Meet the best of the best! Our 2012 Fall Interns:
Emily Brotherton - Campaigns Intern
Emily Brotherton is currently a senior at Ramapo College studying non-profits. She would like to start out by stating that she is a dog lover, chocolate enthusiast, and eats fruit snacks any time of day. On another note, Emily spends most of her time running around like a chicken with its head cut off due to her crazy schedule consisting of classes, her youth leader position, her job of being a tutoring extraordinaire, interning at the awesome DoSomething non-profit, being the Haiti team leader for a campus club, and making her boyfriend baked goods -- monthly. In her spare time she enjoys crushing her opponents in a friendly game of volleyball, reading all things Harry Potter that she can get her hands on, and peeling her grapes before she eats them.
Lucille Caldone - Digital Engagement Intern
Lucille Caldone is a recent college graduate, receiving her BA in English with a minor in Music. She plans on eventually attending graduate school to obtain a Master's in Communications. In her spare time, Lucille enjoys reading, writing music, and hanging out with her friends. She is also very interested in astrology and numerology. She plans on moving to Manhattan within the next five years.
Rafael Correa - Tech Wizard Intern
Raf is a complicated man. No one quite understands him but his woman. Some say Raf is a bad motha-...Well, let’s just say he’s a fly, super-bad dude (in his head...). Rafael is a student of PC repair, musician and New York City native who still uses the terms “Mad,”Wack” and “Mad Wack” when situations call for it. While not studying computers, Rafael spends most of his time either writing songs, rehearsing with his band, or spending time with his amazing (and crafty) four year old son. As well as being a lover of music, Rafael is also an enthusias of fine cinema. Rafael’s idea of a wild Saturdy night would be getting together with a group of friends and watching “Cinema Masterpieces” such as “Brain of Blood,” “Black Ninja Samurai,” “Dolemite” or “The Gates of Hell” and laughing hysterically throughout the whole thing. Oh and we almost forgot Rafael’s number one favorite past time. Eating. He does a lot of that in-between everything we just mentioned. Hey, being into all that dope stuff takes a lot of energy. Gotta replenish- just sayin’...
Porfirio Fernandez - Development Intern
Porfirio Fernandez runs on strong coffee, good company and pizza. If he’s not in the kitchen devouring everything in sight, he’s at the gym making up for it (in true American fashion). After completing his undergraduate degree in forensic psychology and doing volunteer work at his local church, he realized his passion for helping others. Porfirio is currently in the process of entering an MPA program at John Jay College in New York, in the meantime he finds himself tutoring children on a part-time basis. When he isn’t getting torn apart by the kids he’s trying to teach, he is either at home working on a developing iPhone application ironically named “BeHealthy” or learning a new technique on his guitar. Nonetheless, Porfirio makes time to have fun, enjoy life and make new friends along the way.
Felicia Fitzpatrick - Social Media Intern
Felicia has only four best friends: s'mores, Disney, Christmas music, and Harry Potter. As a theater and dance junior at the University of Texas, Felicia has been known to bust out into random musical theater performances, or imitate a plethora of celebrities such as: Janet Jackson, Beyonce, and Steve Irwin.
Katherine Freedman - Writing and Journalism Intern
Katherine Freedman is an English major at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she writes for The Columbia Spectator. Her previous internships have included the Food Network and The Houston Chronicle. Katherine recently returned from studying in Florence, Italy. If you ask her about her semester, be prepared for a ten-minute spiel about her favorite gelato flavors. Katherine sings way too much (in the shower, at home, at school...everywhere!) however, her family and friends are nice enough to put up with it. A few of her favorite things are gazebos, show tunes, elephants, water slides, eggplant pizza, and, of course, raindrops on roses.
Greeshma Hegde - Campaigns Intern
Greeshma Hegde is a newly graduated Rutgers alumni with a limitless list of interests. She loves poetry, riding horses,and traveling to different countries. Greeshma barely watches TV (almost never) but when she does, she prefers to only watch Animal Planet. She frequently finds herself lost in conversations among friends when they babble on about Suits or Breaking Bad, however, she has now become quite a pro at directing the conversation back to Animal Planet. Greeshma's most fatal weakness includes anything that provokes a nice, long nap like comfy couches or warm chocolate milk. Her weaknesses also include a long list various cheeses, fudge brownies, and avocados. She loves to eat, and when at any restaurant will order more than she can actually consume just so she can take some home for later. Many relate her eating and sleeping habits to that of a hibernating bear, but rest assured, her personality is quite the opposite. Greeshma loves to make people laugh and enjoys dancing and listening to Nat King Cole. If she had a choice, she would want to be transported into the Great Gatsby because she thinks that time period was pretty awesome.
