Meet Savannah. After growing up in Houston, graduating high school at 16, getting a degree in Psychology at 20, and getting married at 22, Savannah decided there was only more thing she needed to make her young and already-impressive life complete: an internship with Invisible Children. If you walk through the doors of our San Diego office, Savannah is the first face you’ll see. As a part of the Business Operations team that makes sure our office is functioning (and caffeinated), we thought it would be great to sit down with her and learn more about her role.
What made you want to intern at Invisible Children?
Since graduating college, it was hard to find a job that I felt I was actually passionate about. In college, I worked for a mission’s department, and I really wanted to do meaningful, world-changing work like that again. When a friend of mine told me about Invisible Children’s internships, I thought it would be so awesome to be a part of something like this and surrounded by people with like-minded passions.
In one sentence, why do you love working at Invisible Children?
Because I love that we’re like a family here.
What does a typical day as an Office Management intern look like?
I come in, I make four pots of coffee for the whole office, and then I run through phone calls, deliver the mail throughout the office, respond to emails and phone calls that come in, and I get to help tackle various projects in the afternoon. For example, right now I’m updating a contact database, but before the Roadies left, I was working to help them launch. My job is to take care of anything and everything around the office to make sure everything runs smoothly.
What sets your internship apart from others and what impact are you able to make?
I really like my internship because I get to interact daily with the entire staff and everyone that comes to visit the office. It’s a really awesome networking opportunity. I think the biggest impact I make is through the emails and calls I recieve. We get tons of emails, and I love being able to respond to them because I can be the face of Invisible Children to them. It was a little intimidating at first having that much responsibility, but it’s been great to build relationships and interact with people both inside and outside of the office walls.
You don’t live in the intern house because you’re off living the newlywed life. How do you think this has affected your internship experience?
It hasn’t been difficult at all, actually. Especially because we all attended the Fourth Estate Summit, I’ve really bonded and grown close to the rest of our fall intern class. I’ve felt very connected. It hasn’t been hard at all to feel like I belong.
What’s your favorite part about living in San Diego?
The beaches! Seriously, I go to the beach all the time. Also, all the hiking and outdoor activities that San Diego offers are perfect.
What’s been your favorite moment so far?
I really loved our trainings in the beginning of the internship. I didn’t expect to be so thoroughly trained on programs that were outside my department. My internship doesn’t work with international programs or advocacy, but it was amazing to learn about those aspects of Invisible Children. My favorite part was definitely learning about all of our international programs, and interacting with the Ugandan Roadies who could attest that those programs were actually working in their own personal experience.
What advice would you give a future intern?
If you haven’t applied yet, you definitely should! Before coming here, I wasn’t the most intense supporter and I hadn’t followed Invisible Children very closely, so I felt a little insecure about not knowing every little detail about the LRA conflict. A friend of mine told me to apply and here I am! I just think it’s important to remember that it’s okay not to know everything because you can definitely make an impact here. The community is so welcoming and inviting, and it will become very clear that you are here for a reason.
Just for fun, I’m going to give you a word, and you’re going to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind.
Coffee: Disgusting.
Office culture: Chill.
Staff meetings: Awesome.
Internship: Fun. Amazing. Friends. Family. Cute. Cuddly.
(Whoa. You associate all that with “internship”?!)
KONY 2012: Insane.
Savannah and her supervisor, Kristina.
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