Intern Iliana speaks about her internship experience with Refraction Media, and finding your true passion at any point during your career.
The way I came across Refraction Media is probably the perfect example of an “It was meant to be” story. By chance, I received an invite to a Google Female Founders talk early September, just a few weeks after having arrived in Australia.
The night before the talk, and in an attempt to be ready to ask some intelligent questions, I decided to look at the event page to inform myself a bit more about the company giving the talk.
‘Refraction Media – educational science publishing’. I couldn’t believe it! Here they were: all my passions wrapped into one. My background is in digital and tech. I had never heard of a company that put into one job description all the things I would do in my free time and could have considered as an independent career path. I just had to apply.
From the moment I was in the interview to the last working day: it was an unbelievable experience being able to be myself, pursue my passion and do that with like-minded inspiring individuals, at the same time.
Over my time with Refraction Media, I was truly afforded a 360° view of what science publishing is about. From the administrative side to the content side, posting on social media, visiting schools and conducting focus groups; I really got the chance to do a bit of everything.
A unique internship experience
The photo above was taken at the ‘Unlimited Possibilities: Disability and Science Fiction’ expo held in Sydney in early December. I was trying out tech that assists people with disabilities to type using their eye movement; an innovative new platform created by assistive tech company Psykinetic.
I was once told that at a startup, you learn how to survive when being thrown straight into the deepest part of the ocean. While at an established company, you learn all the different techniques of swimming once you have learnt how to stay afloat.
Well, my internship experience with Refraction didn’t just teach me how to survive when being thrown into the deepest part of the ocean – which to me was conducting an interview on my second day. It also taught me something as subtle as the intricate differences in writing for different types of content. So, you could say I really got to perfect my backstroke as well.
Doing all that under the watch and guidance of experts in the field was an incredibly enriching experience. It is rare that you find a company with the energy and agility of a startup and the knowledge and expertise of a company that has been running for over 20 years. Refraction Media manages to do both.
From this experience I will take away not only the newly discovered content writing styles and science communication skills, but also the knowledge that working with people who are passionate about the same things as you really makes for an extraordinary working environment.
So for anybody out there who is toying with the idea of pursuing their passion, but not sure that this world has a place for it, my advice is to stay curious, inform yourself and be open to it. With a bit of luck, new doors will open for you just as they did for me.
– Iliana Grosse-Buening
To find out more about an internship experience at Refraction Media, click here.
