ELP Experience: Crystal Wood (Summer 2024)

Tell us about you…

I’m a recent MPH graduate on the journey of pivoting in my career. I heard the Founder/CEO Monique Thornton on a public health podcast, and it resonated with me. She discussed her passion for both public health and creative writing. I have an artistic background, so that resonated with me. I wanted to get more experience in Data Analytics, so that motivated me to pursue an internship with LTPH.

Tell us about what you worked on…

I worked on creating a content calendar, a marketing research report, and an internal document of data retrieval procedures.

Tell us what you learned…

My biggest takeaway was how to format information in an effective way. Specifically, with the social media calendar, the CMO, David, formatted it in a way that was pleasing to the eye and would make sense to everybody who was viewing it, even if they weren’t a marketing expert. Learning about the benefits of Buffer as well as its limitations, was helpful. For example, with several platforms, we pulled numbers from Buffer and directly from the platform.

Tell us what the best part was…

David was very kind. We both had hectic schedules, so I appreciated his being so accommodating. Being accommodating and considerate was definitely an overall theme for LTPH. For example, these internships are usually designed for current students. I had recently graduated with my MPH, so I wasn’t necessarily an ideal candidate. However, when I expressed to Monique that although I had work experience, I was still new to the world of public health, she was open to the idea of having me as an intern.

Tell us about your future…

I would love to find a position in health communications/media or “arts in health” field. While the job market remains vigorously competitive, I plan on continuing to refine my skills and pursue contract work until I find the right position. If I could give one piece of advice, I would say always learning comes from exploring. There were certain steps about different processes that I didn’t understand right away, but when I explored more, I was able to do exactly what was asked of me. I would always double check with David or Monique to make sure it was correct, but I was grateful I tried to figure it out myself first because I learned more in the process.​

By: Crystal Wood, MPH