The past few months of the Boafo Beauty Blog Internship have been amazing. With it coming to and end, Alayjah shares her experience in the internship and what she has learned.
"Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending." -C. JoyBell C.
I felt like this quote was the perfect representation given this is my last post for Boafo Beauty. It’s hard to believe I’m already writing this, but this internship has been fun and challenging and I wanted to share my biggest takeaways.
1. Experiencing Writing/Creating Outside of my Personal Work
The first thing is that the internship challenged me to try a new style of writing. I have my own wellness blog, and how I write for Boafo Beauty is completely different. It’s not just in terms of context, but how it’s formatted and organized.
Prior to my 2nd semester, my goal was to be a fashion journalist, but after the disappointing encounter I had, I was discouraged to pursue writing as a career choice. Writing for this blog has given back a bit of hope because there was a lot of creative freedom and it’s a bit less structured.
I’m grateful for this chance to know what I like and don’t like, and also the type of blocks that may happen. This wasn’t my only internship this summer. I also had roles in copywriting, visual arts, and communications. All of those roles along with Boafo Beauty are all creative and one thing I never thought of when pursuing a creative career is how difficult it is to stay inspired and how easy it could be to get burnout.
Creative careers often aren’t as respected sometimes, but when you are creating, what most people don’t see your work is constantly problem-solving. As a writer, we are looking to share information that solves a problem. Writing is a lot of brainstorming, research, drafting, editing, etc. On top of that, we try to find a voice unique to us. Having a team to help you through it and provide feedback is one of the most important things.
Furthermore, with writing, you have to be open to criticism. The thought process you have when you are writing makes sense to you, that doesn’t mean it will make sense to others. It’s a hard pill to swallow. I know my weakest point as a writer is my grammar, but I also learned other things that can be a weakness.
2. Image Designs
I personally enjoyed this a bit more than writing. I have a soft spot for design, but I’m not sure if that’s an area I would want to go into in the future. I loved creating images and videos to go with the writing because I felt like it made the content I made more personalized.
3. Promotion/ Sharing
I felt of all things this was the most difficult for me, and I realized I want to get better at sharing things I make. I feel like I am conscious of my work and it was hard for me to share it on certain platforms but easier for me on other platforms. Learning about SEO helped this area, but I still feel like there’s so much more development I need in this area.
Overall, I learned so many things as a writer and myself creating content on here. I hope this motivates you to step out of your comfort zone. The only way to figure out what works for you is to explore. It may surprise you!
Do you have any experiences that changed you? If you share your story, tag @Boafo.beauty or @simpylayxx!