What’s on tap?
This summer I am working for UpDog Kombucha in Winston-Salem, NC as a community managing intern. I am excited about this internship because the owners are two women who graduated from Wake Forest and the company has a large presence in the Winston-Salem area as well as other locations in North Carolina. As an entrepreneurship minor, it is inspiring to work for a successful startup as it allows me to see how the hard work of all the employees transfers over into a prosperous company. Additionally, having two female bosses, Lauren Miller, and Olivia Wolff, has allowed me to relate to each of them and view them as an example of women in business that I would like to aspire to be one day. Most often students leave Winston-Salem after graduation, however, I really admire that Lauren and Olivia are now contributing to the community that gave them so much. This is one of the many reasons I chose an entrepreneurship internship for this summer. Not only did I desire to better understand the workings of a true startup, but I was also curious as to the various ways a company could make an impact in a community. Along with this, I knew that working for a startup would provide me with experience in many parts of the business and enable me to learn about different aspects of running a company.
My tasks at UpDog differ on a day to day basis which I enjoy because I get to do new things each day. So far, I have worked in the brewery bottling and packaging the kombucha with two of the other employees and I have visited their downtown office at Winston Starts. At the office I have been collecting information from the new ordering system Lauren and Olivia have recently implemented on their website and reaching out to different locations to help them switch to the new way of ordering. My favorite task thus far has been visiting places in Winston that UpDog is sold in order to make deliveries and take photos for their Instagram account. UpDog plans to start highlighting different locations in Winston-Salem and Charlotte where their kombucha is sold so I was sent to various places to take photos of employees with the kombucha. I especially enjoyed this job because I was able to meet some of the local business owners and answer their questions about the kombucha. Additionally, each location was eager to help and looking forward to seeing their business on Instagram. Next week I will be working at the Cobblestone Farmers Market on Saturday morning which I am very excited about. I am originally from Ohio and there are often farmers markets near my home so I feel as though this will remind me of home and enable me to interact with Winston-Salem locals. Most often I am on campus and around college students, therefore I hope this will enable me to have a better understanding of people in the Winston-Salem community as well as help me become familiar with another location in Winston.
By the end of this summer, I hope to have more knowledge about the interworkings of a successful startup and some of the challenges that may arise. I am considering pursuing my own entrepreneurial idea one day and I believe that this internship will help me learn more about the startup lifestyle. I am willing to put in the work necessary to make a company successful, however, various entrepreneurs have relayed that the reality of this lifestyle can be quite difficult and trying at times. Therefore, I am interested to see what I learn about the reality of startups and if it will inspire me to continue the work of my own.
Written by #WakeEntrepreneur, Kellyn Jamison ‘21