The Right to Earn A Living: Why I Don’t Believe in Unpaid Internships
We all know that the professional world is changing. Brands are on Facebook, executives are blogging, and young professionals like myself can find jobs using Twitter. However, some things will always stay the same… or so I hope.
In the early 80′s, my mom came to America as an immigrant from the Philippines. She believed that this country afforded her the luxury that her home country did not – the right to earn a living. She believed that through hard work, networking, and perseverance, she would have the opportunity to not only take care of herself, but to give back to those whom she loved.
She believed in the American dream.
My mom, along with the countless others who came before and after her, made a choice to find success in this country. As immigrants, they did not come expecting charity or aid from the government. They came with no sense of entitlement. Instead, they came with purpose and a work ethic. They knew how to save money because they couldn’t afford not to.
Where is the American dream today?
When I look at the world around me, I see the fibre of America unraveling.
Adults are losing their jobs while soon to be college graduates are applying for internships.
College admissions is more competitive than ever, and the cost of a four-year program at most tier one schools is a $200K investment.
Students are graduating with more credit card debt than in years past thanks to an adult world that has done a pretty awful job of demonstrating how to manage personal finances.
Young people in this country no longer understand how to save as a result of living in a world defined by excess and loans.
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I was prompted to write this post after reading a comment from John Cass who expressed that “sometimes you don’t have to pay for interns, gen y will throw themselves at you.” After expressing my belief that employers must reward workers, I got the following responses directed towards me:
In my opinion, employers can afford to mentor AND pay their interns ($10-$15/hour or $500-$2000 stipends for the semester). What I don’t think we can afford is to tell young people that it’s okay to not have a source of income. I understand the value of professional networking and I understand the value of learning from experienced professionals. However, I also understand the burden of being young.
To put things into perspective, when you’re in college, it’s not enough to have tuition and room and board taken care of. Chances are, you need some kind of suplemental income in order to pay for things like a laptop, books, and lab fees. If you’re in an urban setting, it’s virutally impossible to resist the temptation of eating out once in a while or purchasing a monthly subway or rail pass. For those at rural schools, having a car is usually helpful and travel home during the semester can really add up.
There are leisure and recreational expenses to account for, things like spring break trips, movies, sporting events, fraternity dues, dance classes, and maybe the occasional beer or two (*sarcasm*).
Given these expenses, how can we justify an unpaid internship? John was right in that I know tons of students who would jump at the opportunity to work for free. However, the debate isn’t whether students will work for free or not, but whether they should.
In my opinion, free labor is the antithesis of what makes us Americans.
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In the end, we’ll all make choices for our own personal reasons and find ways of justifying either side. Some students will choose unpaid internships while others will choose to work in jobs like retail, bartending, or mailroom envelop stuffing. The former will benefit from corporate networking and training while the latter will benefit by working towards financial independence.
If you were a student or recent graduate in today’s recession, which route would you choose?
Photo credit: emdot
Be the Change
I came to Mzinga last June looking to understand the business behind the social media industry. In the process, I found myself deeply changed.
Working side by side with Barry Libert, I learned about the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship, the unpredictable outcomes of risk-taking, and the one fundamental lesson that will stay with me throughout the entire duration of my professional career: have passion in everything you do.
With these lessons in mind, I’ve made the difficult decision to resign as a full-time employee from Mzinga in pursuit of fulfilling my personal passions. I will still remain a Social Media consultant to the company and a long-time friend to the many individuals I’ve been lucky enough to work with.
To anyone reading this thinking, “How can you leave a full time job in the middle of a recession?” the answer is simple: I’m 22 and I have a mission.
I won’t go into the details of that mission just yet, but it’s ambitious.
