Trying New Things to Gain Clarity
I’m Cherokee Suber and I’m a senior getting my degree in advertising with a focus in account management. During this final semester, I’ve been toiling through my days at Affordable Housing Centers of Pennsylvania (on Broad Street) with their development team trying to gain experience for my future career.
Who is AHCOPA?
Affordable Housing Centers of Pennsylvania, aptly called AHCOPA, is a nonprofit housing counseling agency based in Philadelphia and our mission is simply to increase and preserve homeownership opportunities for low to moderate income households and communities of color throughout all of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The agency provides tool for first homebuyers to succeed, encourage will creation and insurance, and everything in between.
My Time Here
This internship is the first internship I’ve ever attempted to complete and during my first few weeks at AHCOPA, I was tasked with learning the basics. Getting comfortable setting up appointments, keeping the calendar up to date and in check, email becoming my religion— the usual. My co-workers made me feel comfortable and let me ease into the workload but I started on my first major project after week two.
Most of my time has been spent on a silent auction at AHCOPA’s annual celebratory breakfast. The organization hosts this every year to publicly thank its donors and showcase the work that they’ve been able to accomplish due to the donors’ backing. My main focus has been acquiring items and experiences for this auction and helping with the promotional materials for the whole thing. Reaching out to high position holders and business owners has given me a glimpse into what my career may hold and has made me more comfortable with engaging with people in a front facing way. I’ve gained great appreciation for the advertising process, specifically the release schedule of promotions and picking which ones to release when. I’ve learned a lot, not only about my position, but also about the non-profit world.
Overall, my experience with AHCOPA has been invaluable. It’s given me a clearer vision of my potential career path while strengthening skills that’ll be useful no matter where my career takes me.
