Life Outside the Comfort Zone

I found out about Creative Reaction Lab through a group email a professor at our school sent. Summer was quickly approaching and I had several rejected applications under my belt, so I was stressing about the possibility of a wasted summer and open to more options. The email went as follows:

“Skilled in graphic design and want to create social justice toolkits, guidebooks, website graphics? Join us.

Interested in digital marketing and content creation including blogging, social media management, promotional material creation, etc.? Join us.

Aspiring to be a program director at a social justice nonprofit, but need to cultivate your skills in curriculum development, project management, fundraising, etc.? Join us! We want you.”

I realized while I was interested in all of those things, I felt qualified for none; but I had just read a Huff post article earlier in the week saying that men will apply for jobs when they feel 60% qualified, but women only apply if they feel 100% qualified. As a feminist, I figured I should take action by working against that statistic.

So I applied.

Against most odds, I was hired.

Now, with summer ending, my experience at Creative Reaction Lab has been one of the top three most transformative experiences of my life (picture Mia Thermopolis becoming Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi in the Princess Diaries transformative).

I learned how to successfully promote a company using a very small budget. I became an expert in social media. From making events on Facebook, to using software to advertise our programs, to designing imagery and taglines that demanded the viewers attention, I have become more adept at publicizing the incredible work and mission of this company. I redesigned the monthly email campaigns to be as vibrant and impactful as the staff at Creative Reaction Lab. I learned how to research thoroughly, and then do it all again even more thoroughly. Despite how daunting of a task interacting with strangers was to me, I still planned tabling events- allowing us to interact with the community to a greater extent and learn more of their needs. I helped update the website in order to educate the public as well as better serve our client base. While these are all hard-earned and visible accomplishments, they still don’t even scratch the surface of what I learned emotionally.

• I learned that it is more difficult to get people to care across a computer screen than in person.
• An office shouldn’t be dull and work shouldn’t be lonely because excellent work sprouts from a vibrant community that fosters collaboration, education, trust, and humor.
• Being passionate isn’t enough, you need to be educated, focused, and work tirelessly in order to break down barriers.
• Fake it till you make it, but oftentimes you will feel like a fake even once you make it, so don’t expect a reprieve from the imposter syndrome and keep moving towards your goals.
• You can never prepare enough and things still won’t go according to plan, so don’t overthink it and sometimes plan to go with the flow.

But above all I learned the importance of Antoinette’s work. She created an easy to understand pathway that not only helps navigate the racism of the world we live in, but dismantles it along the way. She helped mold my future goals in architecture to emphasize the need for equity conscious, community-centered design that gives more than it takes from our Black and Latinx communities. The time she spent educating me on how to become a better ally to the African American and Latinx community was unparalleled and inspiring. She taught me how to listen when others need the space to be heard. She taught me how to be brave in all of my actions, especially in the face of marginalization, and she taught me how to respond with clear intent, accounting for the context of a situation. She lead by example — holding herself to the same standard that she held her associates to, while never taking herself too seriously. Her energy and fervor, that at first felt daunting, became empowering and inspirational. Being a part of such a luminous group of individuals provided me with a light that I will carry with me through all my future endeavors and interactions with the world the people in it.