A Word from Nicole: The improve it! Intern Files

I’m on the Red Line heading towards the loop, listening to a podcast and hoping I remembered to lock my apartment before I left. I’m on my way to work. But interning with improve it! never felt like work to me, and I’ve always felt funny calling it that.

When I think of my time with improve it!, I taste sips of lemon ginger tea sitting alongside our Director of Operations, Allie Keller; I hear laughter from the highly motivated and ambitious women of our internal team—Founder Erin Diehl, Allie Keller, and Client Experience Associate Jenna McDonnell; I smell coffee on our desks in the afternoon; I see what hard work really looks like in eyes that are deep in thought; and I feel like I’m home.

How can work become a home you might ask? Let me give you my thoughts on this transformation.

Unconditional Support:

Ever since my first day with improve it!, these women have supported me in everything I’ve done. They answered my questions with enthusiasm, offered any kind of help they could give me, and reminded me to take regular laugh breaks. For this and so much more, I am forever thankful. The support they provided me allowed me to grow in more ways than I thought possible, and has inspired me to offer the same kind of support to anyone I come into contact with in the future.

Learning from Example:

Simply by immersing myself in the pool of productivity (AKA our lovely office at Novel), I’ve been able to observe and try to emulate all the dazzling qualities these women exhibit on the reg.

Erin’s optimism and energy inspired me every day to complete my tasks with a side of spunk. Allie’s magical sense of humor reminded me that there is a sacred place for laughter in the professional world. Jenna’s humility grounded me, quietly whispering that we are a team, in this together, and all of our different strengths are not to be compared, but to be combined and celebrated.

All Ears, All the Time:

The way these women listened to what I had to say was unlike anything I’ve experienced before in my professional life. They truly do listen to listen, not listen to reply. Since I was heard, I felt more motivated, more confident, and more capable. By being unstoppable themselves, they made me feel unstoppable, too.

Closing Time

I wish I could express better in words all that my time with improve it! means to me, but language does have its limits. Nevertheless, the best way I can explain is that leaving this place hits me right in the soul. I sure do believe in everything improve it! does, believes in, and works to make better. I do think instead of “improve it!” their name could be “improve everything!” because that is the deep truth. I will never be able to thank these women enough for all they have done for me and helped me to achieve. I am forever grateful for having the opportunity to work alongside these women (I still feel like “Wow, really? I got to do that?”), absorbing all that they do like a sponge, and now having the courage to bloom.

Erin, Allie, and Jenna--thank you for it all (including but certainly not limited to: Taylor Swift Spotify days, giggling at the world of memes, every goodbye before client calls and every hello first thing in the morning).

Nicole Entzeroth is a student at Loyola University Chicago, studying English and Economics with a concentration in Creative Writing. Through her studies and professional work, she's developed an interest for the written word, social media, and marketing.

She is a member of improve it!’s internal team as their Social Media Intern, sometimes Ninja.