The first month of Disqus's 2022 Summer Internship is coming to an end and we thought it would be the perfect time to introduce our new additions to the Disqus team!
We took some time to ask our interns some questions to get better acquainted. First, we have your writer Imani Thompson, our Content Marketer who will focus on connecting with you all through Disqus's blogs, newsletter, etc. As our Social Media Intern, Tiarra Banks will oversee outreach through our Twitter, Instagram, and many other accounts. David Lesser will work directly with clients managing sales and current accounts, keeping our clients satisfied as the Technical Account Manager. Lastly, we have Sucharitha Vallabhaneni who will ensure Disqus's efficiency by processing anything from services to the product as our Business Analyst Intern. As we continue to acclimate to our daily roles and the business, we are finding ourselves confidently growing and enjoying the creative reign our awesome managers allow us.
About us
Tiarra just graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from James Madison University. She's developed an interest in content marketing and Esthetics and will attend Esthetician School for her license this fall in VA. Although she is a Gen-Z who grew up in the age of technology she is still learning new tricks to best optimize the use of our social media platforms.
Imani attends Kennesaw State University majoring in media and entertainment with a minor in film. For her, connecting and inspiring people through her writing is one of her biggest passions. Creating blogs, newsletters, etc. for Disqus is exciting as she figures out new content to bring to you all that still aligns with Disqus' mission.
Sucharitha is pursuing a Masters in Business Analytics and Data Science at Oklahoma State University. In the past, she has worked as a student enrollment research assistant analyst and a program analyst for 2 major banks' payment systems. While she's already enjoying learning more about the digital marketing field she hopes to widen her experience across different industries.
David attends Syracuse State University majoring in data analytics with a minor in business. He's originally from Philadelphia with his siblings and two amazing dogs. He's a big fan of his hometown sports teams and can usually be found playing basketball with his friends or at the beach. He's already found himself a great mentor in his acting manager Ryan!
What do you hope to gain from this career-wise and personally?
As Tiarra navigates through platforms like Twitter and Instagram she wants to focus on the different tones she can utilize in her outreach. Thanks to Michael Gately and his support, she enjoys the ability to be creative and try different approaches to see what garners more engagement. As a rising entrepreneur, she knows the importance of social media and recognizes this internship will help her gain the skills necessary to market a business platform. A personal goal of hers is to practice punctuality and communicate professionally with different people; successfully showing a professional range and adapting to trendy topics.
One of the challenges to having creative freedom is having to take charge of projects from start to finish. Imani hopes to sharpen her writing by making it concise and utilizing different tones with confidence, although she enjoys bringing you all fun pieces like "Leveraging your comments." In her time here at Disqus, Imani hopes to get a better understanding of the relationship between publishers and their audiences so she can continue to find new creative ways to build engagement.
Sucharitha hopes to leverage her experiences here at Disqus to help improve businesses' analytical tactics to enhance companies' global revenue in a sophisticated way.
Unsure of what direction in the data analytics field he wants to take, David hopes to gain some clarity on his future and more leadership qualities. He knows it all comes with experience and he remains curious and open-minded to all that the industry has to offer him.
Summer plans?
Now that Tiarra has graduated and has more time to herself she plans to spend the summer networking, exploring her interest, taking vacations with her loved ones, and catching up on her favorite shows like "All American" and "Blacklist" More than anything, Tiarra knows that connecting with people and making lifelong memories networking can push you further in life more than anything else.
Aside from enjoying some good food and music with friends for her "concert summer," Imani will be spending the summer on film sets as a production assistant and honing her script-writing skills all to build up her confidence to start producing and directing her work. If she's not on a set or at a concert she'll be traveling with family and friends.
Sucharitha plans to visit her family back in India and visit historic places.
New to New York, David plans to explore the city and visit the beach with his family on the weekends.
What is your Mantra and where did it from?
Tiarra: Doubt kills more dreams than failure- Failure is a part of success. You can only grow and learn from mistakes if you first, let them happen. At our young age, it’s easy to measure our success based on what our peers are doing; therefore, it's imperative that you believe in yourself and speaks positivity into your life when the future does not look too promising. This quote depicts my feelings towards my senior year of college. I doubted myself so many times, but I exceeded every goal that I set out for myself because I didn’t allow myself to fall victim to my thoughts.
Imani: Potential is nothing but a new glass ceiling to shatter- Your potential is never-ending, once you've accomplished one thing there will always be a " what's next?" A person should never stop growing because they are fearful of what's to come instead they should look around and see where growth is needed. As for Myself, I have so many things I want to accomplish that is accompanied by the fear of succeeding. There will always be a "what's next" it's not a daunting question at the end of great success but the question of a new successful beginning.
Sucharitha: I am capable of achieving whatever comes my way. This came from my past experiences.
David: Trying to be a better me than I was the day before. I try to learn as much as I can every day and take a step forward with it. While setbacks are inevitable it is important to learn from them and keep moving forward.
Now that we've introduced ourselves, we hope you cheer us on as we grow in our remaining time here at Disqus! Do you all have any advice for us as we continue to explore our career paths?