Hello! My name is Kalil Garcia. I grew up in Struthers, Ohio and have lived in Arizona for almost 5 years. I am a 4th year student from Northern Arizona University (NAU) majoring in Business Management and Spanish. I am a part of the Interdisciplinary Global Programs (IGP), a five-year double degree program that allowed me to spend 8 months abroad in Madrid, Spain.
An internship was found for me through Absolute Internship at the beginning of January 2020 and I quickly started at the end of the month. The parent company, “Science and Marketing”, is a Neuromarketing firm that houses the startup named “Hello Renewable”. Hello Renewable, is focused on reaching the masses with credible, unpartisan information regarding climate change and renewable energy all while giving the general public a way to easily get involved and do our part.
My role as a Business and Social Media Development Intern has been to learn about and help facilitate all the things in the background. I work on things like revamping the business plan, speaking to suppliers, researching cutting edge technologies and gadgets that will eventually become available through the company, and extending the reach of our social media platforms.
My company adapted and adjusted swiftly and efficiently to the COVID-19 situation. We slowly moved to remote working more often throughout February when it became obvious that the virus was being transmitted faster in Spain – eventually, we were working completely from our homes. We had to halt operations with our products due to many of the suppliers being in China. Besides that, my boss worked well with everything going on and was very understanding of any concerns I had about the situation.
My transition time from being an intern in Madrid to working remotely in Madrid and now in the US was very smooth. Professionally, this situation has shown me how to adapt and communicate properly in the business realm. I have seen how operations shift and focus in on different sectors and how quickly businesses change so that they aren’t swept away in all the madness. The swift adaptability that this situation is forcing me to have is a skill that will never be unlearned.
If this experience has changed anything within me, it is that it has made me more resilient. This experience has allowed me to be more cautious about and focus on and improve the things that I can actually control.