CWRU Internship Program

This summer we took on four interns from Case Western Reserve University, the alma mater of Yalo’s CEO Arnold Huffman. As they took part in their Remote Entrepreneurship Program, they were able to work within the different teams of Yalo’s tribe on projects ranging from internal communications, to client work, to tech development assistance. Hear from them below to see their perspectives on getting a taste of the agency and entrepreneurial lifestyle as they grow into up and coming professionals.

Marisa Katz

I am an incoming senior at CWRU, where I study economics and finance, along with a music minor (which helps fit right in with the Yalo tribe!). I have spent this summer working mainly with the internal communications and social team, as well as completing projects related to market, business development, and client industry research. Working with an already primarily-remote team allowed the adjustment to this new environment to be smoother, though I still had to take extra time to create a new “workspace” in my home, get to know the team on a deeper level for comfort and productivity, as well as understanding the agency landscape in a short period of time. I was excited to work in a small collaborative and entrepreneurial team environment for my own skills growth and professional perspective, and being in marketing I was able to expand my ideas of how much the industry consists to connect both my academic and consumer-side backgrounds into creating tangible content. I took part in important discussions of social content and the brand, learning about b2b versus b2c approaches, as well as the balance of focusing on internal growth with client content and building their images. I am so grateful for this opportunity to experience a new field, the welcoming nature of the Yalo team, and to take on responsibilities that create real value moving forward.

Daniel Warner

I just finished my sophomore year at Case as a computer science major. The internship I had previously lined up for this summer was cancelled due to COVID-19. Luckily, I was able to find this opportunity at Yalo through Case’s Remote Entrepreneurship Program. This summer has been a terrific learning experience for me. This has been my first job involving technology, so the biggest thing I learned was simply how to work with other people in a professional setting. Working remotely was also a new experience, but I ended up feeling comfortable with it. Over the course of the summer, I have worked on the new website for Yalo itself, Yalo’s virtual events platform, and I did some marketing research for a client. With Yalo’s website and the virtual events platform, I learned about web development which was entirely new to me. I’m glad I did because the web is such a big part of software. With the marketing research, I learned about something I never thought I would do. I am always interested in broadening my skills and my Yalo internship gave me the opportunity to do that in marketing as well as in software. I have had a great experience at Yalo this summer, and I am glad I have gotten my first working experience here.

Bob Faller

The time I spent at Yalo flew by but my experience was extremely insightful, from the people I met to all of the projects that I got a chance to work on. As a smaller company, I got to learn most of the people in the company. This then gave me a chance to work under many different project managers on varying assignments. Some of the assignments I learned the most from included two projects that gave me the opportunity to look at ways to help clients with social media content and then I was given a chance to present my findings to each of the companies. Another project I worked on, I gave a high level analysis of how a client approached their response messaging surrounding COVID compared to their competitors. I learned from these presentations about how important it was to practice beforehand and anticipate questions from the clients. I felt more prepared and confident after each of the presentations because of the help from project managers and self reflection after each presentation. Overall, this summer gave me my first real world work experience and I would not have traded it for anything else.

Mohamed Mahmoud

My name is Mohamed Salah, a Case Western Reserve rising junior majoring in computer science from Egypt. I spent this summer working with Digital Yalo on the development of their brand new virtual events system. Every task I have worked on over these past two months was an opportunity for me to learn and grow more. During my time with Yalo, I have worked on developing and testing various features for the virtual events website. I have added a system to schedule individual meetings between event hosts and participants, I have worked on adding a few arcade games to the website for event participants to enjoy while on break. My final task was to add a polling system for event participants to rate each session they have attended. I enjoyed every aspect of this experience from the technical knowledge I have gained, the hands-on work experience I have acquired or the valuable opportunity to learn more about the business side of startups. I want to thank Digital Yalo for this amazing opportunity and enjoyable time I have spent with them.