My Experience at JGM Innovation

As the semester comes to an end, I’ve begun to understand the impact that the Workforce Accelerator has made on my professional journey. I started my spring semester internship with the main intention of building experience in public relations: how to write press releases, building media attention, and growing brand visibility. What I’ve left with is a stronger skillset in that area, but just as importantly, true career development and a sense of pride in my own abilities and future.

I joined the team as a PR intern, but my work overlapped with the video editing interns, the web design interns, and the analytics interns. From the very beginning, I learned true collaboration between multiple departments and how our individual tasks built on top of one another. Fellow interns from other teams offered feedback on my own, and vice versa, and receiving genuine constructive criticism and input was key to my growth. Being in such a genuine environment that saw my potential truly encouraged me to put out my best work and improve my skills. My work didn’t feel independent or disconnected from the JGM brand, all of my tasks made a genuine impact on the greater mission of the company. Being able to see how my work created a substantial impact within the organization inspired me to give back to the community.

One of the most impactful areas of this internship was the professional environment that developed not just my technical skills, but also my ability to navigate the workplace. I balanced my internship with my academic coursework and other jobs, which helped me develop strong time-management and organization skills to deliver high-quality work and meet deadlines. Due to the small size of the JGM team, I was also able to work closely with hireups such as the President of the company, Waldo Guevara, and Michelle Gibbons who offered guidance, support, and encouragement. They saw the potential in me and their confidence in me motivated me to create bigger and better products. On top of that, the small size allowed me to familiarize myself with working directly with senior employees, a situation that felt previously daunting. I now feel comfortable asking questions, sending updates, and communicating directly with superiors, and confidence and skill that I know will serve me well in my future career. Working in Agile Methodology also familiarized me with the type of environment I can expect as I continue my career. Sharing updates on what I’ve been working on, any potential blockers, and my next tasks taught me to clearly communicate my status so that I can properly and efficiently work is an invaluable skill that I’ve been fortunate to gain so early on.

What I’ve been most proud of is seeing the impact that my work has on the organization and the community JGM provides support for. I saw my role and the importance of my tasks continue to grow over the course of my internship. What started as designing social media posts to grow awareness and captioning videos became creating the team banners that were used in our recent JGM Competition in Peru. Seeing the students holding the red and blue banners I made just a few weeks earlier filled me with immense pride. I was also trusted to plan the promotional rollout for JGM Competitions. My ideas for trailers, posts, and short-form videos were integrated into the campaigning and having ideas Before that, an event I was truly proud to be a part of was our Spring Fundraiser in April. Funds from this event went directly to ensuring that JGM Competitions could proceed as planned, so it was imperative to promote the event.

One of the biggest parts of my role, the overarching question to public relations, was grasping what is JGM Innovation? Every post and graphics I created had to carry the unique design that made it JGM. At first, I focused on using standardized brand colors and the JGM logo to mark each design as JGM. But I soon realized that branding goes beyond just a recognizable logo or design. As the PR intern, it was my responsibility to understand what JGM Innovation was and how to effectively and accurately represent it to the public. As I’m approaching the end of my internship, I believe I have the answer. JGM Innovation is community. Community gives back to each other, community uplifts those in need, community builds to create a better future for the next generation. JGM has truly dedicated itself to its community, but community is not static, it's ever-growing.

Being a part of the JGM Innovation community is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The impact I’ve made on this team will continue to benefit the people we help, and the lessons I’ve learned will remain with me well into my future.

Yumiko Lin is a rising junior at New York University studying Media, Culture, and Communication. With experience in public relations, marketing, and communications, Yumiko is always looking to explore the bounds of the media industry.

Find Yumiko on LinkedIn.