I started my internship at StarterStudio on Monday, May 22nd. I woke up early that morning and aimed to get there about 30 minutes early just in case I got lost. I also gave myself this time because I knew it was in downtown Orlando and I would have to calculate parking and time to walk to the office itself. I ended up late anyways because of traffic on the highway and got lost walking around the city so I ended up taking the scenic route. I called Bob Reed, Program Director of StarterStudio, and he was very understanding and helped me find where I was going walking around Downtown Orlando in heels in my corporate girly outfit ready for my first day.
I had also just made a big girl purchase the day before and finally bought myself a laptop, which I have needed for my entire college career. The internship forced me to take things into my own hands and pushed me forward into the adult world, instead of waiting for people to get things for us. Of course, I packed my laptop charger and everything but ended up forgetting the laptop itself at home. Leave it up to me to be so excited and always forget something important.
Bob and Dawn were very understanding again and worked around me not having my laptop. They gave me a rundown of the history of StarterStudio and what my project for the summer was going to be. StarterStudio provides startup tech companies with the materials and support needed to beat the statistics that 63% of them fail within the first 5 years of launching. They have three programs called Idea, Build, and Pre-Seed that bring business owners through all the steps they need to be successful. My project for the summer is to reach out to all the alumni of their programs and put together a portfolio of where they are now and what their impacts have been on the community.
My first week was a success, I met the other interns and we went to a networking event. I always thought I was good at talking to strangers but it was definitely a little hard for me to get into the swing of things in that kind of environment. I am grateful for the experience to practice skills that I will be able to use in the business world to go on to accomplish my own goals. They also support me learning as much as possible for my personal business goals so I am excited to see how things progress this summer.
HSF House Blogs 