Hi Everyone! Glad to be back from my week of travel! I’m excited to fill everyone in on how my internship has grown both my soft and hard skills in a dynamic environment in the context of a global workspace.

First, the soft skills. I feel like learning these kinds of skills in any environment, especially one abroad, takes tact and patience. It takes lots of observing, and not necessarily going in full-boar without a particular strategy in mind. For example, in my experience I have found it more productive to be questioning and curious instead of brash and assertive when trying to learn about the finer points. For example, the first few weeks I mostly just tried to ask questions and listen a lot to learn as much as I can about which soft skills are congruent and dissimilar between American and British cultures. Obviously, this includes certain nuances, but overall, my soft skills such as communication, attention to detail, and project oriented solutions have come about from observing and asking specific, targeted questions to extract the most out of interactions.

In terms of hard skills, becoming more proficient in excel and asking the right questions to achieve project goals have been extremely beneficial during my time here. Learning how to write scripts in excel so my projects can endure for the company after I’m gone, practicing the construction of reports to present to upper management, as well as gaining hands-on experience in different parts of the company, such as media presence and customer interaction have all been areas where I have developed a stronger familiarity and confidence as a result of the internship.

For Pitt Businesses ‘Paths of Distinction”, I would say that my experience here most closely resonates with Business & Societal Impact. This is because since working at NEMI Teas, I’ve been able to see much more of the importance of businesses giving back to their communities. NEMI helps London refugees by giving them a place to work and hard skills to succeed in the hospitality industry, allowing them to contribute effectively to society while also giving them meaningful work to do that in turn helps others. This cyclical business strategy was particularly touching to me as it showcased how businesses who give back can turn profit generation and a drive for success into one that also spills out and helps those around them, and therefore mesh business acumen and philanthropic ideals into one that helps both parties and betters the community around them.

That’s all for now! I look forward to keeping everyone updated about my adventures abroad. As always, H2P!