Chapter 1: A New Beginning

The lengthy search for a summer internship as a college student is never an easy feat, especially on the tail end of a once-in-a-century pandemic. During March, April, and May, as college classes were coming to a close around the country, my LinkedIn feed was filled to the brim with job postings, “I’m working here!” posts, and lots of exciting announcements. I found myself wondering where I was going to find myself this summer. How was I going to find my place among the chaos?

Thankfully, Assedo Consulting was seeking a driven, determined, and creative Marketing and Communications intern. The ideal student would build upon previous years’ internships by developing and launching social media content, generating a variety of marketing materials for the firm, and more. This was exactly the type of experience that I was searching for!

To say I am glad I took this leap would be an understatement. I’m beginning to dive into a number of tasks as Assedo’s Marketing and Communications intern, and it’s only my first week as the newest member of the team. My name is Jaden Yanovitz, and I use she/her pronouns. I was born and raised here in Laurel, MD, and moved a bit farther north to Linthicum Heights, a suburb outside of Baltimore, just before entering high school. It was here that my interest in the Marketing field peaked – I started a Marketing internship with the central office of my school system during my senior year. My experience there introduced me to the value of collaborative teamwork, public outreach, and creativity in sending messages to different types of community members. Just a month after my internship ended and a few months before graduation, the unthinkable happened: a pandemic changed the course of our lives as we once knew them.

Despite the challenges that accompanied this colossal shift in every aspect of my life, I persevered through the end of virtual high school classes and soon began my freshman year of college at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This year, I declared my major in Marketing and my minor in Interactive Digital Media. Navigating between academic and social life on a city campus during my first year was easier said than done, especially because of the all-around career-forward culture at Drexel.

Throughout the year, I always tried my best to stay focused on all of the tasks at hand. Along my journey, I’ve gained numerous skills in a variety of situations – I am familiar and experienced with classroom, office, and fast-food restaurant environments. I utilized these skills to drive success as I navigated my freshman year of college. As you may be able to tell, I love to keep myself busy, organized, and motivated, and I am beyond excited to bring that energy with me wherever I find myself.

Flashing forward to this summer, I moved back home to Linthicum Heights from Philadelphia to begin my internship with Assedo Consulting. It has only been a mere number of days, and I truly cannot express my gratitude enough to every member of the Assedo team who has given me a warm welcome. On my first day, as team members were introducing themselves, they were all asked to provide one word that describes the working environment at Assedo. The responses intrigued me, to say the least: fun, fast-paced, dynamic, engaging, friendly, and much more. To some, these adjectives may serve as randomly placed words on a computer screen. To the Assedo team, these words mean infinitely more. As I begin to dive into my internship, I am elated to see what learning experiences I can gain from my time here, and most importantly, what I can bring to the table for every member of the Assedo team.