Author: lydiabegag

As summer comes to a close and I begin packing my things to leave Boston, there is much to reflect on with my experience interning at Jane Doe Inc. These last three months have highlighted my capacity for an all-virtual internship I didn’t know I had in me before! I have met so many amazing people that have dedicated their lives to sexual assault and domestic violence prevention and advocacy, expanded on my personal internship workload, and connected with various professional networks. 

The world of work during a global pandemic has challenged all my pre-existing notions of how an organization operates under pressure. During this time, professional spaces like JDI have needed to transform and accommodate their company staff virtually to comply with public health and safety measures. At the beginning of summer, I viewed the adjustment to my remote workspace as temporary, one that might take me a few weeks to settle into. In hindsight, this wasn’t the case. Adjusting to the new “normal” of a virtual work environment is something I, along with everyone else, did consistently throughout the summer. It is something we will all continue to do in the coming  year. Every day I worked, I was choosing to adapt and challenge my ideas of a conventional workspace. This has led to heightened open-mindedness about what work could look like in the future. As I enter into my second half of college and consider more seriously my prospects and goals for after school, my capability and understanding for a virtual work environment will definitely be factored in.

My internship with JDI emphasized the values of social justice and responsibility above all. With a focus on sexual assault and domestic violence prevention and advocacy, I learned a great deal about the field. Social justice work means amplifying the voices, stories, and demands of those who don’t have a seat at the table (or who are not even allowed in the room). It entails active listening, understanding your own positions of privilege and power, and using your platform to equalize the playing field as much as you possibly can. I’ve tried to incorporate all of this and then some into my work at JDI, which consisted primarily of planning and holding a virtual event panel. “Multiple Truths: Survivorship in the 2020 Elections” was held on August 6 via Zoom Webinar, and after months of preparation with the rest of the JDI staff, I had the privilege of moderating a panel discussion with four brilliant, incredibly experienced leaders and activists. What started with a small idea in the back of my brain turned into a space that had over two hundred registrants and hosted over one hundred real-time attendees, accessibility features (including an ASL interpreter) and the most powerful voices and stories I have ever heard. The event was also recorded and will be posted to JDI’s social media channels for all to view!

I hope this becomes a project an intern takes on every summer and the space created for sexual assault survivors continues to grow and flourish. Interning for an organization that focuses on domestic violence/sexual assault work strengthens my belief of how important it is to contribute to this work. It is also constant work; the fight for sexual assault survivors and amplifying their voices and stories never ends. Thus, my advice to someone who wants to pursue an internship with JDI or anywhere else that does prevention work is that pacing yourself is a must. This work can be heavy at times, and I encourage you to do what feels safe and best for you first and foremost. JDI is an organization that values hard work and collaboration, but also emphasizes maintaining boundaries, respecting others’ limits, and practicing self-care.

I’m so thankful to have been a part of this organization and to contribute in the ways I did in the last few months. I cannot recommend interning with JDI enough, and I will definitely miss it! 

If you would like to learn more about Jane Doe Inc. or find out how to get involved, click here.

My excitement to come to Brandeis involved many different factors, but one of the biggest was this: I was beyond ready to write more essays.

You read that right! I went to a very STEM-focused high school, so my four years involved numerous chemistry lab reports, physics and calc problem sets, and biology tests. Being someone interested in the social sciences and humanities, I knew lab research and test-taking was something I wanted to avoid as much as possible in college. And avoid it I have. Most of my classes at Brandeis have involved term papers and oral presentations. However, my transition to papers was not glamorous. I may not have to sit in a classroom for two hours and take a test, sure, but there is definitely a time constraint. Brandeis students are all too familiar with the “last minute” papers: the ones that, admittedly, should take you three weeks to research and write and are 20% of your final grade, but end up getting written five hours before they are due with the strongest espresso drink the Starbucks in Farber can offer.

Before Brandeis, I had always prided myself on my time management skills, but now I recognize that is not one-and-done. Mastering time management is a constant process, and it’s a skill we’re always working to develop and retain during our four years. Very quickly, I also realized that consistent and effective time management is not something that gets utilized just in academia. All our teachers and professors are right when they say managing the way you spend your time in college prepares you for life after. Even though I still have two more years at Brandeis, my internship this summer has given me a taste of what time management in a professional setting really looks like.