We are living in really difficult times, but those of us who can afford to take risks need to use this as an opportunity to invest, not just in ourselves, but in each other.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Ghandi
The Digital Parent’s Terms Of Service
My friend Jim Storer brought up a really great topic of conversation on his blog recently about online transparency and whether lifestreaming presents offline threats to those who frequently disclose their whereabouts. While I could go into a number of ways that I could easily stalk a stranger (use of IP addresses, public records, physical following, etc) the reality of the situation is that today’s digital natives don’t have many options in terms of erasing points of entry into their personal lives.
I know a lot of people who are up in arms over the most recent Terms of Service modifications on Facebook because they worry about not having ownership over content that is uploaded online. While it’s a relevant conversation to today’s Internet world, I can’t help but look ahead towards future Internet users who have no say in the matter at all.
The Digital Parent’s Dilemma
There are times when I see pieces of user-generated content floating around my timeline – Flickr photos of families, Saturday soccer games, Twitpics of birthday parites, Qik videos of toddlers running around in their diapers. All the while, I keep thinking about the kids being documented and I just tell myself, “Thank goodness my parents didn’t have access to this stuff when I was three.”
There are betamax videos of myself taken when I was little that will never be on Youtube. There are awkward school photos of myself that will only ever be displayed on my family’s fireplace mantle. Lucky for me, I became an adult before the Internet gave rise to the social web. Consequently, I always had the ability to choose when I would create an online presence for myself and what that would consist of.
For many children of the digital age, they simply won’t have the choice.
Parental Terms of Service in a Web 2.0 World
As the child of a digital immigrant, you are subject to the following Terms and Conditions (upon birth):
“You hereby grant your parents an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), content featuring you. This content may be (i) Posted on or in connection with the websites and social networks that will (a) enable other users to post on other properties and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the services or the promotion thereof.
[modified from Facebook's new terms of service]
Realistically, I don’t think many kids will care when they see that they’re Google-able before age five, but this raises important questions regarding the future of parenting and privacy. Is it okay for parents to share their kids online without their consent? I know tons of parents who have already made this choice (some even pick baby names based on domain name availability) and I often question whether kids will grow up feeling a little bit violated. I went through my phases of teen angst in middle school and I can only imagine what kind of backlash parents are going to feel when their teens come locked and loaded with statements like, “You put me on Youtube and my friends found the video! I hate you!”
With sites like baveo and totspot, which both offer social features for expecting parents, the rise of the digital fetus is certainly upon us. Hopefully for parents, it won’t mean the rise of the angry teen.
Are you a digital parent? If so, how do you decide what goes up on the web and what doesn’t?
The ROI of an Email
These days, everyone talks about the power of Twitter or Facebook, the wonders of Web 2.0 and its ability to connect the masses. However, what most people don’t realize is that the tools don’t do anything unless people have the guts to use them. More importantly, connections mean nothing unless you have the heart to cultivate them into relationships. For me, the real challenge is taking relationships and transforming them into community.
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Here’s an email that means more to me than any wall post, tweet, digg, or LinkedIn connection ever could or would (click to see it larger). 
Exactly one year ago from today, I met Maria Thurrell on the 66 bus going to Innman Square. I emailed her the night before on a whim, because something in me said I should find a new friend (not a Facebook friend, not a meet you once and never keep in touch friend, but a real friend, someone with an open heart, an active mind, and a compassionate ear).
Lucky for me, Maria is a compulsive email checker, and at 12:53 AM, the night before my first ever Social Media Breakfast, she agreed to meet me.
In a year, Maria has become one of my best friends. She’s a wonderful roommate, a loyal confidante, a fantastic shopping partner, an honest adviser, and a great source of support when I need it.
Looking back at the photos, check out the speakers I met for the first time that day: Laura Fitton, Doug Haslam, Jim Storer, and Scott Monty. Even better, check out who the sponsor was.
I’m sharing this anecdote not only because it happened a year ago from today, but because it actually demonstrates the real ROI of being social (yes, just social, no media).
