Yoanna Stefanova
English and Creative Writing Student, University of Dundee
Tribe Influencer (Intern), Investment Tribe
Reflecting back on my internship now that the summer is over, I cannot help but wonder where this time went and how much those three months in the summer of 2022 managed to change me. But before I tell you more about my internship experience, let me tell you a bit more about myself.
My name is Yoanna, and I am in my 4th year studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Dundee University. When I started going through the application process, I was in my 3rd year and was going through a slight existential crisis considering what career choices I had with my degree. If I have to be completely frank, I almost didn't apply for the Saltire Scholar programme. I remember sitting in front of the questions from the first stage and thinking to myself, "Will there be something for a literature student like me?" and then, "I am not even Scottish; there is no chance". But luckily, I decided to just try and see what was going to happen, and this small decision, taken a day before the deadline, changed me a lot.
After all the different stages and nervous anticipation, I got an internship with a company called Investment Tribe in Edinburgh. But from the moment of my successful interview to the actual start of the internship, I spent a few more months fighting with a sense of imposter syndrome. Why? Because I was (and still am) a literature student, accepted for a position that at its core had digital marketing and content creation involved. I had been interested in this field and had been exploring it in my free time for about a year before I got the internship. Yet, I still felt like I wasn’t ready; like I was just an imposter.
Fast forward a few months, and I was on the bus from Dundee to Edinburgh on my way to start my internship. I remember being so nervous and fighting with all those thoughts in my head. What was a Humanities student doing in an office? But from the moment I set foot in the building and met the friendly faces of James and Samantha (and let’s not forget about Ted, the most welcoming "office dog"), I knew I was at the right place. There were two more Saltire Scholars there, both of whom had the position of Intelligent officers. Mine was that of a Tribe Influencer. We spent the first week setting up the equipment that they provided for us and getting to know the company and our positions a bit more.
At the end of the first week, we were assigned our first projects. My task was to study the brand book and start brainstorming ideas for content that we could create for our different social media platforms. After getting to know the company’s values and target audience, I started creating blog posts on various topics connected to investment, finance, interior design, blockchain, etc. As well as that, I had fun coming up with various TikTok scrips for videos and series we could film. One of those TikTok series that I scripted and later filmed and edited was a Property Dictionary, with the lovely Ted as the main star. I must say that is one of my favourite projects as I got to spend an afternoon playing with Ted, persuading him "to act out" the scripts I've written.
Some of the other projects I had the pleasure to work on during my internship with Investment Tribe were: creating a Social Media Strategy together with a workflow for the posts using monday.com (which was a new platform for me); a business plan/proposal for merchandise (including mockup designs of mugs, tote bags, T-shirts, coasters, etc); blog posts and Instagram visuals for the so-called “city profiles” of the various cities we are looking to invest in, etc.
Throughout the internship, I have also done various miscellaneous tasks such as working on an Investment brochure, creating illustrations to go alongside the blog posts, creating designs for templates for documents and presentations, creating a "furniture menu", etc. The templates for the documents and presentations could be used for any content created and distributed by the company, which made me excited to know I was making a long-lasting impact.
One of the main things that made this internship such a valuable experience for me was that my personal values aligned with those of the company, which made me proud to be part of everything we were doing. Investment Tribe is a B-Corp-certified company, which means that they have proven to meet strict criteria for social and environmental performance, openness, and accountability. They value everyone in their team and care deeply about the environment, making all necessary efforts to be thoughtful about that when taking any decision. That was shown to me in the very first week when they allowed me to work on a hybrid basis (2 days in the office; 2 days at home) as I had to travel from Dundee to the office. As well as that, it is a paperless company, paying attention to making eco-friendly choices in everything in the office, from the milk in the fridge to the many plants all around.
But those 10 weeks gave me a lot more than a chance to improve my copywriting and design skills, better my research skills, and learn how to analyse data and turn it into content. This experience taught me how to be open-minded about the opportunities that are all around us. It taught me to be brave enough to try and trust myself and my abilities. It showed me that there are so many interpersonal skills that a Humanities degree gives us that we wouldn’t even guess at first.
But what’s next? In my last week at Investment Tribe, I was offered an extension on my contract, which allowed me to stay with the company beyond those 10 weeks and put those newly learned skills into practice. For the past five months, I have been continuing my work on some of the projects from the summer and researching new and interesting ideas.
For anyone wondering whether being a Saltire Scholar is worth it, I couldn’t recommend the experience enough. It will give you the needed confidence to dive in bravely in the quest of following your dreams, as well as a chance to improve the extensive skillset and personal skills required in today’s work landscape. As well as that, you get some great networking opportunities, meeting like-minded people motivated about their future. I wish the best of luck to anyone applying to the programme!
