Erin Haley
When I first arrived at the Atma office, I had little idea what kind of work I would be doing for the next two and a half months; I could well articulate Atma’s role in improving grassroots education NGOs, but wasn’t quite sure where I would fit in.
Now I’m six weeks into my internship and couldn’t be happier with the role I’ve found. I’ve been working with two of Atma’s partners, both of which are incredibly interesting and passionate organizations. With both partners, I’m helping with their website layout, design, and launch, while also working to craft a marketing strategy. Not only have I learned a lot about each of these areas, but I’ve also learned a lot about conducting myself as a professional. In the past six weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on and even lead workshops, communicate directly with partners, and take the lead initiative on projects. While this may seem like a lot of responsibility for a rising college sophomore, the team at Atma always makes sure I’m comfortable with the next steps in a project and offers guidance when necessary. Given that I’m interested in consulting as a career after graduation, my experience with Atma has been the perfect mixture of guidance and independence in the field.
However, there are definitely challenges involved with working abroad. Communication can often times be very difficult; while most people I’ve interacted with speak English, some are more comfortable with Marathi or Hindi and thus tend to use a local language in many conversations. While this can be a highly frustrating experience, I’ve learned to be patient and wait for one of my fellow Atma teammates to translate for me. This way, everyone can participate in the conversation in a language they are comfortable with.
Even though working in Pune may offer various challenges, my experience with Atma has been an incredible one, and I look forward to continuing my work throughout the next few weeks.