On February 13, 2008, I met Maria, Laura, Doug, Jim, Scott, Aaron Strout, Bryan Person, Steve Garfield, Sandy Kalik, Shannon DiGregorio, Dave Fisher, Colin Browning, Susan Piver, Matt Searles, Andrea Mercado, and a whole slew of others that I don’t see in these photos. While they might not remember meeting me that day, I certainly remember meeting them all.
It should be noted that combined, @mathurrell (1,185) @pistachio (18,624), @dough (8,995), @jstorerj (2,323), @scottmonty (11,396), @aaronstrout (4,661), @bryanperson (4,812), @stevegarfield (8,927), @skalik (843), @sdigregorio (110), @tibbon (1,265), @crbrowning (1,620), @spiver (1,023), @mattsearles (854), and @andreamercado (1,057) have a combined Twitter following of 67,695. This means that I have the opportunity to reach out to each of these folks and ask them to retweet something I say or share. If all 15 retweet what I say, I just reached 67,695 people.
- Thought #1: Do we need to start measuring the value of our offline friendships if we consider them professional colleagues in the online space?
- Thought #2: Will businesses ever start taking into account the power of their employees’ networks?
- Thought #3: If we went into every social setting, looking to measure the online value of people we’re interacting with, wouldn’t we all just be assholes? (I’ve seen people do this at events and conferences was they approach “rock stars” in the industry. It’s actually nauseating. Lack of authenticity is always opaque in my eyes.)
As one lasting thought, as much as we can praise new technologies for their pretty UI’s and ability to scale our relationships, there are still some things like personal emails at 12 AM that do more for individuals than anyone could ever imagine. These things will never be measurable and they will never have a place in business. However, it doesn’t mean that they don’t matter. It’s these quiet moments, the ones that no one ever sees that I’ve concluded, are the real building blocks to creating community.
Thoughts on A Successful Life
In my last post, I blogged about a rocky start to what has been an intense past two weeks. Luckily, I’m still alive so you know that I was neither fired nor beaten to a pulp as a result of my mishap the other week. There are tons of things that I could write about right now, tons of things that I will write about in the future, but I want to start at the beginning.
At a very early age, I figured out that it was important to excel at school. My early successes were in the form of A’s on report cards and the satisfaction of never having my parents monitor my study habits. As time went on, I then began to see the value of learning itself, something beyond standardized tests and college acceptances. These successes came to me in the form of books and an expanded worldview; a new set of tools that would help me understand human interaction and endeavor. Then senior year of college happened and suddenly, success seemed neither definable nor attainable. It was due to neither lack of ambition nor lack of resources, but rather the fact that I could no longer define what success meant for me.
As I began to think about life after graduation, I would talk to my parents about potential career paths and then scan job listings. May drew near and I found myself prescribing to a definition of success that was neatly packaged in the form of a job title and salary. I desperately wanted to break free from this mindset, but I took a job in the meantime that would allow me to think about who I was and what I wanted in a very safe and familiar space.
I began working as a Staff Recruiter in Barnard College’s Admissions Office where I had been employed as a student. It was here that I observed the state of higher education in America, listened in on conversations between parents and their kids, and conversed with hundreds of students, many of whom reminded me of myself. During serveral interviews I conducted, I often found myself frustrated as I listened to students describe their GPA’s, SAT scores, after school activities, and weekend community service hours. They were all part of the same system that I had departed from, one that left me asking myself everyday, “I’ve done so much already, but so what?”
How was I, Alexa Scordato, supposed to change the world? How was anything I had ever done in my scholastic past relevant to others? I was now working with a blank slate and that realization was daunting. After processing this reality, I put aside my past accomplishments and accolades and began to think about what I wanted in life and who I wanted to be as a person. At the root of it all, I said I wanted the following:
- I want to help others.
- I want to provide for myself and those I love.
- I want to go to bed everyday feeling like I accomplished something.
