Current Position

Visual Storytelling Intern at Their Story is Our Story

Major

Economics and Media Arts and Sciences

Graduating Year

2023

A message from Sophie

Tech is such a varied field and desperately needs multidisciplinary perspectives in order to advance it. As a student, I learned that I loved making things, particularly in the context of visual design. I experimented with both digital and analog forms of media creation but found that I enjoyed the precise detail that digital software allowed. While my academic focus had been previously based in theory (majoring in Economics and Art History until my senior year), I switched my second major to Media Arts and Sciences due to this realization and because of the flexibility the major provided me, given its multidisciplinary nature. My advice to students unsure of taking risks, like my scary decision to switch majors in my senior year (eek!), is to trust your instincts and go for it! I honestly wasn't sure if I would be any good at computer science but I decided to try it anyway and discovered that I loved how it could be applied related to design and storytelling that I am using in my current internship and hope to continue in future work. I also believe that my exploration into different fields allowed me to think about concepts and ideas with a broader lens, allowing me, now as a graduate, to apply both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to work that unites my love of art and design with a focus on socially and economically conscious public service that can be facilitated by tech.

A valuable skill

At TSOS, I am helping make and edit visual content to support legislative advocacy efforts to license refugee physicians and allow them to practice medicine in the U.S. I gained a lot of experience with video editing in particular through intermediate and advanced video production classes taught by Claudia Joskowicz that I took as core courses for my MAS major. Additionally, I explored storytelling through other visual media like photography series and video game creation (I took Intro to Game Design and Digital Worlds for Gaming taught by Jordan Tynes also within the umbrella of MAS), which is extremely beneficial to my work with TSOS and their mission is to tell the stories of refugees to deepen understanding and inspire action.