This summer, I worked with ALTRD, a social impact venture that provides economic opportunity to new immigrants and refugees. ALTRD employs members of immigrant communities as seamstresses and organizes pick-up and drop-off with customers, thus allowing seamstresses the flexibility of working from home. I worked on a number of projects this summer and primarily coordinated marketing initiatives. My focus was spreading ALTRD’s reach in order to acquire more consumers of the service. Previously, consumers were acquired through in-person events that required an intensive process of planning. I used Google Analytics to identify trends that could potentially be useful in raising ALTRD’s presence in the online retail space. I also assisted in implementing a feature that allowed online retail consumers to easily add a free ALTRD kit with their purchase, thus increasing the number of returning customers.

I am currently studying Applied Mathematics as an undergraduate student at Columbia. Many of the skills that I was able to apply this summer were largely quantitative and technical. I applied previous knowledge of designing websites to my approach to the ALTRD website. I found that the most valuable skill that I learned this summer was communication, a skill that is largely untouched by coursework.

A significant challenge that I faced was communicating my questions and needs to my supervisor. It was difficult to define my vision for a project that fulfilled the needs of ALTRD as a business and I struggled imagining the final product.

My biggest takeaway was a thorough understanding of how difficult it is to establish a social impact venture. I wanted to understand the intricacies of managing finances and operations side of a small business and I now fully understand the workload required in taking the business off the ground.