This blog series offers a glimpse of reSET’s summer internship program in entrepreneurship and social enterprise. The series will aim to capture interns’ experiences, both with reSET’s curriculum and the startups that they are working alongside. Our sixth blogger, Aiswarya Arul, is a rising sophomore at Babson College.

My name is Aiswarya (Isshi) Arul and I’m a rising sophomore at Babson College. I’ve always been interested in social entrepreneurship, which is exactly why I chose to intern at reSET. When I first arrived at 1429 Park Street for my interview, I was blown away. They had chalk boards with doodles, rows and rows of wooden tables, and let’s not forget that ping pong table. It wasn’t what I expected, to say the least. I had become accustomed to the side of business that is organized, bustling, and task-oriented. But what I saw at reSET was vastly different. It was the part of business that is so integral to any and every company, but often forgotten. A space for creativity, idea generation, for making mistakes and learning from them.

This was very clear when I began my internship in the summer. I had the privilege to work side-by-side with three fantastic businesses and see them grow from our joint efforts. For Blue Crane Music, an agency for local musicians looking to expand its services to more locations, I created a marketing template and strategized various approached to reach the business’ target market. Being a younger person, I brought in some unique perspectives and ideas that hadn’t been considered before. For Genius Box, a business that offers a monthly subscription for STEM-based activities for students, I got to exercise my creativity and craft daily social media posts and research various outlets for the business. Impact Mart, the third business, is a store similar to Amazon or Walmart that sells products. But each product has some social change objective ingrained to it. So everytime a purchase is made, a community or cause is benefitted in some way or form. Impact Mart is in the process of building a new Voluntourism program, and I had the unique experience of helping them plan it out.

In addition to working with these startups, the reSET Innovation Challenge gives interns the chance to pitch and present their own business ideas. The ideas are all centered around various social issues in the Connecticut area, such as mental health and obsoletism.

As my internship and summer come to an end, it’s really a time to reflect. And I can honestly say that reSET has been an amazing experience. The people I’ve met, the realization that your efforts have directly influenced a real-life business, the entrepreneurial mindset instilled, the knowledge that social impact springs from a single idea and the desire for change–that’s what reSET gives interns. Not to mention the other memories (like exploring the Hartford area, chasing Impact Mart’s puppy around the ping pong table, painting the walls with our designs, shaking hands with the Governor of Connecticut, and so much more). I hope to maintain my connections with the reSET community and can’t wait to see what more they’ll accomplish.