Meet Nathan. When he’s not playing in his hardcore band, spending months traveling through Mexico, or telling stories that make everyone in the office laugh so hard they cry, he’s interning with us.
Nathan is a video editing intern and a member of our art + film department at Invisible Children. His days are spent collaborating with our editors, assisting with video productions, and creating media which is viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. Sounds cool, right? It’s because it is.
hi nathan! walk me through an average day in the office as a video intern.
I like to start off my day by sending an email to my other team members Kara and Alex. I touch on any questions I may have for the day or anything I am excited about. Then, I dive right into my projects. I’m very deadline orientated so I make a few lists of what I’ll be doing for the day or week. Most days I have a lot to work with. Then I get to it– ‘it’ being editing videos.
what kind of content do you typically work with every day?
We use a lot! We get the chance to work with a ton of cool artists and celebrities. So my projects could be anything from editing a takeaway video that an artist did with us to working on other campaigns or even working on office culture videos. Recently, I’ve gotten to work with a lot of footage we’ve shot with Kristen Bell to make an Instagram video. I also get to pull clips and help with other upcoming projects– anything from future campaigns, advocacy, or the video we are making for when Kony is caught.
whats your favorite thing about your position?
Music and film are such incredible platforms to talk about human rights and social justice. So, the opportunity to use that platform and to reach out and get people excited is amazing. I love that. Invisible Children tells stories through film. My favorite part is getting a hand in helping tell a story that’s bigger than my story.
what makes your internship different than other internships?
When I think about other internships and the reason other people do them, it’s exclusively for professional experience. I get that at Invisible Children but it’s more of a holistic ‘life building experience’. I am getting professional experience but I am also making some of the best memories of my entire life. It’s easy to differentiate my experience here from any other internship I’d take.
you’ve been at invisible children for a while now– what made you want to come back?
what’s been your favorite moment?
I really liked when we found out about the Zemio 19. We all packed into the staff room because it wasn’t public yet. It was huge. It was the largest defection since 2008. 19 people! Can you imagine? That’s the war ending for our entire intern class. Yeah, it was just like this really cool moment between us all.
whats it like living and working in community?
Honestly, I’ve loved it. I really have. It’s definitely different because at most jobs you get to know everyone only on a professional level. There is something really great about getting to know people as professionals and as people. It’s really cool living with people so dedicated to the same cause that they would move across the United States. It makes it really easy to get along with people. We all have different stories but such a common thread.
what would you have told yourself before you started this internship?
A lot of things. Focus on the community as much as the professional development. Invest in others– deeper than a surface level. Jump first fear later. And just go for it.
ok nathan. to finish this off lets play word association.
Oh shoot, okay.
Think people should hear about this?