Working for this organization for nearly 10 months has taught me a number of things but here are some of the most notable lessons. The first: treat people as people first, employees second. The CEO of We “R” Listening was my supervisor and she always did an excellent job at modeling this. When she would contact me, her messages would always start by asking me how I am doing, followed by wishing me a good day, a fun weekend or other phrases of that nature. Although this is a simple lesson, it is an important one, as well as one that stood out to me because previous employers had not contacted me in that way. It’s a significant lesson because when the people working under you feel like you care about them, they feel more inclined to do high quality work.

Another lesson I learned at this internship was the importance of seeking out work that best suits your strengths and interests. For the first half of my internship, the majority of the content I was generating were social media posts. However, for this semester, I was granted permission to create a blog for We “R” Listening because as a copywriter, naturally my strengths and interests lean more towards writing, rather than designing posts.  Advocating for myself and selling my skills were the reasons I was granted such an exciting opportunity.

During my time at We “R” Listening, I most certainly did meet people who inspire me. All of the women that are affiliated with this organization are passionate, hardworking and kind people who are dedicated to contributing good to their communities. In a major where we so often focus on the consumer and how to convince people to buy things, it was refreshing and eye opening to work with a non-profit.