Summer Went By In a Snap

Written by Kaela Griswold, #WakeEntrepreneur and Summer Intern 

I cannot believe how quickly this summer has flown by. It seems like just yesterday our team of interns was prepping for our first presentation at the end of our first week. And here we are with only one week to go! I went into this summer with very little experience in marketing and sales, but I have learned so much along the way. More than anything, I had the privilege to witness first hand some of the best entrepreneurs at work and learn by example. The older I get, I recognize how important it is to have good role models not only in your personal life, but in your work life too. I can confidently now say that I have two incredible entrepreneurial mentors and role models in Kristen and Katelyn, the founder/CEO and the COO, who happen to be the coolest sisters ever. They not only make me want to have a sister of my own, but to run my own company someday.

One of my very favorite days this summer was when I accompanied Kristen out to Montauk, NY to help install one of our machines at Gurney’s. Due to some delays, Kristen and I had some really wonderful conversations over good food about life and the evolution of the company. Kristen and Katelyn are pros at rolling with the punches and doing it ever so gracefully. I’ve learned that being an entrepreneur requires an immense amount of patience, but also persistence; it’s a fine balance, but you are always exercising both ends of the spectrum. The following day when we were able to get the machine up and running, I was meeting the staff, sharing SnappyScreen’s story, and helping individuals/couples/families use the machine. It was so neat to see how many people were so fascinated and amazed by the novelty and technology of it all.

I’ve learned a lot about myself throughout this internship in terms of my own strengths and weaknesses. I had incredible co-interns who continually built up my confidence when they asked me to speak on the phone with a potential client; they had faith in me that I’d be successful. Having them rely on me for that specific skill was something that I became proud of and it also helped our company too because we would acquire meetings out of these phone-calls to then present our sales pitch. But regardless of who spoke with who on the phone, the best part about this summer was that everything was a group effort. We each helped every person with a task at some point or another. I’m so thankful to have worked with 3 fellow Wake Foresters too because even though I didn’t know them well before, we will now always hold this special bond that we’ve all developed during our internship. This summer has reassured me that in order for me to be happy, I need to be in a work environment where I’m surrounded by kind people who I care about and vice versa.

One of my greatest achievements from this entrepreneurial internship is when Katelyn approached me about doing a sales pitch phone-call. We had run through the presentation together a few weeks prior and she trained me to be prepared, but you never really know what kind of person you’ll be speaking with in a sales pitch. I think one of the biggest things that I was forced to come to terms with is to accept that I am only 21 and that part of life is learning as you go, which is hard for me to accept since I prefer to always be over-prepared for everything. There will always be new experiences or encounters that you never expect, and you have to learn how to react and adapt in those situations. That is something that I will carry with me throughout my entire life.

I am so excited to return to Wake and bring back with me so many different skills ranging from sales to marketing to business strategy to financial planning and many more. On top of that, I am so happy to have developed such wonderful relationships with my co-workers and bosses this summer. I am so grateful to say that it wasn’t long before I considered Kristen and Katelyn not only my bosses, but my friends. And that is props to them and how they created our incredible work atmosphere and how they treated us as equals. This summer went by in a snap, but I am thankful for the experience that SnappyScreen provided me with and all of the incredible adventures and laughs in between.