My WiST Fellowship Experience
This summer I had my first internship experience through the amazing Women in Sports Tech Fellowship that I was honored to have received. Earlier this summer, I wrote a little blog post that you can read giving all the details about how I got the fellowship and what the job I did entailed because today I am going to talk about something a little different. Today, I want to share my thoughts on the entire experience, including what I have learnt ever since I first wrote the update.
As I mentioned in the last blog post, WiST exposed me to the Sports-Tech industry and this is something that I had never had the privilege of being exposed to. I got the chance to meet very influential people thanks to WiST and the company I was interning for (KPERFORM™) and was able to learn a lot from them and have conversations I would not otherwise have had if not for this fellowship. Being in this brand new “world” also opened my mind up to more ideas on how I could contribute to the industry. I honestly have gained so much knowledge on how it works and what skills I need to develop in order to be successful in it.
I also learnt so much, not only about the field of work I was involved in but a lot about myself too. I got to do a lot of self-reflection at the end of this experience and I learned that I had developed some very valuable skills. For example, I learnt how to network a lot better and through this also grow my confidence because we all know CONNECTIONS ARE VITAL. This however, was not easy at all because it involved going to lots of events and having to put myself out there, talk to very powerful people and try to convince them to work with the company (KPERFORM™). This was absolutely TERRIFYING and I am not afraid to admit that the first couple of times I failed dismally! However, it was necessary to go through all of that in order to grow and become good at it.
Since I came in as a Junior Executive, I also learnt the very HARD way, how much work went into that position. I had initially thought it was going to just be like a lot of other internships where I would listen to instructions and execute but that was far from it! I actually had to make decisions and come up with ideas myself! It was very difficult and uncomfortable but like I mentioned in the previous write-up, getting out of you comfort zone is important so I had to go through it. I cannot say I have become great at it just yet, but now I do know that it is something that I have to work at and I believe that I will eventually excel at.
Alright, so I could go on and on but you might be reading this and wondering if the WiST Fellowship could be something you would like. If you are, or even if were not, I am going to VERY STRONGLY suggest that you go for it! I think what these wonderful women have started is very beautiful and powerful. It is a opportunity you will 100% be glad you had because not only do they give you the chance to intern at a place you might not have afforded to, they are also very helpful and are powerful people to have in your corner supporting you. So, if you have even a tiny bit of curiosity, DO IT! I did and I would do it a hundred times over!
You can find out more here: http://womeninsportstech.org/