At the Flawless Foundation, we love our interns! Today is National Intern Day, and to celebrate the day, we want to hear from all of our Flawless interns and fellows. Read their inspiring reflections about their time at Flawless and learn about their perspective. We love to share the insight and amazing work of our interns, and today is the perfect day for that!
Tre – Flawless Fellow
After nearly three years of working at the Flawless Foundation, I can undoubtedly say that the learning never stops. There’s so much that I’ve been able to learn that positively impacts not only myself but the people around me. This year, in particular, I learned how to be grounded. In borrowing a quote from my friend and Flawless intern Jason, I learned the importance of “being where your feet are.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and took the world by storm, there wasn’t a blueprint available on how to manage this challenge. Instead, we could only do the best that we could given the circumstances. By adopting the mindset of being where my feet were, I was able to navigate this experience with confidence. In my experience when life started to move at hyper-speed, everything around me felt like it was swirling out of control, and those feelings of anxiousness and uncertainty got the best of me. I realized I was focused on the wrong things: things that were out of reach, things in the distant future, and outcomes that I had no influence over. Recognizing this, I shifted my focus to things I could control. While I remained prepared for the future, I did not dwell on it and would focus on living in the moment. I followed that up by watching a few yoga videos on YouTube from our Flawless friend and mindfulness expert Hala Khouri. It provided me with a sense of gratitude, purpose, and tranquility that was so necessary during the chaos of the year 2020. All in all, I am grateful for the people and resources that defined my past year, and I will always enjoy learning from this Flawless organization!
Joseph – Flawless Fellow
Flawless is such a special organization! The foundation brings together a wonderful team of skilled, passionate, and hard-working people to make a meaningful impact in the world. Since I started at the Flawless Foundation last summer, I learned a plethora about mental health, business, and non-profit operations. It has been a wonderful experience seeing how Flawless has navigated a global pandemic, economic recession, and poor mental health throughout the world due to COVID-19 restrictions and resulting isolation. Being involved on the front-line of mental health when so many people are experiencing long-term or first-time mental health challenges has been important to Flawless. As a member of Team Flawless, I have learned about implementing mental health in the workforce, brain health solutions, and compassionate leadership from our founder, Janine Francolini. I am hopeful about the future because of passionate change-makers like the team at the Flawless Foundation.
Mary Kathryn
My time at the Flawless Foundation has been a constant in a year full of uncertainty. I started at Flawless over a year ago, and since then, I have found myself surrounded by a wide variety of opportunities. I represented Flawless at online events, interviewed with Tre on Instagram Live, grew my understanding of marketing through learning content creation, and worked with our clients at Flawless Strategies. These experiences confirmed my interest in a marketing and management consulting career, and this internship, in part, motivated me to begin graduate school in the fall. Flawless has forced me out of my comfort zone, in turn proving that I am capable of more than I believe. Watching our boss Janine check in with each team member, even during the busiest weeks, taught me a great deal about compassionate leadership. I loved seeing the team celebrate the “wins” of graduations, summer internships, and personal growth of their colleagues as well as support their teammates on the hard days. I am so thankful for this internship at the Flawless Foundation where I was able to grow both professionally and personally!
Tara
This past year at Flawless has been really special to me for so many reasons. When I started my internship last summer, I was excited about the opportunity to advocate for something I was passionate about and get valuable work experience for my career. After this past year at Flawless, I am grateful for so much more. A few months into my internship, I lost a lifelong friend to suicide. One of the most comforting things during this time was the fact that I had a unique opportunity to raise awareness about mental health and work to end the stigma that surrounds it in order to help people like my friend. I trust that the work I do at Flawless is creating a world where people feel freer to talk about their mental health journey and get help when they need it. There could not have been a better place for me to work during one of the most difficult times I and the rest of the world experienced. I am grateful for the amazing internship that Flawless has given me and the opportunity to work with people who care so deeply about mental health and each other.
Jason
The Flawless Foundation has shown me the importance of a positive outlook in life. With mental health, individuals have to trust themselves in order to make any life adjustments for life improvements. It is indeed the little things that count. As a Flawless intern, I have been able to see improvements in my own mental health habits. Consistency has played a key role in my ability and willingness to grow as an individual. From Backpack Friday’s to going on Instagram Lives every Wednesday with Tre or Daniel, the opportunity to express myself for a great cause has been life-changing.
Abby
Having started my internship at the Flawless Foundation two years ago when I was in high school, I am thankful that I was able to get involved with a cause that I am so passionate about at such a young age. As an intern, I am trusted with many responsibilities, which has helped me grow both my professional skills and my confidence. Through curating social media content, organizing client information, and working with various mental health professionals, I have been able to reach many professional goals that I would not have been able to do at any other organization. I love my time at Flawless, and I cannot wait to continue developing through my work and as a flawless person!
De’John
Working at the Flawless Foundation has taught me to love myself and others around me. The reason I like working at Flawless is the fact that we focus on mental health and ways to help people progress through their struggles. My favorite part of working at the Flawless Foundation this summer was when I participated in the Flawless workshop at Mental Health America of Palm Beach County. I loved how we impacted the participants in a positive way, and I loved to see how they felt uplifted by our presence. I am very thankful to be a part of this organization.
Daniel
Flawless is very special to me. I am thankful for the opportunity to be part of this team because it is like a second family for me. Not only is this internship beneficial for me in the psychology field but the internship also allows me to be a better person. It has helped me understand my own mental health, what is important in life, and the value of persevering through hard times. I’ve learned an incredible amount here at Flawless, and I am thankful every day that I get to be a part of the amazing team. I am glad that I learned what flawless means to me, and I will stay flawless the rest of my life.
