About the Startup TNT Internship Program
I knew that I wanted to start out in marketing, but eventually do something in the innovation and entrepreneurship space. I’ve always said I wanted to eventually start my own company, but I’m not exactly sure yet what that would be.
This semester, I’m a marketing associate for CED, which is the Center for Entrepreneurial Development. CED is a nonprofit that connects startups with investors, helping startups find funding—really focused on helping the entrepreneurial ecosystem however they can. It's a smaller team, so it’s been nice to have those personal connections, and they’re all very open to connecting me with people they know in marketing. It's also been really nice to meet other associates who are from all different schools who I otherwise would never have met.
I’ve been helping them with their marketing efforts, and they just hired a marketing consultant, so I’ve been working a lot with her. They just launched a new website and had their 40th birthday party, so they’ve had a lot of speakers, and there’s been a lot of planning and marketing surrounding that, and investor fly-ins—so just a lot of big events going on that are interesting to be a part of.
For the investor fly-in, CED had a bunch of investors fly in from different places and met up at Top Golf in Durham. For that, I helped with the trifold flyer design, and that was really fun to be able to work on the creative side. I’ve also done a lot on the analytical side, which I’ve found interesting. I don’t know exactly what area of marketing I want to get into, but they’ve let me dip my toe in different areas, which has been awesome. So I've done some organizing, some press releases, some blog posts, some event planning. I’ve had some networking chats with people in the company. Sitting in on company meetings has been really helpful, to see how the company runs. In the spring they’ll have their big VentureConnect event, so I'll be doing a lot of help with marketing for that. They’ve asked me to come back in the spring as a senior marketing associate.
On getting the most from an internship
If you're able to go in person, make use of that, because I've learned the most when I've been in person, sitting in on meetings, or just chatting with other people who work there, or attending events that maybe don't particularly pertain to me. Make use of that, and try to be present and chat with as many people as you can. Don’t be afraid to speak up—that’s something I’ve learned through sitting in on meetings. They want to hear your opinion, and they want to hear how they can help you.
On favorite I&E Courses
I&E 190, Design Your Duke Journey (with Greg Victory) was really great. I really enjoyed that class because it felt very applicable to the real world, and it was a great starting point for me as a first-year. Social Innovation was also really interesting—we had speakers from different nonprofits, so it was really cool to learn what it takes to be a social innovator, and we did a lot of group projects and field trips.
The application for Spring 2025 Startup TNT internships is open until December 16, 2024.