YALI Staff Reflection: Digital Communications and Marketing Associate

Originally published by the University of Virginia Career Center.

Angela Olive Lee is a fourth year American Studies major concentrating in Race and Ethnicity. Last summer, Olive interned at the Presidential Precinct with the Communications team. The Presidential Precinct is a non-profit that empowers international leaders, governments, private organizations, and NGOs with the tools to solve the challenges in their communities. For six weeks each summer, the Precinct hosts a Civic Leadership Institute for the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which is a flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative.

Can you describe the duties of the internship and some special project you worked on?

As part of the Presidential Precinct team, I supported 25 young African leaders here in the United States for the Mandela Washington Fellowship. Through this cultural exchange program, the Fellows participated in academic sessions, cultural and social activities, networking, and community service.

Together, we traveled around various places in Virginia (UVA, W&M, Monticello, Highland, Montpelier, Morven) and Washington D.C., and I worked to capture their collective and individual experiences through digital media.

As a Communications intern, I assisted with the execution of a social media strategy, posting to and monitoring conversations on various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. In addition, I supported the cultural exchange by documenting their experience through photographs and video blogs to capture the stories of the Mandela Washington Fellows.

The Fellows had academic sessions Monday-Friday and social activities, networking events, or community service on the weekends. I photographed the Fellows as they interacted with local community members, entrepreneurs, and creatives. I then quickly edited the photos and uploaded them to the Presidential Precinct Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr.

I also helped film and edit the Fellows’ video blogs, or Impact Stories. Each Fellow had a 2-3-minute Impact Story that highlighted each Fellows’ passions and showcased how they are promoting innovation and positive change in their communities.

Though I worked primarily in Communications, this internship offered so much more. As a team, we worked to make the Fellows’ time in Virginia as enriching and fun as we could, and managing a cohort of 25 Fellows was definitely a different experience every day.

Some days, I was the IT specialist, the tour guide, or even the arbitrator. With new surprises every day, I had to think quickly and be flexible. Each role came with its own sets of challenges, but it was also an opportunity for me to learn and grow as a worker, team member, and leader.

What did you learn?

Coming into the internship, I had some experience with photography, videography, and the Adobe Creative Suite, but I was able to enhance my skills throughout the six weeks. Specifically, with the help of the Communications and Marketing manager, Drew, I learned more advanced photography techniques, InDesign and Photoshop. I also learned how to target our social media posts to be more engaging to the average viewer.

I gained a great toolset of technical skills through this internship, but I became inspired by these Fellows and learned the value of cultural exchange.

Africa is not a monolith, nor is it a place of problems. However, the international media often perpetuates popular misconceptions about Africa as an unmodernized, poverty-ridden, third world country.

With a love for capturing stories through modern media, I was excited about this internship because I could support these Fellows changing the narrative. Their unique Impact Stories demonstrated an Africa that the media rarely shows you – an Africa of innovation and positive change.

From these Fellows, I learned about the problems facing their communities – from LGBT visibility and legal rights in Mauritius, to petty corruption in Côte d’Ivoire, and inaccessible education for Internally Displaced People in Northern Nigeria.

They also taught local communities in Charlottesville and Williamsburg the change they were making, bringing visibility to the different issues they cared about in their respective countries.

From their stories, I learned about persistence. I became inspired be an agent of change in my own community despite any challenges that may arise.

This internship also pushed me to think outside of the UVA bubble and understand what it meant to be a global citizen, playing an active role in cultural exchange and learning about the world around you.