I wasn’t sure how to go about achieving those goals, but I saw the potential within the world of social media. Unlike most industries I had observed, I found everyone in the space to be happy, passionate, and well-intentioned. Around every corner, it seemed like someone was always wiling to help someone, constant collaboration. Although no longer a student, I was determined to school myself on everything there was to know about the social web. When I wasn’t in the office 9 – 5 or commuting on the Long Island RailRoad, all my time was spent doing one thing: playing on my laptop. I was managing forums, teaching myself HTML/CSS, playing with WordPress, reading blogs, beta testing social networks, and listening to podcasts. All the while I was wondering how I could harness this interest of mine into a professional career.
Come spring, I departed from my job at Admissions and headed to Boston for two months, the mecca of what I believe to be social community at its finest. It was a temporary experiment, one that I believed would provide clarity and guidance when I returned to New York. I spent the spring inspired by folks like Chris Brogan, Bryan Person, Laura Fitton, Maria Thurrell, and Amanda Gravel, who encouraged me to pursue this route as a career path. The rest of my spring was spent freelancing and working for incredible friends and mentors like Stephanie Agresta and Steve Rosenbuam.
After reading about Aaron Strout‘s Hiring and Getting Hired in a Web 2.0 World, I returned to Boston where I knew he would be speaking. For many reasons, I wanted to work at Mzinga (more on this in a later post) and I followed Aaron’s advice on how to make that happen. I polished my social network profiles, blogged, and followed up with him in the best way I knew how to – through Twitter. It was only within a matter of weeks that I found myself packing what little belongings I had and moved into my new Coolidge Corner home.
Although there is still more figuring out to do, I now have a working definition of success that I’m happy with. For me, a successful life is one that allows you to choose. It’s a lifestyle where you’re in control of your destiny, making situations happen for yourself, and fully aware of how your actions can impact those around you.
I think back to those three organic wants of mine that I isolated last year and already I feel like I am well on my way.
In terms of my desire to help others, I’m in a position where I help someone every day. In order for me to get this job, I had to write a memo that was titled, “Change the World by Helping Barry Libert.” I’m now on a two-person team now where our purpose is to help each other and help Mzinga, theoverarching goal being to teach the world the importance of social communications with respect to business, technology, and education. Words cannot describe how excited I am about what is to come as a result of this partnership.
As for my desire to provide for myself and those I love, I can officially say that I am independent. Minus a few payments I have to make to my parents for backdated credit card bills, I’m financially on my own. It is going to be impossible for me to give back what I have been given because I will forever feel indebted to them. However, this is a start to what I hope will produce dream vacations and happy retirements for the two people I love the most.
Lastly, my desire to go to bed feeling accomplished is most definitely checked off. Although I feel perpetually behind on the many tasks that I have on my to-do-list, working in an industry that I love allows me to feel productive every day. Whether most people realize it or not, this for me is the root of why Web 2.0 is so appealing. It allows individuals to think, create, and give – to produce content that showcases individual thought and share it in a way that collectively inspires and helps change the world, one post at a time.
How do *YOU* define success?
Messing Up and Moving On
Today I felt like the biggest fail whale ever. 
As much as I want to say mistakes happen, I have a very hard time processing disappointment (This is in reference to my mistakes by the way, not other people’s). I easily forgive and forget, but when it comes to myself, I am my harshest critic.
This morning, I was supposed to board a plane with my new boss, Barry Libert. We were scheduled to meet at 5:10 at Hascom Airfield, and I completely overslept. When I looked at my watch this morning, the time read 5:15. I immediately scrambled for my phone, which I saw was flipped open next to my pillow. My eyes darted to the alarm clock resting on my nightstand, and my heart dropped when I saw it set to the snooze position.
Somehow, my body had failed me.
I managed to sleep through two alarms and even dismissed the text messages that my friend in Las Vegas was sending me as a wake up call. Frantic, I dialed Barry’s number and delivered the news that I wasn’t going to make it. I couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not, but his voice was steady and his instructions firm. ”Be at the office by 7:30.”
