My first official day at Tampa Bay Wave was on Monday, May 22nd. I had moved into my new apartment a week prior, so I had time to get accustomed to the area. My apartment is around 20 minutes away from office, but traffic is so bad in Tampa so it’s always best to leave early. I had to be in the office by 11 so I woke up 2 hours in advance just to give myself some me to do my hair, eat breakfast, and find parking. When I arrived at the office, I was greeted by Mariah Ramos; she is going to be the main person I am working under. She gave me a tour of the office as well as some Tampa Bay Wave merch while we waited for Linda Olsen.
To welcome me into the office, Linda took us out for lunch where I met some of the staff. That same day, I also invited to take a tour of the Raymond James Stadium for an event that our team will be hosting. While on my first day I was able to come into the office around 11:00AM, I am expected to be in office before 9:30AM. Tampa Bay Wave also has an office in St. Petersburg so on Wednesdays, I usually work from that office. Regardless of which office I am working from, a regular day of my internship starts with a cup of coffee. Once I grab some coffee, I find a place to work at (usually by a window) and I start checking my emails and messages on Slack.
Slack is a platform similar to Microsoft teams, that allows TBW to stay connected to its staff as well as their partnering companies. Once that’s complete I either head to a team meeting or get started on one of my projects for the summer. One of the requirements for Tech Fellows is to conduct a research project of our choice. Mines focuses on the personality traits that are necessary for an entrepreneur. Outside of that, my other projects for Tampa Bay Wave include researching healthcare and Latin founded/lead tech startups that would be good for two new accelerator programs Tampa Bay Wave will soon launch. I also have to find a good image content management system that would make storing, uploading, and organizing events easier for the organization. Overall, I am really enjoying my time here at Tampa Bay Wave. I am surrounded by an ambitious team and being in this environment inspires me to work harder to achieve my goals.
Featured Photo by Kody Cheyne on Unsplash
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