I started working as an intern at half full, llc in September 2020. Since then, I have spent 16 days in a hotel quarantine, changed my major, dealt with insomnia, moved out of my dorm room to study remotely, declared a minor, started a second job, tried out numerous hobbies, finished four courses, started five new courses, and made dean’s list. One thing that has, fortunately, remained a consistent highlight in my rollercoaster of highs and lows the last five months has been interning at half full, llc.

Worries about Interning during a pandemic…

At first, I was wary to start working in the midst of the pandemic. I had worries that I wouldn’t be able to get to know my coworkers via zoom meetings, that I would get forgotten in the midst of a pandemic pivot and find myself feeling useless to the company, and that I would lack the motivation to give my best work. I quickly found that all my assumptions were wrong. I work closely with our Director of Marketing and Business Development, Kelly, and we quickly bonded despite the issue of spotty cell service or never meeting each other in person. I was assigned to work on the company’s social media platforms and strategizing how to promote half full’s vision as they shifted from in-person work to fully remote. I was completely welcomed and encouraged to fully immerse myself in half full’s pandemic pivot and I learned to time manage in order to give my full attention to the work at hand.

Although I just presented this as though everything was easy and that I came across no challenges when it came to my experience as an intern during a pandemic, this is not true. It is only true that I was wrong about my initial stressors. Before I decided to continue my studies from home, I personally struggled with the inability to sleep. It was very common for me to remain awake after 4am and wake up by 8am every morning. I was reliant on at least four to five cups of coffee to get me through the morning, and I would drag myself through the day until I sprung awake as soon as the sun set.

i was deemed a close contact…

In late October, I received the phone call that I was a close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Immediately, I was sent into a hotel room for two weeks with about an hour of outside time a day. Before this point, I had never slept alone in a house and certainly never stayed alone in a hotel room with only a puzzle and a TV to occupy myself. During these two weeks I found myself incredibly unmotivated to do my schoolwork and grew more exhausted as my sleep schedule continued to hardly exist.

Growing More and More excited about my work…

I began to look forward to my phone calls with Kelly and the team as they became my main source of human connection. My phone calls with Kelly would last anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours where we would chat back and forth about all our different ideas for half full, growing more and more excited which each input. We came up with the idea to shift our Instagram to fully black and white images with hints of red which represented half full’s passion for what we do. I organized an entire Thanksgiving campaign myself where each team member was assigned to create a post so our followers could get to know half full’s growing team. Each idea that Kelly and I brainstormed was met with so much enthusiasm by our team members, and I started to really feel like a part of the team. I felt like I was actually making my own impact which encouraged me to keep working hard.

I am someone that thrives off of validation when I do well and criticism when I am not pulling my own weight. When I get this kind of feedback, I get very encouraged to improve my work or continue my good work. If I don’t get any acknowledgement, I feel like my efforts are worthless. In school, this validation or criticism was easily measured. If I got an A on a test, I would feel proud of myself. If I got a B or below, I would be really hard on myself about it and really push myself to study harder or differently for the next test. I was unsure how this need of recognition would translate when it came to work as an intern where there are no grades to measure my success, especially during a pandemic in a fully virtual setting. I quickly found that Rebecca, the President and Founder of half full, naturally gave me the exact recognition that I needed to feel this drive. She always makes time in her incredibly busy schedule to show her gratitude to all of her team members. From past experiences, I expected to be the college intern that hardly got recognition for my efforts, was not trusted with any “real” work, and who was rarely included as a team member. Rebecca completely changed this expectation of mine. She gave me work that allowed me to feel fulfilled and would always offer the appropriate enthusiasm or criticism. Each moment that she had to give me a virtual “pat on the back,” she did, and this recognition is what made me become very enthusiastic about the work I was doing at half full. Without it my 2 week stay in a hotel room alone would have been a lot worse.

half full, llc became my consistency…

During these major shifts and struggles in my own life, half full and many other companies across the country were managing their own shifts and struggles. As half full became my source of consistency, the company was going through a time of inconsistency due to COVID-19. From what I understand, half full was a very hands-on company that worked very closely, and, most importantly, in-person with their clients. The lack of interpersonal connection on zoom meetings or phone calls creates an obvious disconnect between people and this need for a strong relationship was important to half full. Although these obstacles are present, the team has managed to break through and find ways to show how committed they are to their clients through building steady and strong bridges where people anticipated a wobbly one due to the current circumstances. Rebecca and half full lives by the quote “Keep Moving Forward,” and there has never been a time in history where people needed to live by this statement more.

In a time where everything appears hectic and uncontrollable, half full embraced the unknown and adapted. And surprisingly, so did I! I like to remember that you have to “go through it to grow though it;” I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to ‘go and grow through it’ with half full.