The majority of the morning was spent processing what had happened and worrying about the consequences of my behavior. What if the limo didn’t show in Philadelphia? What if the papers I was delivering were important? What if this project or presentation was something that would affect other initiatives in the future? I had a million and one questions, but one weighty feeling – disappointment.
It is rare that I don’t deliver and when that happens, I think about it for days, maybe even weeks. It’s one thing if you forget a friend’s birthday, but in an environment like the one I’m working in, I feel like the magnitude of a slip-up is amplified to the max. Multiple parties are involved, money is at stake, reputations, etc. It’s really just not something you want to be associated with and the realization that you are the person culpable is daunting.
As for timing, this was a disaster for my second day. Instead of starting off on the right foot, I feel like I took a step backwards and tripped over my own shoelaces in the process.
Anyway, I was sitting here in my little cubicle reading supportive DMs from friends and talking to Matt Knell, who is an amazing human being. We were having this conversation about the work we do, who we are as people, and what matters in life (not bad for a 9 AM cup of coffee chat). Amongst other words of wisdom, he told me ”If you can’t change it, don’t worry about it. If you do the best you can, you’ve done all you can do.” This “let it go girl” pep talk put my mind at ease and kept me composed the rest of the day.
I look at Matt’s random act of kindness, something as simple as taking the time to talk to a friend, and realized that tiny gestures can make all the difference.
I’ve spent the rest of my day trying to do some little things to make up for this morning’s debacle and plan on bringing my A-game from here on out. Hopefully I’ll rack up enough + points over time to redeem myself, but for now, I’m keeping a positive attitude and looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow**.
(**Sidtenote: Watch the video directly on youtube to see the cool new annotations feature in action.)
“It’s going to be okay. Tomorrow = New day!” (The message I wrote to myself on my dry-erase board.)
Thoughts on Jobs After My First Day at Mzinga
How many people can say they love their jobs? How many people actually like their coworkers? How many people out there are working in a profession where they feel like they’re making a difference?
I feel incredibly lucky that I can answer YES to all of the above. Can you?
Hair today, Gone tomorrow!
I’m so behind schedule, but I have to blog about this. I just cut my hair 11 inches! I’ve done this before, but each time it’s uber scary. (I didn’t have my microphone configured correctly when I recorded this video so you can’t hear me, but look at the hair!! ahhhh)
FireFox Download Day: Killer Social Media Marketing
Firefox 3 is out today and I downloaded it along with millions of other smart, sensible web users (;)). We’re trying to set the world record for most software downloads in a single day and so far, it looks like we’re gonna pull it off. I’ve been using the beta for months, and in addition to loving FF3, I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed by Mozilla’s marketing efforts. If you go to wakoopa.com/downloadday, you’ll see a live update of number of users who downloaded FF3. As I write this post (about 12 hours into DL day), it’s currently at 4,932,609. Incredible!
Mozilla’s Download Day initiative is a true example of killer social media marketing. The site SpreadFireFox.com has an easy-to-navigate layout and clearly invites visitors to be part of a greater *community* initiative. It’s not a team of employees who are making it happen; it’s an entire web community who believe in their product.
What they did right:
- Incorporated dynamic content on their main page. Successful websites today need to take on a life of their own. This is done by the community or site visitors who act like oxygen, breathing air into a site with their content and conversation. On sharefirefox.com, there are elements like a forum, live comments, and a photo stream that reflect this.
- Initiated and engaged in community-based conversation. The creation of a forum completely invites users to talk amongst each other as well as interact with actual peeps from FF. Props to the Mozilla team for having the sense to be responsive to the discourse and maintain a fairly updated FAQ.
