Today I officially started my fellowship with Plywood People as a part of Georgia Tech’s Institute for
Leadership and Social Impact. I met the whole Plywood team as well as two other interns I would be spending my time with this summer. Tuere, the Director of Operations, worked with me to figure out my schedule for the summer and what I would most like to work on and learn while there. I’ve already been given a small assignment where I come up with ideas for social media posts using old Plywood content to prepare for the upcoming Plywood Presents event in August. I’m excited for my future working here. This place seems perfect for developing skills in my major path of Literature, Media, and Communications.
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Going into my third week I have already done so much and learned a lot about Plywood People, their values, and my own value to a team. I have started to work closely with Kayla, the Executive Assistant, to aid her in the many projects she takes on. I have helped curate content for our socials, research event venues, and even begun creating a copywriting style guide for Plywood as a whole. Kayla has really given me a lot of confidence in my contributions, and today, even allowed me to shadow her as we toured a venue for Plywood Presents.
One thing that stands out to me about Plywood People is the culture that they create in their workplace.
There is so much care and celebration of each other and their achievements. We have weekly Monday
meetings where we first talk about what we did during our weekend and then nominate people to commend them for their hard work the following week. It creates a space where real progress can take place and shows to me that their mission and values as a non-profit are also reflected in how they function internally. Working on this copywriting guide will take me a while, but it has really challenged me and forced me to develop useful skills for my future.
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One of my projects involves combing through old videos of past Plywood Presents, which is the yearly event where change-makers and speakers come together to share ideas and motivate each other. It has been really fun to hear the stories and advice from the many people who are affiliated with them. I get to select my favorite segments/clips and customize an Instagram reel/ TikTok to showcase past speakers. This was actually a little challenging because I don’t have a lot of experience with social media and marketing so it put me out of my comfort zone.
Meanwhile, I am still making a little bit of progress daily on the copywriting style guide. Kayla has sent me resources and examples to learn from which have been a big help.
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I have been gathering quotes to use in posts for Plywood People social media, specifically to promote the themes of the upcoming Plywood Presents: Here to There. Unfortunately, the founder Jeff made the executive decision to postpone the event because ticket sales were not meeting expectations. He talked in length about the kinds of decisions that leaders have to make that involve balancing finances, health, and purpose. It was a really difficult choice, but it was nice to be able to experience his process as a leader of a non-profit.
For my quotes I just decided to tailor them for general purposes so that with the postponing we could still have some content to release. McClaine, the community manager, thought this was a great idea and asked me to create some graphics to go along with them so we could post them as soon as possible.
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Plywood is starting a brand new project! We are creating a community platform using Mighty Networks. I
have been assigned to work with Emily, the Program and Partnership Manager, to help upload content,
structure the site, and troubleshoot. So far I have uploaded and formatted a number of their courses and
designed thumbnails to go along with them. Emily and I have been talking through a lot of ideas and trying to make Jeff’s ideas possible. I am starting this project near the end of my time here, but I hope to get as much done before my break.
Speaking of my break… I was actually offered to continue my internship into December, so I will continue
to work on this project and see it to its end. I was really shocked to get this offer, but I am so excited to be able to continue my work with Plywood and continue learning from them. It has been such a rewarding experience and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have gotten this fellowship. I truly feel like Plywood People is such a unique organization and I would not have such an enriching experience anywhere else.