America On Tech Hosts its Summer 2021 Internship Celebration for NYC Students

On August 13, 2021, America on Tech (AOT) celebrated its first class of virtual interns with a showcase of their summer experiences. Over the last two months, AOT placed 86 students in summer internships throughout an employer network of 55 companies, including Amazon, Blackrock, BNY Mellon, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Microsoft, to name a few. Of those 86 students, 97% identified as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) and 57% identified as women and/or Gender Non-Conforming. ​

The celebration opened with internship host reflections from Sofia Mojica of Communitas America and Imani Schectman of Pointedspaces. Mojica spoke about how her two interns, Josephine Mann & Lily Li, were instrumental in launching the organization’s community platform, creating an interactive database, and redesigning the office’s slack channel workspace. Schectman detailed the level of rigor and compassion her interns, Tiffany Lin, Marwh Alzandani, and Sutrah Begum, brought to the team, as they worked on the company’s live virtual marketplace and revamped social media strategy. 

The celebration then transitioned to a segment of presentations, where students demonstrated their achievements throughout the course of their internships. Paola Calle and Alex Koiv, Proposal Specialist Interns at Internationals Network, illustrated the process by which they developed a webform for proposals that supported the development of new services for recently arrived immigrants. 

Utsha Saha, Jr. Software Developer Intern at Read to Lead, showcased how he conducted research on post-COVID funds, developed Intercom software for the company, created a local environment for programs, and made educational games more interactive and fun for children. 

Rofeeah Ayeni, an intern at Goldman Sachs Fintech Focus and Google CSSI Scholar, demonstrated the web application she coded called “Friends Near You,” which she designed to help college students connect with other students in their areas. 

Anita Dugbartey, Fixed Income ICIO Intern at Blackrock, shared how she worked in the Office of the Chief Income Officer to create a presentation about active management style investing. Nathan Mirzakandov, Website Developer at Art Defined, gave a tour of the company website he designed and restructured, including features such as a company timeline, newsletter sign up, and program calendar. 

Finally, Moyosoreoluwa Fasola, Digital Marketing Intern at Boogie Down Books, presented on how she helped improve the company website and social media presence by conducting a competitor analysis and suggesting relevant improvements. 

AOT  is incredibly proud of all our interns this summer - congratulations to all students who participated on their achievements and to all of the employers who hosted our young people.
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See the full video of the event here!

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