Naomi Hochberg - Social Entrepreneurship Intern
Naomi is a junior at the Fashion Institute of Technology studying Advertising and Marketing Communications. This fall is her 3rd consecutive semester as the Social Entrepreneurship Intern. She loves ALL dogs, but her dog is definitely the cutest, and she can prove it. She also loves street fairs and flea markets and can listen to Jack Johnson for hours on end. I am so excited to spend another semester at DoSomething and can’t wait to see what I will accomplish!!
Renee Hooker - Business Development Intern
You might find Renee Hooker with her nose in a book, or listening to an indie rock band recommended by her twin brother, or chatting with James Franco in an elevator (true story!). A recent grad from Rutgers University, she studied English and Women’s and Gender Studies, so she’d love to talk to you about Shakespeare or feminism or both. With a love for The Beatles, tea, and all things British, her semester abroad in London last fall was one of the best experiences of her life (but she’s looking forward to this awesome adventure in this major city). And finally, if you play any kind of Latin music, she will dance. Especially if it’s salsa, she really can’t help it.
Dan Huang - Business Development Intern
Dan is a third year business student at NYU, majoring in finance and economics. Each new finance lecture he attends assures him a little more that a future in banking is not for him. Dan gets made fun of by his friends for being a slow walker and for having an answering machine that tricks callers into thinking he just picked up the phone. When he’s in a crowded elevator, Dan is usually the last person to walk out. He is still deciding if this is because he’s being polite or being lazy. Dan enjoys reading, writing, and drawing, and wishes he had more time to do so. While he has tentative plans to be rich one day, he feels no immediate desire for wealth in the present. In the present, he has no clue wants to do out of college, but he does know that this internship has been the first job he’s been really excited for in a while.
Nako Ishii - Clubs Intern
For her college application essays, Nako wrote about her Napoleon Complex and how she never let her small size stop her from seeking world domination. Ironically enough, that got her into a university committed to social change and world peace, and that’s where she spend the last 4 glorious years. Nako is a recent vegetarian, though every day is a struggle as she walks past Shake Shacks with longing desire. She probably instagrams more than Sarah tweets about her cats and her favorite TV show is Bob’s Burgers. Another fun fact, Nako has been diagnosed by her friends with a peculiar disease that makes her sleep anywhere at any time, which they have appropriately named Nakolepsy. She couldn’t believe it when she saw the DoSomething.org internship posting because it seemed too good to be true, but now that it’s a reality, she can’t think of a better place to be.
Katie Lahey - Fun Intern
Katie Lahey is from Greensboro, North Carolina and is a senior at Clemson University in South Carolina, but after interning at DoSomething,org over the summer she just couldn’t stay away. At school she spends her days hanging out on the lake, studying Psychology and English, and hanging out with high schoolers (although she does have friends her own age!). She’s passionate about Human Rights and preventing HIV/AIDS, and in her spare time you might find Katie exploring, playing outside, listening to 90s music and Broadway showtunes, or auditioning for Wheel of Fortune—one day they will let her on the show.
Kerry O’Brien - Marketing Intern
Kerry O’Brien is a New Jersey native who spent three years living in Mexico when she was young. Since graduating college in May she has spent her time with her friends enjoying the summer. She spends her days reading any book she can find and browsing Pinterest. She loves dogs and currently takes care of her sister’s dog when she is at work. She recently discovered her love for running, which surprises everyone because she would refuse to run in gym class. Though not the most coordinated person she loves to dance and wears her bruises as a badge of honor.
