I didn’t know what to expect when I started this program. I haven’t had many internships, so I was very nervous about how the week would go. I know that I have the skills to do the work that I did this week, but I didn’t feel confident in my abilities because of my lack of professional experience and portfolio content to show.
The clear communication of tasks and what our final product(s) should look like helped put me at ease. On top of that, it was very nice to have the help from our mentors and the rest of the NextGen staff, and to hear a lot of the tips and tricks they use in their own work. One of the biggest issues I have is trying to narrow down my story, and I often run into the problem of trying to include too much. A tip that I received from my mentor (Mariana) early in the week after my interview was to pick three to five things that stood out to me, and keep note of them. This was reiterated a couple more times as I developed my story, and she made the point of mentioning that it can be useful to have those interview highlights to develop my story around.
If my week participating in the NPR Next Generation Radio program has taught me anything about myself, it’s that I need to cut myself some slack. This experience reminded me that I’m not on my own in the work that I’m doing. If there’s a story that only I’m working on, I will still have a team that I can reach out to for help.