This summer, we will be highlighting four interns who are choosing to Seek MORE. Get to know each one of them by reading their personal article and understanding what is the true meaning of seeking MORE.
Naomi has been with MORE for two semesters, and she serves as our Lead Intern. Read more to learn about how she has grown in her role at MORE Magazine.
My name is Naomi Monney, and this summer I am working as Lead Intern at MORE. I am now 19 years old, and I continue to play volleyball for Guatemala's national team. In August, I will start my Sophomore year at Olivet Nazarene University, where I will be studying economics and marketing.
I am part of the Indiana Latino Institute which offered me this internship last semester. I did not know how much of an impact this internship would have on my life. When I first started the internship, I was a Freshman studying Business administration at another college. My work in MORE made me realize that business administration is not my passion, I was always drawn to economics, so I made a transfer to another school that offered the major I was looking for. To be honest, I never thought about a marketing major until I started working with MORE.
At MORE, I worked on many projects for Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. My skills in digital marketing have improved since I joined the team. I create posts, edit videos, create emails, and work on collaborative campaign posts! Even though I had no prior work experience before MORE, my mentors have given me the trust and independence to explore.
Marketing is more than advertising and promoting, it is about creativity. Through projects I have worked on, I found myself to be amused by it, since one post can be designed in countless forms. That is the main reason I am choosing Marketing, I love that there is no wrong or right way, it sparks my creativity!
Last semester my main goals were to improve my communication skills and my networking skills. My first language is Spanish, and MORE has made me step out of my comfort zone requiring me to talk and write in English daily. I had no other choice than to improve my communication. My culture remains a big part of who I am, and as I’ve wanted to meet more women established in their careers that I can relate to, Arianna helped me build many connections in the Latino community. While working on my networking skills, I realized how connections are everything. I am now working on investing in many connections.
What I feel I have improved the most in is my confidence! I learned to trust in myself and the skills I have. At the beginning of last semester, I asked a lot of questions, I was scared to use elements that would stand out in my posts, and I was very nervous about the weekly team meetings. Through chatting with Arianna, I realized that there was no reason to be insecure. When I used all of my creativity on posts, they were approved right away with no changes to be made, and I realized the weekly team meetings were like talking to friends. My co-workers were polite and we all shared the same goals and are looking to grow together.
This semester I am choosing to seek MORE because I want to keep growing professionally. Some of the values and morals we practice are inclusivity, diversity, and equality, so MORE makes opportunities reachable for me!
From Spring 2024:
My name is Naomi Monney Hori; I am 18 years old and currently a freshman at Calumet College of St. Joseph, located in Whiting, Indiana. I am studying Business Administration and Management, yet what has always been a passion of mine is marketing and economics.
I am from Guatemala a country located in Central America, and lived there until the age of 18 when I moved to the United States to pursue my college education. Throughout my life, I have had many interests and ambitions that have shaped me into who I am today. As a child, my dream job was to be a supermodel, and I even participated in some local ads in Guatemala City. I have always been competitive and as I grew up, I found my greatest passion: sports. I started playing tennis at the age of 5, and I continued to play for seven years until the age of 12 when I started playing volleyball. Volleyball has taken me to many places, I got to play in Guatemala’s national team and even got a scholarship at my current college.
As an international student, the first months were very hard considering that all my family and friends were 4,204 kilometers (2,612 miles) away. I spent most of my time in my dorm alone and I started to compare myself with people on social media. Going out and making friends was tough since all I wanted to do was stay in bed, so I only left my room to go to classes or eat. I was not coming out of my comfort zone at all; nonetheless, I realized the irony of my actions. The main reason to pursue my studies in the United States was to step out of my safe place and embark on a new, diverse, and independent journey. I knew I had to change these habits, so in a leap of faith, I applied to the Seek MORE Internship Program.
As a member of the Indiana Latino Institute, I was offered a few internship positions, however, when I was introduced to MORE, I realized that this internship was what I was looking for. MORE held my attention since their main target is to empower women and show diversity. For me, seeking this position means that I will come out of my shell and interact in a place where I will not be judged by my looks or ethnicity. Not to mention that I will acquire incredible knowledge in marketing and business–that will help me earn my degree and a job!
Obtaining the position as a freshman showed me how grateful I am for my life and the skills I have. I am more than excited to learn about marketing with my team and coworkers. Additionally, I want to learn what it truly means to be Making Opportunities Reachable for Everyone in this society.
Connect with Naomi on LinkedIn.
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