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“Oh yeah, I can do that.”

“Oh yeah, I can do that.”

“Oh yeah, I can do that.”

I said those exact words after getting my first assignment at Flashstarts. I had just been asked to create some original graphics for a commercial website, and I was so inspired by the project and the company itself that I couldn’t wait to get to work. There was only one problem: I had absolutely zero idea how to do it, and wasn’t even sure how to start. 

Undeterred, I opened up a new document on my freshly installed Adobe Illustrator and got to work. The more time I spent on it, the more apparent it was how much there was to learn. Luckily, it’s now been two months since that first assignment. A lot of the basics I struggled with initially have become muscle memory. My search history is full of embarrassingly beginner Youtube tutorials and my computer is full of pages on pages of drafts. But the initial overwhelming confusion feels like a distant memory. 

It’s hard to imagine getting a chance like this outside of Flashstarts. At internships I’ve done in the past, there was always someone breathing down my neck to make sure I didn’t stray too far from my busywork.  But at Flashstarts, no role is off limits. I’ve been asked to research reground polymers, create new logos, draw diagrams to illustrate IT software, and remake web pages. I’ve always approached my projects with a unique mix of trepidation and enthusiasm. 

The most valuable lessons I’ve learned during this internship haven’t been the skills that I’ve added to my resume (although I can’t deny it’s gotten a much needed facelift since the beginning of the summer).  And, as you might have suspected from my self-reported lack of experience, not all of my work has been successful. I’ve done more revisions on projects than I can count. And I’m still figuring out how to rally after being told that my work just isn’t working.

But in the world of startups, the ability to get something done despite various hurdles by chipping away at the problem from every possible angle is a core quality that everyone either already has or builds up over time. I think that’s why it attracts such a unique and strong-willed group of people, from the founders to the cohort of interns. 

Flashstarts, like startups in general, requires you to be comfortable taking risks and failing. Failure is one of the things that I came into this summer most afraid of. But I’ve learned a lot having been surrounded by the people at Startmart who are putting everything on the line for their ideas and fighting tooth and nail to make their visions reality. What’s equally valuable has been the daily commiseration with fellow interns about our challenges. In this community we’re transparent about when we’re feeling unsure or in over our heads, and for that reason those challenges actually start to feel a lot less daunting. 

In this spirit, I’m going to continue learning to take bigger risks, accept failure, and see how much further I can go. When this internship ends, I’m going to take both my new skills and this mentality with me when I go.

Saying yes to new things has gotten me into some trouble. But with all I’ve learned here, chances are that the next time I say “I can do it”, it’ll be true.

Claire Tepesch is a Computer Science Major at Smith College. She currently works as a Graphic Design Intern at Flashstarts. 

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