A Series of Updates by Former Interns
After interning with Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council, I went back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for my senior year at Wake Forest University. I graduated in May 2017 with majors in Economics and Religion and a concentration in Religion and Public Engagement.
A week after graduation, after months of job applications, I received a job offer from the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility, an energy efficiency nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that gave me exactly a week to pack, move, and start working. Originally as a Program Assistant and later as a Program Manager, I had the opportunity to work on many of the District’s environmental initiatives. This included managing the Emergency HVAC Program that provided replacement HVAC equipment for low-income elderly and/or disabled DC residents at no cost to them.
A year and a half later, after learning more than I ever thought possible about LEDs and HVAC systems, I packed a U-Haul full of my belongings and road tripped across the country to San Francisco to start an internship at Kiva, an international microfinance organization. Small businesses create 2 out of every 3 new jobs in the U.S. and our team works to support financially excluded and socially impactful borrowers with 0% interest loans.
As an Operations Intern on the Kiva U.S. Team, I have a handful of different jobs. I help document and organize internal processes, answer borrower questions, and follow up when payments become delinquent. My main job, however, is to work with borrowers who have applied without the help of an institution, to make their applications stronger before they are reviewed by our review team. Many borrowers I work with would not qualify for loans from traditional banks but succeed through our lending program, creating and expanding their own businesses when they otherwise couldn’t.
I am really enjoying working with entrepreneurs across the United States and like working for an organization at the intersection of my past experiences and studies. I am grateful for my experience at Gulf Coast because it helped shape my views on the importance of international relations and dialogue. There hasn’t been a school year or a job since my internship where the things I learned in that position haven’t shaped my work or perspective.
– Khaki Wade, Summer Intern 2016
