Through Connect-123, my first summer in Cape Town brought together inclusive-rights activists from all over Sub-Saharan Africa to create short autobiographical films. I helped organize and run the workshops, taught basic editing and audio tools, translated materials from Afrikaans and French, and handled all the budgeting and reporting. We ended up supporting 18 activists (each from a different country), and it really shaped how I think about storytelling, access, and platforming voices that don’t always get heard.

That experience is actually what led to my second internship the following summer with one of South Africa’s political parties. They brought me in because of my work the year before, and the role was much more communications- and events-driven: coordinating high-impact meetings (including the party’s national congress), helping develop fundraising ideas for South African expats abroad, and fielding donor questions and routing them to the right party officials. It was fast-paced and very hands-on, and it taught me a lot about messaging, operations, and managing a lot of moving pieces at once.

Living in Cape Town was transformative. I had started teaching myself Afrikaans at sixteen, so being able to practice it daily - and even see some of my favorite Afrikaans rock bands like Fokofpolisiekar and Foto Na Dans - was surreal. South Africa’s cultural richness and complexity deepened my understanding of how language, art, and identity shape communication. That awareness continues to influence how I build inclusive and globally resonant narratives in my professional life.

Absolutely. My time in South Africa confirmed that storytelling could be both creative and purposeful. After those internships, I pursued communications full-time - building a global career that’s taken me across advertising, entertainment, and tech. I’ve since led campaigns for brands like Airbnb, Microsoft, and Netflix, but my Connect-123 experience gave me the cultural fluency and curiosity that continue to guide my work as a consultant.