What My Intern Taught Me About Community, Mentorship, and Representation

When you freelance, you get used to doing everything yourself. You learn to rely on your own instincts, your own skills, your own ability to figure things out. After all, no one’s going to swoop in and fix your inbox or finish the client deck at 1AM but you.

It can feel powerful, but if I’m being honest, it can also feel isolating.

So when I brought on an intern this spring, Kaly, a bright, curious digital storyteller in her final semester at the University at Buffalo, I expected to get a little help managing campaign workflows and social media deliverables. What I didn’t expect was to feel something I hadn’t felt in a long time: connected.

Kaly reminded me of my internal motivation for this work to begin with. She brought fresh ideas, confidence, and care to every project. She asked thoughtful questions, embraced new platforms, and showed up fully, even while juggling multiple internships and academic responsibilities. And when she wrapped the internship by building a full website to showcase her work—with a page dedicated to the life lessons she took away—I felt something stir that went far beyond professional pride.

I felt seen.

Not just because she worked hard (she did), or because she thanked me so kindly in her reflection (she did that too), but because I saw a younger version of myself in her: an industrious woman of color trying to carve out a space in an industry that doesn’t always look like us, or work like us.

We’d never met before this internship. We live in different cities. We have different personal stories. But we shared something that’s often hard to articulate—a sense of resonance. That quiet recognition that someone gets what you’re navigating, not just professionally, but emotionally, culturally, personally.

Her words floored me:

“Being an intern doesn’t diminish my value—I’m proud of my contributions and I’m not afraid to use my voice.”

That’s not just a lesson for her. That’s a lesson for all of us.

Freelancing can make you forget how good it feels to be part of a team. But more than that, it can make you forget that you are part of something bigger- a creative, diverse, evolving community of people who care deeply about the work and the world.

Kaly reminded me that mentorship is reciprocal. That community can cross state lines and still feel intimate. That representation in the workplace matters, not as a checkbox, but as a real source of shared joy and support.

She reminded me that even as a solo freelancer, I’m not doing this alone. I’ll carry that feeling with me.