Author: Adiki Puplampu
Date: 04 October 2022
When she graduated high school, Anurika’s dream of becoming a business owner led her to a business management major at the University of Alberta. But like many students, Anurika’s ideas about who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do shifted, and her career goals moved from business ownership to marketing and consulting. With this goal shift came a desire to gain more knowledge, experience, and relevant skills in this area. An international student, Anurika had worked several jobs that, despite giving her good learning experiences, were not in her area of career interest. It was this desire to gain real-life experience and learn more about the business world that led her to apply to the ELITE Program for Black Youth.
After being accepted to the ELITE Program, Anurika was placed in an internship with Ruth, a sustainable period care company. In her role as a social media coordinator, she maintained various social media accounts, created and scheduled content, managed email marketing, compiled analytics, and engaged in customer discovery research. The experience of supporting the marketing efforts of Ruth, whose founders Anurika now considers professional role models, confirmed her desire to pursue a career in consulting or marketing.
For Anurika, what makes the ELITE Program so appealing is its well-rounded nature. The opportunity to not only gain internship experience but also learn about financial independence, entrepreneurship, and wellness makes the experience of being in the program that much more fulfilling.
“I don’t know everything, and the entire point of this internship is that that’s okay. I’m always learning, taking in the feedback from my supervisors and doing better. That’s what’s important: putting what you learn into practice.”
During her internship she had the opportunity to participate in the company's Menstrual Hygiene Day event. Along with being a socially conscious organization focused on sustainability, Ruth also fights against period poverty. During their Menstrual Hygiene event they distributed free samples of their pads at event locations in Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver. Anurika counts her participation in this event as one of the proudest moments of her internship experience.
With this work experience under her belt and her fourth year in a business management degree on the horizon, Anurika is ready to begin focusing on her next big goal: a master’s in business law. We can’t wait to see what Anurika does next and we wish her well in this upcoming semester!