Internships and apprenticeships are a time-honored rite of passage in many industries. We’ve asked some brilliant folks to share some of the most important lessons they learned during these early experiences in their career.

Monica Dorsey

My entire life I was known as a leader on and off the basketball court , earning accolades, honoring my father who coached basketball in DFW for over 25 years. He taught me what it meant to lead, love, and learn. In 2019, I lost my father to a hard fought battle to cancer called Multiple Myeloma. In my devastation in grief I started working at the Texas Offenders ReEntry Initiative to aid, empower and support previously incarcerated women and men. I have been able to go within the prisons in dallas county and tarrant county to empower and serve. Read more>>

Justin Taylor

I started taking photography seriously when I met D. Lacy. He was a photographer by whom I was truly inspired. From the creative concepts I’d see, to the mindfulness that he displayed in everything he posted on social media. One of the most valuable things he told me was “You’re never going to make every client happy.” For a while, I was baffled because I always wanted to make sure my clients were satisfied. It wasn’t until I had my first unhappy client where I fully understood what he meant. I talked to him about it, and he told me: “You did everything you could to make them happy with the information and circumstances they gave you. Read more>>

Harmony Murillo

I was just starting out my photography career when I went searching for a way to learn more. I felt like I needed a mentor or a way to get a more hands on approach. Specifically, help on how to handle photoshoots. About a year prior I started following this established creator Emilynn Rose. She is a talented photographer/ creative director/ and videographer within the LA area. I thought that I would take the risk and email her, not really expecting anything to come of it. Low and behold she replied and we set up a zoom interview. From there I ended up getting an assistant position with her. Living in Temecula I knew the drive to Los Angeles would be taxing but I didn’t care. Read more>>

Deidre Gaskin

I was an account executive for one of the first boutique PR agencies in Atlanta back in college. The firm was going through some rebranding so I did what I knew how to do and that was step up. The agency kind of lost its notoriety and I decided to throw a series of events to get people more familiar with us and what we have coming up. I did the ground work, reached out, locked in local celebrities and partners but one mistake trusting “friends”. One of my media partners basically took the idea and one of my sponsors and created the event. Major rookie mistake! This is where I learned to get EVERYTHING in writing with terms and conditions. Read more>>

Sarah Neumann

As a practicing Physician Assistant in Dermatology for over 20 years, I’ve had many experiences which have touched my heart and helped me grow, but my personal and professional journey really began, strangely enough, in Central America. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and, like many of us as teenagers, I struggled with skin issues – acne. Back then I didn’t even know what a dermatologist was, but once I was able to be treated, I knew what it was like to feel whole again. Then I had a life changing experience when I was accepted as an exchange student in Belize in my undergraduate years. Read more>>

Ann Anaebere-Aneke

As a doctoral student at UCLA School of Nursing, I had opportunities to attend lectures and receive instruction from wonderful faculty in nursing and the health sciences. During my time as a student there, I was surrounded by innovation and amazing research. I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to work clinically as a nurse during my doctoral studies. It was during this time that I started to desire to work for a health care organization after graduation, rather than transition into an academic/faculty role. Read more>>

John Webb

As young photographer being mentored I distinctly recall seeing a couple say they had to pass hiring a very established photographer due to cost, only to see them come back months later asking the same photographer if it was possible he could do anything to improve the quality of the photography they ended up with. When he explained he could not work another professionals images without a release and , that after glancing at them, he anticipated they would spend more than his original hiring cost with no guarantee of success. It was a lesson I have carried with me ever since. Form both the photographers side, as well as the client. Read more>>

Mandy Evangelista

I’ve been a trainer for a very long time and I’ve trained a lot of people, but most of this training was performed in a group setting where my interaction with each client was limited to yelling out what exercises came next in a crowded room and then counting the reps from afar. The students would simply mimic the exercises I showed them and rep out however many was asked of them. When the class was over, we all packed up our stuff and parted ways until we meet again at the next regularly scheduled class. When we started the Chrome Angels Program, I initially applied the same style of training – – advised the clients what to do and expected them to simply follow the plan. Read more>>

Efrem Jernigan

I have grouped this story under internship / apprenticeship, but it is more realistically an affirmative action opportunity that happened in 1987 as a entered the Chemical Plant industry. As I left the Air Force, I went to the employment office on a Monday and was told that there were no jobs. As I walked out, someone stopped me and asked me if I was ex-military. (He said my walk stood out) Well my walk opened a door that the others had closed and a few days later I was in an interview. Furtunately, I was the only African American I saw being interviewed and I obtained the job. Needless to say, the days / months later revealed a real problem in our world. Read more>>

Terry Duffy

I was living in San Francisco, going to school to study Alternative Health and Design. I got a job at Yoga Journal Magazine and my husband was working for Lucas. We had a one year old son and stress was high. I had to get knee surgery and the same day my husband started bleeding internally and my aunt had to drive him to the hospital since I couldn’t drive or leave the baby. He had lost 1/2 the blood in his body. The doctors didn’t know why and said they would have to operate and possibly cut out parts of his stomach or maybe he had cancer and he needed chemo. We didn’t like the “Oh we will just cut you open and go in and find out what it is” approach. I said let’s pause for a moment and take a breath. Read more>>