During my summer at Thimble, I found useful news articles about needle phobias and how needle phobia affects many people of all ages. Thimble looks to reduce pain and anxiety with needles by producing an easy-to-use and fast-to-work product specifically for needles. My research was directly connected to the organization’s mission as I worked on publishing social media posts specifically related to the blog and the teams’ mission on Facebook and LinkedIn. My research project outcomes helped to expand the awareness of needle phobia and pushed out information about Thimble’s product to our followers on social media. During this internship, I worked closely with the founder, Manju Dawkins, to strategize how we were going to develop and distribute content onto all platforms. I also sat in on weekly meetings with the creative team and brought new ideas to them. In these weekly meetings, we discussed product design, social media strategy, website, app, and blog content, and created a kids' game that would be fun and engaging while they are at the doctor’s office (where needle procedures occur).

Social Animal Digital Age — a sociology class where we learned about the impact of modern technology on society including forms of interaction, communication, possibilities for problem-solving, and re-configurations of social relationships — allowed me to bring valuable thoughts and ideas to our social media team. I brought up new ideas on how we should go about posting certain content that would build a strong and safe community for people who struggle with needle phobia and fears. Other sociology classes have allowed me to develop a skill set for social interactions, learning how to communicate and problem solve. Learning and developing these valuable skills allowed me to feel comfortable and work alongside my coworkers. Taking Methods for Social Research provided me with a foundation on how to conduct social research. This was an important skill that I learned because I was able to take what I learned and apply it to my work field when I had the opportunity to interview people on needles and collect valuable data for my Thimble team.

While working for Thimble, things could be challenging at times because the internship was entirely remote. Due to this, it was quite independent, and was hard to stay on a consistent schedule. Luckily, I felt that my boss was an incredible resource, and I felt supported by her whenever it was needed. She was constantly reaching out to me and reminding me that she was always available if needed, and we were able to set up weekly calls to ensure I was staying on top of my work. Another challenge I found was not being able to upload certain content to our social media platforms due to some of our guidelines. We decided we wanted to not show pictures of any needles and not post articles that included images of needles. When I found news articles about needle phobia and important statistics, I would face the challenge of not being able to post this fantastic article because it had an image of a needle. So, finding great news articles without having an image of a needle was difficult at times because it felt like the articles were getting limited.

Working at Thimble was a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable work experience. My biggest takeaway from the internship was running social media accounts on different platforms. I learned how it is essential to use social media to promote a business and how much goes into making the social media page presentable. Throughout my experience, I got to sit in on Zoom meetings with the creative team, where they educated me on how the smallest issues have to be considered. When starting a new business, you have to strategize and think about small details in order for your business to be successful. With support from the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, I was able to learn new valuable things and bring in new ideas while working with Thimble over nine weeks. Being able to work alongside one of the founders of Thimble was an incredible opportunity,