PAST INTERNS

31 DAYS WITH MOE

WRITTEN BY 2020 SUMMER INTERN SERENE MEREDITH

Getting a summer internship takes a lot of time, waiting, and preparing. To spend 1 month with a company, meeting your supervisor, and to work as an intern. When you're an intern, especially a new one, the main thing we don't think about is when starting an internship you go in not completely knowing who your boss is and what he/she/non-binary is about and not completely knowing what you're going to be doing in the internship. Yes, there are interviews so we do meet our possible boss, but after that, as an intern, you don't exactly know your boss. In other words, your boss is a stranger to you. That's who Moe was to me, I thought I knew what she was about and who she was, but at the same time, I thought I wasn't going to do well in this internship. The first week with Moe she was very cool and fun and I thought it was going to be an easy internship. We talked and got to know each other a little bit, then I got my first assignment and my first week of the internship began.

Once the second week came around and I started to get to know more of who Moe was. After a few mess-ups and talks that seemed like they were bad, they actually turned out to be some of the most teaching conversations I’ve heard from a boss. When she would give me constructive feedback, she would also explain why. She explained how she can be fun and cool, but she can also be a serious and passionate person about her work. Her business was her number one priority and she wanted me to understand that. At that moment I realized she had many other sides to her that I respected and understood. After meeting and doing work I finished my second week.

The third week was a lot different. I still wasn’t doing the best in my internship and had to talk with Moe, during the talk I was honest about my issue, and little did I know she also used to have the same problem. The problem being “not knowing how to ask questions or for help”. That was when I started to realize that Moe understood where I was coming from in my work problems and helped me so that I could be better. I realized that she was no longer a stranger but a person who wanted to see me be the best working professional that I can be. After that, I improved that week.

My fourth and fifth week went great, I improved a lot and started doing more projects with Moe and continued to get to know her. In fact, during the fourth week, I interviewed Moe from Instagram Live on the Denver Public Schools IG account and learned so much about her and her opinions. From asking her questions about how she got into her field of work and became a businesswoman. Into even deeper and a little more personal questions like how being a black woman made it hard to get into the artist industry and the challenges she had to face. Instead of the awkwardness that the interview could have been, it ended up going very smoothly and felt like a regular conversation. I know though that one of the reasons why it went so well was because I was comfortable and wasn't nervous.

Overall my 31 days working with Moe was amazing and I got to know who she was as a person. Moe is a black artist, child of a strong working single mother, someone who cares about their business, someone who cares about social justice and community issues, and someone who is an amazing teacher and boss. As an intern I grew so much because of her, my time management skills are better, I know how to clarify things, and my overall work ethic improved. Even though I got to spend little time with Moe, the 31 days I did spend with her, I learned a lot. She believed in me and taught me how to be great and gave me even more tips on how to be a good businesswoman. I now know that I can be a great working professional, and even though I struggled at first, Moe pushed me to be the best I can be. And that is something I will remember forever.

Instagram Interview LINK:https://www.instagram.com/p/CDRu0XPDGmN/

THIS WEB PAGE WAS CREATED BY SUMMER 2020 INTERN SERENE MEREDITH.