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Invited users to help. The beauty of social media marketing is that once you give users the tools, they go out and do all the legwork. Check out all the ways Firefox users could help spread the word about download day: Host in-person download day parties, share on sites like facebook, bebo, and myspace, and post badges onto blogs via affiliate codes. They even created a Twitter account! I predict we’re totally going to set the world record as a result of these efforts. I’m ecstatic because I am such a FF fangirl. Some folks like IE, but every time I engage in a conversation about the better web browser, I liken the conversation to arguments I had in Middle School:
12 Year-Old Alexa’s Conversation
Me: “Nsync is so the better boyband.”
Random teenybopper: “Nu-uh. Like, Backstreet Boys ALL THE WAY!”
Me: “Who’s your favorite member?”
Random teenybopper: “Nick Carter”
Me: “We can’t be friends.”
21 Year-Old Alexa’s Conversation:
Me: “Firefox is SO the better web browser.”
Random person: “Nu-uh. IE FTW!”
Me: “No way. What version are you running?”
Random geek: “IE6.”
Me: “We can’t be friends.”
(Seriously IE6 folk… Why?! I can’t believe I’ve evolved into this big of a geekette that I’m blogging about a web browser, even worse that I’m comparing web browsers to boy bands, but that’s me.
A few notes about the browser itself: I’ve used FF3 on both Windows (Vista and XP) and right now on my Mac. Surfing the web is fast and friendly. Little nuances make the entire experience better, like the way url’s are cached as well as the cute little star in the address bar that serves as a bookmark icon. All my extensions are upgraded and work fine (web developer, tiny url, piclens, bettergmail, delicious, etc.).
If you haven’t downloaded FF3 already, DO EEET!!!! If not for the browser features, do it because Mozilla’s marketing efforts should be rewarded! Oh, and also because FF3 totally gives new meaning to the Justin Timberlake song, “SexyBack“:
Pimping Out Startups: How I’m Helping Magnify.net During Internet Week
For the past month or so, I’ve been doing some part time work over at Magnify.net, an exciting start up in New York that provides video solutions to publishers that want to integrate and aggregate video content on their existing websites. My daily tasks range from answering support tickets to strategizing company initiatives, and most recently, running around the streets of Manhattan with a big orange alien man cutout.
As part of InternetWeek NY, I am pimping out Magnify’s brand and I’m doing it through a blog I created titled, “Internetweek.tv.” For the first time ever, the city of NY in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, is putting together a seven day smorgasbord of startups, meetups, panels, and parties, all in celebration of one of my favorite things ever – the Internet. Steve Rosenbaum, Magnify’s CEO was looking for something fun to do as part of the festivities and I suggested the creation of this site. Not only does it increase exposure to Magnify’s brand, it also gives New Yorkers an opportunity to get some solid Internet Week coverage (there’s no official internet week blog…weird right?). Last but not least, this also gives the Magnify team, in particular me, a really great opportunity to go out, listen, learn, engage in conversations, and just have a good time. it’s called putting the social in social media.
As the head of Magnify’s Internetweek.tv initiative, I’m literally turning into a one woman media machine. I’m going to events, taking photos, recording videos, conducting interviews, and then blogging, uploading, flickr-ing, editing, tweeting, promoting, etc. I live for this stuff. What makes me so happy is that in the past, I would normally be out there doing this stuff anyway, and now I actually get to say that it’s my job to do it.
When you’re in high school and in college, you can only hope that you have a career in life that allows you to do something you love. I tell myself that I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing every single day.
This is just day 1 of my Internet Week extravaganza and I’m looking forward to more media madness that will ensue throughout the course of the week. I’m determined to take our little Magnify cutout man with me everywhere and have him pose with famous NY landmarks and all the cool people I meet along the way. He’s officially my new boyfriend.
You can follow my progress on the Internetweek.tv blog and get some behind the scenes insight here.
Oh, and last but not least, a big thank you goes out to my buddies B & E, who were nice enough to help me theme the site and prep it for launch. You guys rock my socks.