Jonathan Ontiberos - Campaigns Intern
Jonathan Ontiberos is a 22 year old Taurus from southern California. The best way to describe him is sassy, fun, and ambitious. He spent his college years in the town of Carlisle, PA attending Dickinson College. And he managed to have a brief escape from Amish country by living for a year in the Russian metropolis known as Moscow. Jonathan now lives in Brooklyn and works full time as a Shift Leader at a West Village taqueria. When he's not rolling burritos and toasting quesadillas, he loves to spend time exploring the city, searching for the most hilarious tumblr GIFs, expanding his foreign language skills, and singing the latest pop jams. If you ever want to discuss the latest episode of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo or have a Nicki Minaj rap-along, Jonathan is sure to be down.
Molly Reardon - Campaigns Intern
Molly Reardon is a senior at Fordham University, who spends most of her time lamenting the loss of her youth as her dreaded graduation comes. After briefly dabbling in psychology, sociology, biology (and about 8 other majors), she settled in to the Middle East Studies major, giving her the excuse to eat Halal Guys on 53rd street after every one of her culture classes. She is often found trying to teach her dog Rudy to text, so she can have hilarious moments similar to those on textsfromdog.com [1]. She is currently in the process of teaching her dog how to use the emojis, instead of just chewing on the phone.
Jessenia Rios - Finance Intern
Jessenia is a econd-year grad student at NYU Wagner. She’s getting her MPA in Nonprofit Management and Policy and, for the second time around, is the Finance Intern. That means she gets to work with a team of brilliant women who enjoy spending time crunching numbers. If she could have any superpower it would be teleportation. She loves her eggs scrambled with onions and cheese. She wishes she was a vegetarian but she loves sushi so much that she had to resort to pescatarian. She pretty much watches almost every show on HBO and Showtime but also loves to read. Her weaknesses in life include COFFEE, wine, dogs, and carrot cake.
Jess Sarte - Design Intern
Jess Sarte mostly loves to spend her afternoons either napping, eating, or drawing. Although quite shy at first, you’ll see she’s pretty awesome when you get to know her. She’s currently a senior at Robert Busch School of Design at Kean University and works hard as an aspiring graphic designer. Sadly, she tends to lose a lot of sleep over it. She loves all kinds of food, but has a particular affinity for all things sweet. Other than catching Z’s, stuffing her face, and doodling, Jess likes to play video games with her boyfriend, write poems, and pretend she knows how to play the ukulele.
Janita Sawh - Business Development Intern
Janita Sawh is considered to be a “building hugger” by her friends; she loves old buildings and can’t get enough of them. She would like to make a career in playing Sporcle, but her backup plan involves majoring in Finance and International Business, and a minor in Art History (to keep her street cred and her sanity). She loves going to museums and painting even though all she can paint are geometric shapes and stick figures. She loves practicing her fencing with her friends with nerf swords on random New York City rooftops. She is also a proud supporter of the see-food diet- when she sees food, she eats it. She is also a supporter of potato being considered a vegetable.
Celia Waggoner - Grants Intern
Celia started working at Do Something during her freshman year at NYU and has since then been unable to stay away for more than a few months at a time. After spending 4 semesters sending Clubs mailings, she has now taken over the title of Grants Intern to round out her senior year. Variety is the spice of life after all. When she's not interning, Celia is working on her thesis, waiting for the next season of Breaking Bad to start, and thinking of new things to include in her next intern bio.
Christine Wilson - Quality Assurance Intern
Christine Wilson is a 20 year old student from Tampa, Fl. She spends most of her time slinging cocktails at an Irish sports bar, and the rest of her time is spent stalking Lady Gaga super-fan sites so that she is aware of where he queen is at all times. When she's not working or obsessing over Gaga, she is usually eating sushi or shooting the breeze out on a Florida beach with her besties. She enjoys shortening words a little too much and ALWAYS takes it too far, so hopefully everyone knows what perf, awk, and totes mean. She enjoys instagramming her food just to see what filter makes vegetables look more appealing. She is currently taking online classes for a school in Florida and plans to start nursing school in January. :)
Deb Youngdahl - Campaigns Intern
Deb Youngdahl is a mustache enthusiast and avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan who is currently attending grad school on the InterWeb. Upon completing her undergrad at Marymount Manhattan College she moved to Orlando to work for Disney. After realizing she is not a cowgirl or 75 years old, she moved back to New York to do good. When she's not quoting Remember the Titans or Cool Runnings you can find her dancing terribly in her living room, shining her Hillview Elementary 6th grade Kickball champion trophy and taking pictures around the city. Her future plans include devising a plan to prove unicorns exist.