This post is the first of a series where I will give an inside peek into what life is like as a social innovation fellow.

As a marketing fellow myself, I really feel I gained so much more than I expected from this fellowship. I initially stumbled over this position after searching for a job to replace my work-study job.

First thing, we divided our various platforms (this blog, the newsletter, and our Facebook page) between the three of us. Each of us was responsible for publishing content and redesigning any aspect we thought would improve communication and draw in our audience. As I am in charge of the blog, I took big steps to come up with more thoughtful, planned content. I wove in news from the social innovation world and current events to market our various events. Also, I completely overhauled our blog, transitioning it from wordpress.com to wordpress.org (which opens up many more options) and choosing a new, cleaner theme.

However, I improved so much more than these technical skills. I constantly reached out to departments, faculty and staff, and students across campus so I learned how to form professional relationships and communicate effectively. I also learned how to work on a team, specifically when delegating tasks to each other and collaborating on projects.

Most important, I learned how to balance my job tasks. We worked with an project management platform which allowed us to assign tasks to each other and keep track of what projects we needed to complete. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed as deadlines creep up, but this position taught me how to manage my time better and how to communicate when I felt behind.

I really feel I gained skills that I will take to my internships and even career. To me, it was the perfect learning environment because you work with peers who are at the same level as you. I can only imagine this position becoming more interesting as social innovation permeates campus (especially with AshokaU next year)!

If you’re interested in the marketing fellow position, check out the position description and application.