Meet our ray of Memphis sunshine– Austin Cash. The combination of his ‘Walk the Line’ last name, his jet black motorcycle and his unstoppable Mario Kart skills add exponentially to our office’s cool factor.
Austin is an Operations + Logistics intern this spring. He spends his time ensuring that supporters receive their merchandise in a timely manner, as well as tending to our large herd of vans, and helping the rest of the warehouse team maintain an efficient and fun operation. This job is certainly no small task. I sat down with him to ask him about his time with Invisible Children.
hi austin! what does a normal day look like for you?
In the morning, I look through all of the orders we got over the weekend or overnight. I ship those out first thing. Then, I usually spend time looking through and responding to any customer service emails. The rest of my day is typically filled by working on other projects. So that could be anything from selling items from past events to going to the lot where our fleet of vans are stored and maintaining those.
what sets your internship apart from other internships at invisible children?
Well, for starters I work in our warehouse. I also get to interact with supporters in a different way than most. I get to give them the awesome merchandise that they purchased. And my internship tends to be way more hands on than other interns in the office.
what made you decide to be an operations intern at Invisible Children?
It looked like an awesome opportunity. I wanted to get the chance to work with quality people on an issue that mattered. And, I didn’t know a lot about Invisible Children before the internship, so I really didn’t know what to expect. But I really like what I’m doing and who I’m working with.
Whats your favorite thing about your job?
I like that I get to be more hands on. It’s definitely not a typical 9-5 desk job. And I like that I get to see my physical impact on the organization through sending and moving things.
what kind of skills have you gained from working in this position?
I haven’t been in a position where I’ve gotten to be as hands on about the learning the operations of an organization. I’ve learned more about what it means to work in the non-profit sector. I’ve learned more about how to distribute merchandise. And all the different things that go along with maintaining over 30 vans.
What has been the best thing about living in community?
The people. Seriously! The community makes this experience in a lot of ways. I like the number of interns there are, I like my roommate, I like getting to work and live with everyone. Just getting to be able to do things after work and on the weekends with everyone.
whats the best thing about san diego?
Everything. Beach, hiking, nightlife. Everything you would want to do outdoors is within an hour away. Its motorcycle weather all year round, so I love that.
ok, we’re going to do some word association.
Oh gosh.
Think people should hear about this?