Around the World in 80 Fabrics (ATW80F)

 This summer I had the privilege of working with Around the World in 80 Fabrics. ATW80F is a non-profit organization centered around connecting people back to the planet through the fabrics we wear. While with ATW80F, I worked under the team Outreach Director who was also my connection for securing the internship. I had first met her at a previous internship and I was really excited when she told me about ATW80F. 

My role with the organization consisted of research, project management and assistance, and graphic design work. When I started the internship, I began with natural dye research that went towards a TED Talk and pop-up event that the founders of the organization were holding. Later I was able to work with my supervisor partially in person on various small projects. Because of my prior natural dye research, I became the home base connection while the team went on a trip to Morocco to work with a small community of weavers and help them transition from synthetic dyes to natural dyes. They also collaborated with a team of microbiologists to extract pigments from the soil to use for dyeing. After they returned from Morocco, I worked on creating a trip booklet with a summary of the trip and the natural dye recipes used. This book was then printed for the weavers to have for future use.

Because this organization is still relatively new, I feel that I was able to learn how a team works without the restraints of a strict professional environment. I learned so much about how a team of dedicated and talented people can collaborate with each other and use emotion as a tool in their work instead of trying to remove it from the workplace.

I feel like this was the most valuable takeaway from my internship because I feel art is so emotional in nature and I struggled to see a career where emotion was valued instead of frowned upon. It helped me to widen my spectrum of jobs that I can see myself pursuing and made me less overwhelmed with the prospect of getting a job after college. Overall, I am so glad I had the opportunity to work with ATW80F as it allowed me to form so many connections which I will continue to come back to throughout my career.