Please see Part 1 of the series here.
This past summer, the internship program at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center gave students hands-on experience working closely with founders on specific projects at an entrepreneurial venture. This year, we also included a track for organizations that focus on sustainability or on making a social impact.
In this blog post series, we feature three graduate students at DePaul University who participated in the internship program. What was their experience working for these startups? What did they learn? What might have been some of their challenges? Read on for their stories.
Danielle Nickaf (Master of Public Policy, School of Public Service, 2024)
I grew up in Abuja, the hushed capital of Nigeria. At sixteen, I began my undergraduate degree at Knox College, where I majored in international relations with minors in business and anthropology. I have been at DePaul since January 2024, and I am working towards earning my master’s degree in public policy by June 2024.
My earliest brush with entrepreneurship came from my family. My grandparents, uncles, aunts, mother, and father are all involved in some form of self-directed venture. In one capacity or another, I have been a salesperson, receptionist or social media manager for their respective businesses.
The older I get, the clearer it becomes that their “go-getter” mindset has shaped the way I view my sense of agency. Seeing my family collectively overcome the structural challenges of operating businesses in Nigeria has instilled a sense of resilience in me which I try to express every day.
Spending the summer around the incredibly resilient team at mHUB Chicago was transformative. MHUB is an impactful organization providing access to capital, training and networking opportunities to hard-tech entrepreneurs in Chicago. Energy and optimism were always present in the organization, and I felt encouraged to take on new challenges during my time there. The most challenging project I faced was an independent research project in which I made recommendations for improving programs offered by the organization.
Currently, I am working as a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Public Service, where I am assisting faculty members Patricia Bombard and Kelly Tzoumis with their research projects. My career goal is to contribute to policy solutions through thorough research and analysis.
Applications for the summer internship program are open to students across all majors and colleges at DePaul University every spring on the Coleman center’s website. Learn more here.
This is Part 2 in Learning by Doing: DePaul Graduates’ Insights from the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center Internship Program Series.