SPARKVISION HAS OUR FIRST-EVER INTERN! And she’s been crushing it here since May.
Julia Brown reached out with the desire to soak up some on-the-job learning while she was home for the summer. We have an extra special relationship as I just so happened to babysit her…17 years ago. I haven’t known her as a young adult and it’s been rewarding to reconnect in this way.
Julia is pretty darn awesome and I think you’ll agree:
Tell me about yourself
I’m currently in a 5 year program that will get a masters in international finance and global economics. I want to use it as a background to help businesses and nonprofits. My dream job would be volunteering for a living and getting paid for it. I want to make people’s lives better. I’ve been really interested in mental health lately and would like to be able to work in that arena. I think people shy away from it and there needs to be more of a dialogue about it.
Why SparkVision?
I did a lot of leadership work in high school. I was lucky enough to be able to mentor teenagers. I want to learn how to be an effective leader. And I think I can do that here. I find your work very interesting and important. It’s very one track in college and I wanted to do something that had more meaning and substance.
What do you hope will be different for you after this internship?
To be able to look at a situation or environment and find ways to make that environment more enjoyable. I want to be able to connect myself to others and the work in a more meaningful way.
How to you think you’ll be able to do that?
By being exposed to lots of different environments where those opportunities are present. I imagine it’s a lot of silently observing and then evaluating to see how they do it first. Then work with you to figure out the opportunities and identify the barriers and then break those barriers down.
What was your first day like?
It was a big day! I went to the soft launch of SparkVision’s Life Lens. I stood in a room of people that had a lot more experience than me. Saying things I would never be able to have come out of my mouth. They pin-pointed obstacles to figure out what made it a meaningful and powerful event. I felt out of my league and was nervous to be around people at such a high level but it made me want to push myself to be at that level. And the meatballs were awesome!
In the two months that we have together what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges?
I see the biggest opportunity in meeting so many influential people in the Baltimore community and see who they are and what they’re doing.
I think the greatest challenge is truly understanding and delving deeper into what we’re doing. It’s a really big concept to wrap your head around. I want to help not just be a cheerleader!
Julia will be leading our millennial engagement blog and podcast series. We look forward to launching it together in the coming months!