So folks have been asking me what am I doing now that I am home from my world travels. Well I came back to Sanford, NC to start my summer internship.
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| This is for Kelley, This is our favorite restaurant in Sanford |
This job is not your typical summer internship.
So a major part of my grad program is the summer internship. I spent all Fall semester trying to figure out what type of internship I wanted, I even applied for some, but I just was not super excited about doing an internship. Over Christmas I thought about why I didn't want to do an internship, and I realized I didn't want to have "more work experience" I had that, I wanted to have a really meaningful experience this summer. So I thought about that some more.
By the end of January I had determined what I wanted to do this summer was to try to start my own business, I have always thought it would be a fun thing to do, but am a bit too risk adverse to really take the plunge. But the summer between my two years at grad school seemed like the perfect time to try. I mean if it failed I had the safety net of another year at grad school to regroup and figure things out.
So in February I flew home and pitched the idea to my parents. Would they let me hang out at their house over the summer, while I tried to start a business. They agreed, and I jokingly told everyone my internship was Development Director for the Barrow Foundation.
So in June I started my "internship" (The last two weeks of May were filled with family events, before we all scattered again.)
So what is my business? I am trying to start a social venture that will help minorities in China have an opportunity to get equal access to employment.
What is a social venture? It is basically a for profit business whose mission is to solve a social problem.
Here is a video that explains the concept:
I have loved learning about social entrepreneurship while in school this past year. It really feels like a good fit for me.
This summer has been a learning experience so far. I am teaching myself the ins and outs of Chinese law, and learning about shipping, and factory relations. I don't know if I have made amazing progress this past month, but it has been an interesting experience. I have learned other things this summer, that I will blog about later. But so far my summer job is going well.
