New Perspectives on Leadership: My Internship Experience at the Chamber
June 15, 2021
This blog post was written by Seth Forbes. Seth has recently concluded her time as an intern with the Alhambra US Chamber.
Last year, I found myself unemployed because of the pandemic. I felt uncertain and discouraged because up until that point in my life, I’d been fortunate to have always had work opportunities available to me. When I lost my job, all I could think about was how I could leverage this unfortunate experience to my benefit when applying for positions once COVID-19 settled down. I took some deep-seated reflections and thought about what my passions, interests and skills were - it became clear that I did not want to return to the type of work I was doing before. I started reviewing my curriculum vitae in hopes that some speckles of knowledge would emerge - that my activities, research interests and clubs throughout college would shed light on the projects I could get involved in until things settled down.
As I was scrolling through my CV, a few experiences stood out to me. I’d previously been involved in marketing projects, intercultural/diversity programs, and language learning; to build on this, I began searching for internships related to international development online, hoping that something might come up that would allow me to delve into this new area of interest. Before I knew it, I was speaking over the phone with Anjum Malik, the Managing Partner of the Alhambra U.S. Chamber. About an hour later, I felt a surge of energy from connecting with someone who’d done so much to expand knowledge and relations in the U.S. and beyond.
When I began the internship, I had no expectations or imagination as to what I’d be getting into. Within the first week of starting, I was already taking on a leadership role with a research project, and by the end of the summer, I’d found myself working with Anjum herself and leading entire groups of people to conduct research, carry out projects and generate new ideas with one another. What I didn’t realize throughout the duration of my internship that I do now is that leadership isn’t about having a fancy title or being assigned a role. Sure, someone may hire a person to be a manager, but that’s not what makes someone a leader.
I’ve learned that leadership is what you make of it. Leadership takes on a life of its own, in between the nuances of everyday work. It grows and shines when you harness it and reel it in, and if you stay committed to it, others begin to take notice; that’s when a beautiful “flow” emerges. You dive right into whatever it is that you’re doing and just get in sync with the people you’re working with and the projects you’re working on. Before you know it, you can’t even believe all that you’ve accomplished because you’ve been so tied into what you’re doing. Some might call this Imposter Syndrome, but just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be fine!
My time at the Chamber has been wonderfully memorable and life-changing. Not only did I find confidence that I didn’t quite have before, but I also gained a mentor and friend in an incredible businesswoman, Anjum Malik. Sometimes all you need to believe in yourself is for one person to believe in you; that’s something that I gained from the Chamber that I truly could never put a price tag on.
