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 second blogger, Jill Howard, is a rising junior at the University of New Hampshire.

Ever since I discovered that I could combine my passions for community service and business to pursue a career with meaning, social innovation (the field that lets me do just that) has been a driving force in my academic and professional experiences. As a Business Administration major at the University of New Hampshire, I have self-designed my studies to concentrate on social Innovation and Enterprise and have become further involved in the social sector with a job at UNH’s Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise. Throughout this time though, I have lacked a personal insight into the operations of socially responsible companies. In my search for this “real-world” experience, I thought of reSET, an organization I became familiar with during my senior year of High School when I worked on a year-long research project dedicated to better understanding the characteristics and implications of social enterprises. Getting involved with reSET’s work and network, and Connecticut’s entrepreneurial ecosystem at large, have been crucial steps in my professional development.

At reSET, I have been able to gain invaluable first-hand experience with start-ups and social enterprises. I work out of the Hartford office three days a week with two different companies: the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and LintCard. So far with ISSP, I have helped restructure and manage the company’s volunteer program. With LintCard, I have assisted in crucial marketing and sales strategies designed to promote growth. I have also been able to partake in weekly Professional Development courses and the reSET Innovation Challenge, which has tested and consequently expanded, my knowledge of business practice and theory. 

Ultimately, these opportunities have led me to discover personal and professional growth. reSET has provided me with an experiential internship in which I have been able to develop my skills in communication, project management, and time allocation in a realistic and challenging setting. I feel more confident than ever in my ability to use business to tackle some of society’s most critical problems. I look forward to applying what I have learned as I begin another internship in the Fall, and once I am finished with my undergraduate degree, to pursuing an impactful career in the social enterprise sector.