One of the best things about interning at Flashstarts is that you get to shape your own internship experience: you have a voice in determining what you’ll be working on, who you’ll be working with, and how long you’ll be working with them. While many of the other interns have been working with several teams at once, I’ve chosen to work primarily with KnotProfit as a marketing generalist.
KnotProfit, started by Kritika Kripakaran and Joshua Harris, is an online donation-based wedding registry. Engaged couples can set up an online profile page and ask guests to donate, in lieu of gifts, to the nonprofit of their choice; couples may even choose to go a step further and visit the nonprofit during their honeymoon. KnotProfit also partners with various wedding vendors—photographers, caterers, venues, and boutiques—who offer discounts to couples as a “thank you” for giving back to the community with their wedding.
Since I’ve been working solely with KnotProfit, I’ve had the opportunity to become really immersed in the company and learn firsthand what it’s like to grow and expand a start-up in such short amount of time. It takes a huge amount of effort and hard work, but it’s amazing to see how much progress has already been made.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been focused on managing KnotProfit’s social media accounts, writing blog posts, and contacting nonprofits and vendors to partner with our website. Part of the fun of working with this start-up is that it has so many moving pieces: I get to interact with nonprofits, wedding vendors, website developers, marketing advisors, and customers— sometimes all in one day.
Of course, KnotProfit would be nothing without its couples! This past weekend, Kritika and I took a break from the office to have an engagement photo shoot with one of the KnotProfit couples, Sammy and Chris. Flashstarts has a great photo studio room that we used to take close- ups and headshots, and later we ventured outside to take more candid photos on Euclid and East 4th St.
A lucky couple on E. 4th St. who won a free photo shoot with Knot Profit feat. Pour Cleveland.
Walking through the streets with Sammy and Chris that day reminded me not only how much I love photography and design, but also how lucky I am to be able to experience such range of projects here at Flashstarts. I love having variety in my work, and Flashstarts is the perfect place to find that: one day I might be curating content for Twitter, the next I just might find myself in a coffee shop with a camera in hand.
Position: Generalist
School: Yale University, Class of 2016