With Jane Doe Inc., every day is a busy day, and no one day looks the same as they next! My work ranges from helping the outreach and communications coordinator create social media posts to refining de-carceration write-ups for the Policy Team to turn into talking points for JDI’s member organizations. I’ve learned to pace myself, set goals to stay on track, and keep myself accountable to the work. Acquiring time management skills during a global pandemic is especially hard, with our workspaces and co-workers all contained to a computer screen. One great tool JDI uses to aid in this process is Asana, which is an app designed to help organizations and teams organize, track, and manage their work. I’m able to separate my projects from one another, and upload tasks, assign them to people, and give them specific due dates. This has been incredibly helpful in developing and planning for my biggest project of the summer. 

Titled “Multiple Truths: Survivorship in the 2020 Elections,” this virtual panel event will address the intersection of sexual assault and elections and highlight sexual assault survivors’ identities and voting decisions in the 2020 elections. Coordinating an event completely virtually has transformed the way I thought about time management. At JDI, time management involves updating your coworkers on your progress and asking for help when you need it. Streamlining the planning process by involving as many helping parties as possible has been crucial for the event. Now, just four weeks away, we have a full panel of speakers whose discussion I will be moderating. The event will also incorporate accessibility features such as an ASL interpreter for the full duration and closed-captioning in English and real time for the virtual audience. From a mere idea to nearly a full-fledged event soon to be held (August 6th! Mark your calendars and register here!), time management was one of the most important elements in bringing it together.

While I emphasize the importance of time management within my internship’s workspace, I’ve also learned this skill extends to after internship hours as well. Setting boundaries for myself is critical. This means avoiding checking my work email after I have clocked out for the day and finding ways to spend my time in the afternoons after work in a way that is personally fulfilling. Most recently, I have been turning this time into catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, finding new farmer’s markets, and enjoying the best views Boston has to offer.

This summer, I have the privilege of remotely interning with Jane Doe, Inc. in Boston, MA. Jane Doe, Inc. is a non-profit that seeks to create change by addressing root causes of domestic and sexual violence, as well as promoting justice, safety, and healing for survivors. JDI has three strategies in tackling the injustice of gender-based violence: advocacy, collaboration, and innovation. JDI advocates for state and federal legislation and funding that benefit the lives of SA/DV survivors, as well as for public and private systems to improve access to services, resources, and justice. Right now, they especially focus on protections for incarcerated survivors in MA during COVID-19, and intersecting economic and racial justice for marginalized communities in the Greater Boston area. JDI also promotes collaboration between member organizations to create innovative solutions and improve the lives of survivors. JDI works alongside partners like the ACLU of Massachusetts and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence. This coalition works towards common goals to break down institutional barriers that survivors face. Some preventative projects that JDI has worked on with partners include the #ReimagineManhood campaign, the #MeToo initiative, and #RESPECTfully in collaboration with Mass.gov. 

Like other WOW Social Justice Fellows, I was interested in joining an organization that was committed to promoting solutions for issues between society and individuals. At Brandeis, I am majoring in Politics and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and minoring in Legal Studies. I wanted to find an organization that covered the intersection of my academic course of study: advocating for women’s rights within legal, public policy, and social justice fields. JDI is a perfect combination of all my academic and personal interests. They also go beyond these areas to cover all the complex intersections of attaining gender equality, such as race, economics, housing, immigration, and others. The inclusive environment of my (virtual) workspace is incredibly uplifting. As an Arab-Muslim woman, working in this type of professional setting was highly important to me during my internship search. 

Throughout the first month of my internship, I have been working on numerous projects within a variety of departments. With the support of the rest of the team, I plan to dedicate my time and energy to working on two main projects while at JDI. One is researching and crafting an op-ed on the sexual abuse to prison pipeline and the necessity to reallocate Massachusetts state funding towards decarceration. I am also developing a panel event  on multiple truths in sexual assault survivors’ identities and voting decisions in the 2020 elections. This event arose from my frustration regarding the political injustice and degradation of survivors in conversations around the upcoming elections. Before coming to JDI, I had no idea how to craft substantial change on this issue. Now, within my role, I am working to host this virtually later in the summer to validate survivors’ experiences at the polls and beyond. Alongside these projects, I collaborate with other members of the JDI staff on smaller-scale projects, which are more long-term and work towards permanent progress. These include tracking domestic violence-related homicides in Massachusetts, writing personal narratives for each victim with the Director of Communications & Development, and updating JDI’s Civic Engagement Toolkit with the Policy and Advocacy Team. 

Although my internship this summer is remote due to COVID-19, being a WOW fellow has enabled me to experience this incredible opportunity while living in Boston’s North End! When I’m not working indoors, I’m out taste-sampling cannolis at various bakeries, shopping at Italian grocers, and taking long walks around the city. To settle the age-old debate: yes, Modern Pastry’s cannolis are better than Mike’s.