I grew up with an artist for a mom and not only did I enjoy watching her paint or her lessons in drawing perspective, but I always loved making art in all its forms. I would make collages, write poetry and always doodle. Even to this day I doodle in the margins of my sketchbook or when I take notes in class. As the only creative intern at Brown Joy, I have only realized how much more interested I am in all the dynamics of being on a creative team, sharing my ideas and working in digital design. Having worked alongside my supervisor, Ms. Brown, I have gained confidence in communicating my ideas effectively and creating boundaries for self-care to ensure that I am not overwhelmed.
Since I began my journey with the Brown Joy Team, I would have never imagined the knowledge and creativity I would be gaining from my time. While one of my many goals, to learn more program and software skills concerning digital art was not achieved due to its irrelevance in my current role, I had so much fun learning about digital design and marketing. From creating pitches for business partners and networking with Back to school programs to celebrating Brown Joy and its customers with social media posts, I have been so amazed at the success of the sales and the rate of engagement on social media and beyond.
Some other goals I had included building a stronger connection with members of the Brown Joy Team including the CEO, Miss Charminta Brown, who has not only encouraged me in my academic endeavors but has offered support beyond me being an intern such as looking at my resume and offering guidance in my career interests. I am very confident that I will continue to maintain contact with Ms. Brown outside of the internship and reach out with updates and questions especially as she is a successful Black woman running her own company and not to mention mom.
I have worked on many projects throughout the summer and I am most proud of creating a workbook for kids about design thinking. Design Thinking is a solution based thinking to solving problems we have in our world today. There are several companies like Netflix, Apple and Disney that incorporate this into their model and creatively for their products and Brown Joy wants to share this with kids. Towards the end of my internship I began working with Ms. Brown to create a workbook for kids aged between 7 to 13 to come up with their own ideas and essentially stimulate their creativity, imagination and innovation. I really love how the workbook turned out. I must admit during some days I did have some creative block so being able to work on the design and complete everything on time was really exciting.
I have also started to work on a pitch to Abbott Elementary, yes, the amazingly witty ABC hit series about teachers in Philly. I can’t give out too many details but this is something that is in the process of being created as it is important to acknowledge the series as many other network shows are on hold due to the writer’s strikes. I also want to say as a potential future screenwriter I stand with the writers strike and it is important that everyone working in the film and entertainment industry is treated and paid fairly!
And finally I would highly recommend this internship to any level college student interested in marketing and digital design. I did plan on having a more active role in drawing characters and while I was not able to work directly with making the stickers designs, I had an equally important (and fun) role in creating posters, social media posts and working on marketing materials that are not only used currently but also for the future. My advice for anyone who wants to work for Brown Joy as a creative intern or in a different capacity is to be yourself! I say this because Ms. Brown is an awesome human being, she is really understanding and empathetic so you should not feel the need to impress her or over-exert yourself. Just be you authentically and use your unique perspective on life to inform how you create. Working at a company that makes products to create diversity means that kids of color are the priority so I would encourage students of color in particular to apply or send their resume along because your voice matters. We all know what it was like for us as kids and not always seeing ourselves represented in stickers, on TV or in literature. Working for Brown Joy is just one of many chances to work to create a more positive and diverse future for kids everywhere!
— Minar
WOW Fellowship Blog 