As T+I welcomes new interns every year, our executive director, Daniella Mastracci, emphasizes that “Interns are a big part of growing our community.”  The interns bring new perspectives, strategies, various skills and talents that help us maximize our growth potential. 

Over the years, Trade+Impact has the pleasure of working with skill and knowledgeable interns from top universities and colleges around the world. Our interns come for growth opportunities, with some staying as broad members. While others have joined our partners, continue supporting women in trade! Here are a few distinct interns telling their story:

Ben Doran is currently pursuing his Master of Global Affairs at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Prior to Munk and T+I, Ben completed his Bachelor of Commerce at Queen’s University. Ben joined T+I in the spring of 2021 as a part of our Marketing and Communications team supporting our annual Handmade Futures Summit 2021. 

Currently, he is working on growing and connecting our artisan, craft, and natural cosmetics community.  Ben shared working with T+I has allowed him to view the trade section through a new lens and learn about its integral role in African communities.  He is inspired to “learn as much as I can about the industry throughout my internship. I have also learned a lot through supporting the team in organizing this year’s summit. I have never been a part of organizing an event of this size and have enjoyed the experience of doing so.”

When asked why T+I, Ben shared, “ I was interested in interning at T+I for a couple of reasons. The first is T+I’s focus on social enterprise to positively impact and further the economic and social development of communities. The second is that it meant working with an organization trying to help smaller enterprises scale up. This, in conjunction with the fact that T+I is a growing organization, meant that I felt that the work I would be doing at T+I would be meaningful to the organization, and the work of the team as a whole would be impactful. I wanted an opportunity to do something with purpose and felt that I would have that opportunity at T+I.” 

Madison Troke is currently pursuing her bachelor of commerce at Queen’s University. She joined our T+I family in May 2021 as part of our Communication & Marketing team. 

Madison shared that in the two months that she is with us, she had “gained  very specific knowledge around social enterprise trading such as knowledge of the different trade level classifications, how successful many social enterprise businesses can be with the proper resources, and how the success of these social enterprises affect the entire community, not just the business owners.”

When asked why Madison chose T+I for her internship, she shared, “I chose T+I as an internship because I believe in the mission of the T+I organization, helping female-led

social enterprises in Africa and the Middle East by breaking down trade barriers. I think that it is important to support international social enterprises in an increasingly global economy where citizens are becoming more connected. In the future, I also want to choose a  career where I can make a positive impact, and by joining T+I, I have discovered a passion for marketing in the social enterprise sector.”

As Madison continue her internship with T+I, she will focus on  “further developing my website and design skills by working on graphics and page layouts. I am also hoping to gain a deeper knowledge of the social enterprise brands associated with T+I because their stories are so inspiring, and their products are truly unique and high in quality. Lastly, I am hoping to assist more with the marketing for the Annual Summit.”

Kaytie Newby recently graduated with honours with distinction from the University of Toronto, specializing in International Development Studies and Anthropology. She worked for Trade+Impact from 2018-2019 as a membership and marketing intern in Eswatini. She engages with African History through her continuing research with the University of Toronto. She has completed a thesis studying power dynamics and structural violence among female sex workers in Eswatini. She is passionate about critical feminist pedagogy, Indigenous sovereignty and sex workers’ rights. Kaytie enjoys spending time in the mountains and is currently an agricultural worker in British Columbia, Canada. 

During her time with T+I, Kaytie works focus on research projects that involved helping to organize an opportunity for Senegalese natural cosmetic producers to become connected to natural cosmetics companies in Toronto, Canada. Kaytie also enjoyed working with handcraft producers in Eswatini, building relationships with individuals and understanding how the social enterprise business model works on the ground. 

Kaytie shared that she gained “incredibly useful skills” like social media marketing and website management while working for T+I. In turn, help her cultivate “an appreciation for social enterprise as a viable development strategy, particularly for women in the global south.” When asked why Kaytie chose T+I as an internship, she shared “Trade+Impact is an incredibly unique and dynamic network of social enterprises that provided me with an opportunity to not only gain an understanding of how social enterprises operate in Eswatini but across the African continent. This shaped my understanding of the various ways that social enterprises have come to exist in their specific locations, meeting the needs of their local communities in sustainable ways. I also was able to meet incredible people across Africa and North America while learning valuable marketing skills and business etiquette.”

Upon being asked about personal and professional development, Kaytie shares, “working with T+I in Eswatini was one of the most important experiences that I have had because it allowed me to work and live in Eswatini, which has shaped who I am and how I engage with the world. I also cannot say enough how inspiring it was to see how hard working the T+I network is and how dedicated my supervisor, Daniella Mastracci is to the Trade+Impact community. I am incredibly grateful for my time with Trade+Impact.”

As we celebrate a few distinctive individuals in this blog we also want to express our gratitude to all our interns. Thank you for choosing T+I to explore the importance of women in trade. We are thankful for your dedication, especially during the pandemic!