Amid a pandemic, RapidSOS’ summer internships look quite different in 2020 than previous years. While interns usually meet, work, and learn in the New York City office, this year’s class of interns tuned in from all around the US, hundreds of miles and several time zones apart.
Instead of coming together in a conference room, the 2020 summer interns connected virtually through Google Meet. Weekly lunch hangouts became a fast substitute for going to restaurants, and virtual coffee chats with the leadership team offered opportunities to engage with other departments. Onboarding buddies were key to making a virtual office feel just a bit more normal.
There’s been advantages and drawbacks in this remote and social distanced reality. By tackling working from home, interns have developed new skills they will carry with them as the world’s workplace continues to evolve in light of COVID-19. Each intern was asked to reflect on their experience and discuss key takeaways from their summer with RapidSOS. Read on to virtually meet our talented group of 2020 summer interns.
Alex Chung
College of William and Mary
Team: Engineering
Special Talent: Pours milk before cereal
“Working at RapidSOS is rewarding because during my short time here, RapidSOS’ work has reinforced my belief that innovation should be used to positively impact people’s lives. It’s something I’ve spoken about in my own studies, and seeing it in my professional career is amazing. It’s incredibly rewarding when this idea permeates not only the work, but also the employees and culture. I can feel the passion the teams bring to meetings or to orientation talks, and I can sense the pride and joy behind their work. Knowing that I’m aiding this work in my own way – with my own abilities – fills me with motivation, that my work does not feel like something I have to do, but something I really want to do.”
Evan Biegel
St. John’s University, JD/MS in Accounting
Team: Intellectual Property
Special Talent: Percussionist and home cook
“During my time with RapidSOS, I have learned outside the scope of my role as an IP intern, our technology truly saves lives. All it takes is one impact story for which our technology was used to help save a life to learn how pivotal a role RapidSOS plays in the emergency services landscape.”
Jason Yun
Northwestern University, MBA Candidate
Team: People Operations
Special Talent: Ex-competitive ultimate frisbee player
“My favorite part about working at RapidSOS is the team – everyone is incredibly driven, positive, and always willing to help. Our work is rewarding because it has an immediate impact!”
Justin Kim
Harvard Business School, MBA Candidate
Team: Business Development
Special Talent: Singing
“My favorite part about working at RapidSOS is working with smart, driven, and down-to-earth people from all different backgrounds, but united by the same mission. Our work is rewarding because what we do saves lives! I don’t even have to justify how we make a positive impact in the community.”
Maddie Entine
The Ohio State University
Team: Marketing
Special Talent: Childhood magician
“My favorite part about working at RapidSOS is the mission. Everything at RapidSOS has an impact and being able to contribute to a company that saves lives every single day makes work incredibly rewarding. There is nothing more motivating than feeling like you are able to make a difference!”
MaryAnn Klick
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Team: Public Safety
Special Talent: Finding the best ramen places
“Working at RapidSOS is rewarding because you’re not only doing meaningful work that’s making a huge impact on so many communities, you also get to work alongside people whose drive inspires you everyday. In my time with RapidSOS, I have learned work culture is important. RapidSOS has so many great and talented employees that are engaging, motivated and kind. It makes work feel inspiring and makes you want to work even harder.”
Niko Cruz-Marsted
Cornell University
Team: Engineering
Special Talent: Making fresh tortillas
“On a typical day as a RapidSOS intern, I start work by booting up my laptop and getting set up for a daily standup with everyone on my team. After that, I work either on my summer project or an improvement to the existing codebase. Later I have a meeting with the rest of the interns and a member of the team, or I sit in on a product planning meeting with the engineering and Project Management team. While not being in the office hasn’t been ideal, I find myself in contact with a variety of people throughout the day, constantly bouncing around calls and picking up knowledge from all the talented members of the engineering team.”
Patrick Deem
Harvard Business School, MBA Candidate
Harvard Kennedy School, MPP Candidate
Team: Global Expansion
Special Talent: Pizzamaking
“Working at RapidSOS is rewarding because it offers a real opportunity to help save lives. A typical day as a RapidSOS intern looks like a trip around the world. On any given day, I might be on calls with colleagues and partners on five different continents.”
Rebecca Schwartz
Columbia Business School, MBA Candidate
Team: Business Development
Special Talent: Crossword puzzles
“My favorite part about working at RapidSOS is listening to prospective partners react to our value proposition. In my time here, I have learned about the complexity of the public safety technology infrastructure.”
Tanishq Bhalla
Harvard Business School, MBA Candidate
Team: Product Management
Special Talent: Spike ball
“My favorite part about working with RapidSOS is that there is a new challenge I get to work on every week. Whether it be product strategy, go-to-market planning, or product marketing – there are so many different things going on within the product team and I’ve gotten to work on a bit of everything. The technology we build saves lives every day and it is incredible to see the impact we have on 911 emergencies.”
Tiffany Chen
Baruch College
Team: Finance
Special Talent: Understands 3 languages and one dialect
“Working at RapidSOS is rewarding because of its mission, goals, and the people. I am excited to contribute to an organization that is making history and providing an innovative solution to a modern problem.”
Valerie Chia
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, MBA Candidate
Team: People Operations
Special Talent: Can touch tongue to nose
“In my time with RapidSOS, I have learned how to adapt to working remotely since all our internships are virtual this summer. It’s been a new challenge as far as getting to know people at the company outside of my immediate team, but between onboarding, training, virtual coffees and lunches, company-wide video calls, and informal social gatherings there has been a lot of programming to help us connect with each other and the company as a whole.”
Yeshey Tshogyal
Baruch College
Team: Public Safety
Special Talent: Baking cookies with chickpeas
“My favorite part about working at RapidSOS is working with a team that is extremely supportive, encouraging and bubbly. For me, a typical day as a RapidSOS intern looks like waking up to a huge cup of coffee and going through emails, checking slack channels, working on projects for the Public Safety Team, with lofi chill hip hop music playing in the background.”