A global internship through an African lens — An Unfold Stories experience from Ghana
Editorial Intern at Unfold Stories
I interned with the Unfold Stories team for close to four months. It was an interesting and exciting journey. I’ll call it an internship experience of a lifetime. This is because of many factors…
Firstly, it was the first time the team had an intern (or even teammate) working directly from Africa! That was huge. This was made possible mainly due to Maz’s (it’s always Marisol until you begin working in the team 😊) tactical gamble. Of course, this was not the first time they’ve had a teammate working across a different time zone or in a country outside the UK, but this was the first time that person was from Ghana, or Africa, and more so, an intern. Now that made some difference.
My background in identity and biometrics, as well as digital marketing and communications, was well-suited to a project the team were working on — #GoodID. It was just the perfect match, and the perfect start to the year.
Additionally, the pandemic opened all of us up to the possibility of remote working in an advanced way. Prior to the lockdown, I’m not sure that this would have been so easily considered, but with the possibilities of global remote working, I was able to intern easily with the whole team based in the UK from Ghana.
Here I’ll share a few thoughts on this internship, to give you a sneak peek of my four month experience working with Unfold Stories.
Check-ins!
So, this is quite simple.
There is a set of images capturing one person with a different range of emotions, and each team member chooses one of those images that captures how they are feeling that morning. You can choose to elaborate or simply select a picture without going into detail about your mood. This helps teammates know how you are feeling that day. We try to do this a couple of days each week.
This concept was totally new to me but quite fun. I eventually created my own check-in a few weeks into the internship.
Which Daniel are you today?
The weather.
Of course, I couldn’t write this blog without mentioning the weather. It’s huge news in the UK. Aside from the normal four seasons, in the UK, things can change quite drastically hour to hour. Since the weather isn’t stable, it can very easily be a topic for discussion everyday — because there will always be something new to talk about.
It just isn’t the same here. We have two weather conditions in Ghana — the rainy season and the sunny season.
If we’re in the sunny season, it will be sunny for months. It would be very amusing to try and raise concern about “how sunny it is today”. If it’s the rainy season, we expect a few rains here and there every week. The majority of the time, there’s no need for a weather app.
This meant that jumping on a call almost every day and having to contribute to discussions about the weather was challenging. I always had one report — it’s sunny.
It was, however, really fun listening to various weather reports from different parts of the UK. While some teammates were experiencing ‘really hot’ temperatures at about 18°C, we were experiencing some really cold ones at 22°C. You can simply imagine how that conversation would go.
I really enjoyed working with the Unfold team. There were a few specific highlights that I found particularly uplifting.
Working on real projects, real time.
I worked mainly on the #GoodID project and contributed towards real deliverables. This was really, really fascinating for me. I felt my contributions were valued, and I was trusted, even as an intern. This isn’t always the case, and I took full advantage of the opportunity.
I produced content, crafted copy, and worked on images for #GoodID. Some of my work turned out to be the best performing work Unfold produced in those months. It was a really encouraging and proud moment for me.
Another highlight for me was working on the #GoodID Stories.
Pre-lockdown, the team planned to travel to different places across the globe to record and investigate real stories of how individuals have been impacted by digital ID systems — the good, the bad, and the ugly. But right before this project kicked off, the pandemic struck and lockdowns were put in place, with extreme travel restrictions.
So, the team restructured and redesigned the project to capture the stories virtually. The focus remained on real voices from real participants with real life identity stories, but the shift to remote capturing made this a particularly challenging project.
Having a man on the ground in Ghana was a great tool for Unfold in this circumstance. My experience in storytelling, photography and ID meant that I was able to work directly on stories with local participants.
With the restrictions eased in Ghana, I reached out to a few potential candidates, conducted interviews in real life, took real pictures for the project and helped produce two stories. It was really exciting to actually produce these stories physically, and not virtually. Again, the trust and support given to me here was incredible. You can find all these stories here: https://www.instagram.com/goodidstories.
Feedback and supportiveness
Another highlight was the feedback and support I received from every member of the team during my internship. My learning curve during my time with Unfold was very steep. I was exposed to new processes, new platforms, and new ways of collaborating with the team. But the genuineness of the feedback I was given (a real shout out to Becs, my line manager, for this — again, it’s always Rebecca until you start working in the team 😊), made a real difference, and the support from each team member was simply overwhelming. It truly was an encouraging environment for growth.
Transparency
One final highlight for me from this internship experience was the team transparency. At every point in time, we all knew what was happening at almost every angle of the company. We knew which contracts were coming in, what we were pitching for, and which ones we all had our corporate fingers crossed on. The business and management sessions held by the executive team were very inspiring. We all got to feel like we were a part of something, and not just working to fill our plates. This transparency, from the management perspective right to each colleague, is a very comforting aspect of the team, and is something I valued.
The entire internship period, from the first day to the last, was a time of constant learning, pleasure, and being relevant to the team while improving my skill set. And not to forget the fun and casual moments, of which we had plenty in our morning meetings.
Out of all the experiences I had at Unfold, (again, it’s always Unfold Stories, until you actually work in the team 😊), the biggest point for me was the culture I experienced.
Unfold create a supportive, fun learning environment, while working on meaningful projects as a valued member of the team. This is how it feels to be part of the Unfold Stories team.
