By Milly Gamlen

This week, we all started work, and I began my internship at PenPlusBytes. It is a non-profit that promotes “good governance in Africa.” They do this through projects focused on media literacy and visibility. The company is composed of a small group of focused professionals all working towards one set of shared goals. While it was not the work I envisioned for myself when I joined the program, I am starting to see the path I want to take within the company. 

My first week began slowly. My direct boss was on a work trip for the first week, which I didn’t know until I got there. I got the feeling my arrival was somewhat of a surprise. I had two small projects, one of which involved mostly AI-generated content, and I began losing hope. After my first two days, I felt like I had done nothing while I was watching my friends within the cohort be published in local newspapers. As proud of them as I was, a small part of me couldn’t help but feel that I was being left behind and that I wouldn’t be doing anything I was proud of. 

I no longer feel that way. 

After sharing my concerns with Leslie, she encouraged me to reach out to my boss and ask for more challenging work, which I did. After that, things began to fall into place. I spent two days editing video for a podcast episode, which was incredibly challenging and really tested my skills as a video journalist. On the final day of my first week, I ended up requesting to work from home as I wasn’t feeling well. I only had a couple of hours of work to do, so it worked out. I also spent time reviewing a fundraising and marketing strategy I’ll be helping with in the coming weeks.

I’m planning to spend the rest of my Friday and maybe some of the weekend preparing to meet my boss on Monday. I want to bring her some ideas for how to boost engagement and share more of the work being done behind the scenes. 

I will also be spending my weekend hanging out with my friends, trying to figure out how to use public transportation, and visiting some markets to maintain the work-life balance that everyone outside of America seems so much better at.

While my first week did not start the way I envisioned, I’m strangely happy about that because it challenged me in a new way. I’m excited to see what the next four weeks hold and to see what work I can do to help!