What inspired you to work in the social sector? What about New Profit’s mission inspires you?

My commitment to social justice began at an early age. While shadowing my mother at her doctor’s office, I observed as she helped countless individuals heal with meticulous, ardent care. Over time, I realized that I wanted to achieve a similar resolution in my work: helping others. I began to seek experiences with this ultimate goal, particularly through outlets such as research, social entrepreneurship, and storytelling. 

As one of the leading philanthropic venture capital organizations, New Profit’s trailblazing and driven team inspires me. New Profit’s work, such as their inclusive impact and systems change initiatives, has revolutionized the philanthropic space. The New Profit team constantly asks, “how can we be more inclusive, equitable, and innovative in our society? How can we build a world where all individuals, despite their socioeconomic status and background, have access to a sound education and a basic standard of living? And, ultimately, how do we generate transformational change in culture, or change that reverses harmful ideology?”

I am humbled to play a role in an organization that is making such a significant impact on our world.

What are you most excited about during your summer at New Profit?

As the communications intern, I am able to work directly with a huge passion of mine: storytelling. I believe in the healing and transformative power of storytelling, as narratives shape how we view ourselves and the world around us. In order to shift policy towards a more equitable society, we need to first shift harmful ideology—and the stories we tell in the media and broad culture can either perpetuate inclusive and empathetic ideology, or drive divisiveness. We must think critically about the stories we tell and how they frame certain identities, in order to shift adverse stereotypical thought. To quote Steve Jobs, “the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.”

Through designing visual and written campaigns, I can incorporate my passion for writing, research, and media, and I can do so with an ultimate goal of social impact. I am thrilled to be able to uplift the voices behind New Profit’s portfolio investments, so that the public can understand the groundbreaking work being done by a myriad of social entrepreneurs in America.

We recently launched the #InclusiveImpact Campaign—a digital platform that builds off of New Profit’s recent Inclusive Impact Action Summit and functions as a digital learning-tool to teach the public about the concepts behind inclusive impact and systems change, as well as the ways in which we as a country can shift our mindsets towards equity and inclusion. This campaign is going to be revolutionary. I am ecstatic to play a role in it.  

New Profit’s communications team is very talented, so I look forward to continuing to learn from their expertise and creative eye. 

What is one of your favorite quotes, and what does it mean to you?

Our culture puts so much emphasis on the grandiose: the award, the promotion, the raise. But, life doesn’t happen to you when you win that Oscar or get that big job. Life happens to you in the in-between moments—which is something I try to remind myself of when I get overwhelmed by my goals. Of course, I am dogged and will continue to work hard to achieve what I want in life with discipline and drive, but I try to keep perspective. There is abundant beauty in the ordinary. I find that I draw most of my meaning from human connection, from the space between two people. 

This is my goal in my writing, filmmaking, and photography: to make the invisible visible, to illuminate the things that make us human. I hope that, in reading and watching my work, viewers can be reminded of their humanity. 

What gets you up in the morning? What motivates you?

I believe that my very presence in the world, as a human being, demands that I live a life and make work that somehow makes a difference, that leaves the world transformed in some way. I want to participate in a larger cultural conversation, and do so inside the window of storytelling.