Andrew Jabara

Last summer, I went to Hollywood to intern at Technicolor. This summer, I’ve taken on two internships, both located at the University of California, Irvine.

My first internship is with UCI Applied Innovation, a Chancellor-sponsored initiative that seeks to expand Orange County’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with available human capital and resources in the vicinity of UCI. As an ISSUP (Intercollegiate Summer Start-up Program) Intern on the Marketing and Communications team, I’m tasked with expanding the reach of the Cove (as UCI Applied Innovation’s headquarters are called) by connecting available resources to entrepreneurs who can use them, and by reaching out to the local business community to continue to grow connections and resources. I’m currently working on social media analytics – figuring out what content attracts ideal demographics and presenting each week on findings to help with content creation and curation – in addition to many different projects that come up each day.

My second internship is with Chicklabs, a management consulting/startup incubator/VC hybrid that seeks to help female and minority entrepreneurs build successful businesses. In this role, I’m responsible for building companies from the ground up, as well as expanding the reach (and profitability) of companies that have already been established by the group. Since Chicklabs was founded and is run mostly by women, a rarity in the traditionally male-dominated worlds of venture capital and management consulting, I also get the opportunity to encourage greater gender equity (and thus greater innovation) in the workplace. Currently, I’m really focused on growing the reach and popularity of Immuno-Gum, a gum infused with multiple immunity-boosting vitamins and minerals that was created by an ER physician. In the near future, I will be tackling more projects to help nurture the nascent startups.