Summer Grind: Interning at The Chamber

Hi reader! Welcome to the Plano Chamber intern blog run by Venessa Odera and Avni Vallab. We are both rising seniors at Plano West and were chosen to be Special Projects Interns here at the Chamber, as part of the 2021 Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship. A special thanks goes out to FedEx Office and JPMorgan Chase & Co. for sponsoring our internships!

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Going into a situation filled with uncertainties, it was important for us to establish constants and routine. For example, we interns start our day by meeting in the building lobby before our daily trek to the second floor- a journey that becomes less nerve-wracking with each repetition.

A normal day at the Chamber includes a split of individual work and informative sessions with our coworkers, describing what their positions entail and giving advice that they believe would benefit us. One instance of this was our recent meeting with Carole Greisdorf who is the current Program Director of the Leadership Plano. Not only did she share her journey to this career path, but she also used her experience to convey valuable advice about positivity and adaptability.

Every Monday morning at the Chamber, the whole staff sits down for a team meeting. We all file into the polished conference room and break down what we accomplished for the week, and what we aim to achieve for the coming week. We interns give updates on our big projects, and smaller ones such as booking guests for the podcast episode we will host later in the summer. These staff meetings are the best place to see how the well-oiled machine of the Plano Chamber works. Each staff member is integral to the functioning of the Chamber in their own special way. Not only that, but everyone works collaboratively, reaching out to co-workers if they need help with a project or advice on how to move forward with a client or event.

At the end of these meetings, we all walk away with new ideas of how to improve a project or new tasks on our plate that we hadn’t previously thought to consider. We spend the next few hours working away at our projects, periodically calling out to a co-worker on how to best tackle any problems that may arise with our work.

After a full morning of informational meetings and individual work, we interns meet up for lunch. Cramped together into one of our cubicles, we scarf down our lunch while frantically stressing over college applications and going over the tasks that need to be completed in the office for the rest of the day.

After lunch, we return to our respective cubicles to continue our individual work. Often this entails creating graphics for digital marketing campaigns or managing data for big upcoming projects such as new teacher bags for Plano ISD teachers or the Plano Families First Job Fair.

Before we know it our day ends, we pack up our bags and leave for the front door where Judy at the front desk greets us with a smile and waves goodbye, the perfect way to end a great day.