Back in my senior year of high school, I was actually the president of the school's newly developed Korean culture club. It was a chance for me to grow and show the skills of a leader, and yet, when I look back, I realized a little too late of the opportunities I never bothered to pursue. I'm now in my last semester of university and currently the co-chief of staff at Jezuba. Rebecca Liao, CPA recently has given me the chance to take on a meaningful project, our GenZ Career Series. It's not my first time organizing a large event like this, but previously, my shy personality pushed away the courage for me to share with my network, show my advocacy, and actually make a difference. I don't want to look back on my experience at Jezuba the same way that I did with the Korean club. Rebecca understood that I am an upcoming graduate struggling with my next steps and presented this opportunity in hopes that I'll be able to guide myself by providing help to others in a similar situation. Rather than taking this opportunity for granted, I'll like to challenge myself to be the person I've always wanted to be and to strive for more. I wish that everyone will learn to let your ambition drive you out of your comfort zone and to push for the change that you want to see in yourself. Never be afraid to try something new and learn to love the process. Lauren Young Co-chief of staff Picture taken after completing the Mission Peak hike
As we navigate the world during this global pandemic, we should make sure that all of us, and particularly our younger generations, continue to pursue educational and vocational opportunities while we are required to remain physically apart from each other. That is why Jezuba has collaborated with professionals, hiring managers, and recruiters to bring a webinar series on how to navigate the job market to members of Gen Z. These professionals, who include representatives from WePay, Ellie Mae, Robert Half, and Power Integrations, will present on the various processes and challenges that surround the job market today. This webinar series is divided into three separate events. The first one will take place on November 24th, 2020 at 8PM EST, and will focus on issues surrounding the contemporary job market, which has been heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. Attendees will learn how the pandemic has impacted the market specifically for Gen Z, and they will also learn how to prepare for opportunities within the job market during the current conditions. The second event will occur on January 13th, 2021 at 8 PM EST, and it will be more of an interactive session, with audience to presenter engagement. Participants will be able to ask a select group of professional recruiters questions and get feedback on what skills and experience is necessary to be competitive in the job market. This is the perfect session to attend for anyone who has questions about their resumes, cover letters, or general work qualifications. And finally, our third session will take place on January 26th, 2021 at 8 PM EST. Leaders, hiring managers and career coaches will present information to attendees on what traits they truly value in job applicants. This last session will help participants to understand what characteristics they need to develop or improve on to best serve employers’ needs in the job market.
When Covid-19 forced all of us into isolation and threw us online, I began panicking as my summer plans disappeared. Fortunately, Jezuba’s internship program with Wellesley allowed me to put my summer sitting at home to good use. My role at Jezuba was the Artist and Makers Program Manager, a position that put me in charge of publicizing our artists and reaching out to new artists who may be interested in partnering with us. I knew very little about artist outreach and I had no idea how much time I would spend working out the logistics of onboarding new artists. Over the course of my internship, I gained valuable experience solving real world problems and I was able to connect with inspiring women across the globe—women who create businesses that are not only profitable, but also beneficial to others. Whether it’s donating their time, money, or talent, these artists have dedicated themselves to helping those in need.
Working at Jezuba has helped me see how I could use social entrepreneurship to benefit underserved and disadvantaged communities. It has also given me an introduction to the world of nonprofit work, in which I hope to stay involved. Coming into this internship, I didn’t expect to learn such a wide variety of skills that are necessary for the day-to-day running of a nonprofit. Among other things, I learned how to edit a contract, how to create a cost-benefit analysis for various shipping plans, how to draft emails to potential clients, how to communicate online and across time zones, how to plan and set up meetings, and how to write blog posts about the artists we partner with. None of these tasks were listed in my job description, but they were all necessary aspects of my work. My most difficult job was reaching out to new artists. Given the economic shutdown, we wanted to provide artists with another platform to sell their work free of charge. I decided early on that I wanted to reach out specifically to black and brown artists who are disproportionately harmed by the pandemic and the economic crisis. However, I drastically underestimated the number of people I needed to contact in order to get responses. I began by contacting seven artists, then eight more artists, then seven more artists and four organizations, until I finally got two responses. By the end of my internship, I only brought one company—Rach∞Becca—fully on board with Jezuba. As disappointing as that was, I realized that I had still managed to create a system that Jezuba can use to contact artists in the future, got Rach∞Becca their own webpage and put their products on our webstore, wrote blog posts for Paper Sweetly and Rach∞Becca, and worked with them to make videos for Jezuba’s global giving campaign. My internship has been challenging, but rewarding, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Sam Wolstenholme-Britt Artists & Makers Program Manager |
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