By Sam Odreman
I came to the United States from my home country, Venezuela, because I wanted to have access to the best education I could get in order to best prepare myself to face the challenges our world encounters today. I am part of that generation that still believes, despite all the “horrible-ness” of today’s world, that we can change for the better. Like many others out there, I believe that people are innately good and that we all share the same ‘humanity’ gene… we have just gotten a little lost. I still dare to dream big and I am hopeful that after my career at Northeastern ends (this very year) I will move on to do something that serves the greater good and has a real, meaningful purpose. When I came to Boston and NEU I was full of these ideas and passions, but I had no clue as to how or where to start.
For my first co-op, I had chosen a legal organization because at the time I was figuring out whether Law School could be my next step after college. For six months, I worked as a Lawyer Referral Service Intern taking calls from the public and helping people get the legal assistance they needed. Even though my work had purpose, I realized that the impact I could have there was minimal. After figuring that law and policy would not be the best path for me to contribute and create long, lasting change, I turned to the amazing field of Social Enterprise. Here, I found refuge and saw the perfect way to give all my passions and ideas life. Coming in to Professor Shaughnessy’s class – almost 4 years ago – was truly life changing; it defined who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my career. So this time for my second Co-op, I wanted to be able to explore this fascinating area to not only learn, but also be in it.
I have to admit that before this co-op, I knew NOTHING about Marketing or Social Media. It was not an area I had dealt with in the past or had practiced, so when on my first day my supervisor asked me “What do you know about Marketing and Communications?” I panicked a little bit knowing that my answer would not be the best. However, I had taken up the challenge months ago of doing whatever it took – of learning fast and quickly getting myself up to speed – when I decided Interise was definitely the place I wanted to work for.
Interise is a non-profit that runs like a real business, and as we know from Professor Shaughnessy’s 2206 class, those are the best kind. Interise stimulates economic growth in lower income communities by helping established small business owners grow and expand their businesses. They have a unique, proven business model that “provides small business owners with a hands-on small business executive education curriculum, a professional support network of small business owner peers and mentors, and a community of peers who learn together, inspire one another, and hold each other accountable”. They saw a gap in the resources available to small businesses and have worked since 2004 towards bringing it. As a Marketing and Communications Co-op, I get to do a lot of little projects. My responsibilities vary from Social Media content creation, to tracking and analyzing data to measure content performance and see where there is room for improvement. Because the work environment is very open ad transparent, I also get interact with and assist other departments in whatever projects they are working on. More than challenging, it has also been SO rewarding, because I’ve realized my work has a direct influence on other people and can make a difference for someone other than myself.
Only a few weeks into my co-op, and I know I could not have chosen a better place. I have done so much and learned so much already, but the most amazing thing has been knowing that I work with people that are not willing to sacrifice their mission and their values for ANYTHING. I have witnessed first hand the struggles and the challenges, and I have also witnessed the way my co-workers react to them without losing perspective or moving away from the goal: to create positive, long-lasting impact in communities around the country.
Now, as I prepare to find a “real-life” job, I have the confidence that I won’t have to sacrifice all that I believe in and want to accomplish because there are organizations and companies that are still committed and want to work for a “common good mission” and offer a lot more than just a place to work and a salary.
