Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.
Get Good News of the Week in your inbox every Friday.→ Sign up
For the week of August 13, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:
With and through nearly 200 investors, EDC works to maximize San Diego’s prosperity. From talent pipeline development to the newest in our Changing Business Landscape series, here’s what EDC did in July 2021.
The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program launched in Summer 2020 in a remote-capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to provide up to 100 San Diego-based employers fully subsidized interns. This program targets small employers with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.
As students are closing out their Spring business internship experiences, EDC has rolled out this blog series to highlight the innovative local companies that comprise the third cohort of the program, and the interns they hosted. To date, ASD has placed 93 student-interns in local businesses, with $455,000 in total wages and support services paid.
Oderah Ahiligwo (above)
This week, we sat down with Oderah Ahiligwo and Jo Christian Arenas, ASD interns at Benchmark Labs, a leading provider of IoT-based weather forecasting solutions for the agriculture, energy, and insurance sectors. The firm’s service helps reduce operating costs using proprietary machine learning software to provide precise asset specific weather forecasting.
Read on for more from Oderah (OA) and Jo Christian (JCA).
Tell us about yourself.
OA: I am a former student athlete who enjoys swimming, investing, and conversing with many different types of people. I recently graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in economics and I am returning in the Fall to obtain my master’s in finance. After college, I aspire to have a career in the finance sector and hope to one day open a wealth management firm to help individuals become financially secure. Protecting the environment is something I also am interested in doing, which is why I’d like to focus on investing in companies with a high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score. Fortunately, this summer I was afforded the opportunity to work at Benchmark Labs, an environmental service company as a market research analyst intern.
JCA: I am a student at California State University San Marcos and this is my first internship. I am currently a market research analyst intern at Benchmark Labs and I would like to thank both San Diego Regional EDC and Carlos Gaitan, CEO and Co-Founder of Benchmark Labs, for the opportunity they have given me. Carlos is an excellent leader, supporting his staff whenever challenges arise, and ensuring that his interns have a fun and educational experience.
Jo Christian Arenas (above)
How has your experience in the ASD Internship Program been, and what projects have been the most meaningful?
OA: My experience in the Advancing San Diego Internship Program has been wonderful. Working in a startup environment is fast paced and exciting. Just like any company, there are many moving parts but generally in startups, you get exposure to many different areas of business. One day I will be studying competitor’s pricing strategies and the next day I will be looking over a script for our videographer. The most meaningful work I did at Benchmark Labs was market research, which is a process that every company should engage in because it is often extremely rewarding. The conversations I had with potential customers helped shape the products that Benchmark Labs will offer next year.
JCA: It was a unique experience for me, considering I am an accounting student doing market research for the company. Part of my project is customer discovery, which includes calling companies for short interviews. I have learned to be patient with companies in my conversations with them, especially with the support from my leader, Carlos, since the work can be tough as times. It can also be rewarding when you receive those positive interactions with businesses, which at the end of the day, help inform Benchmark Labs on its product selection. Doing work outside your field brings in perspective, which is why I am very glad I took this internship.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your day-to-day, and what challenges have you faced as a student?
OA: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected my day-to-day in many ways. I consider myself an extrovert and this explains why I find joy in creating relationships with new people. A university is usually a great place to do this, however, going to school virtually has made this more difficult. On top of this, I found learning solely through a computer screen is not my forte. A classroom setting is often more engaging and the pandemic required me to adapt to a new way of life.
JCA: I believe I am facing the same predicament as any other student during the pandemic, and that is finding motivation to get up from bed everyday. My internship is work-from-home and there were times where I was experiencing burnout from being being constrained to my room for the workday. What I did find helpful was the mentorship and positive reinforcement from Carlos and the team at Benchmark Labs.
What advice would you give to high school students looking for a successful career?
OA: My advice to high school students would be to seek out every opportunity you see to learn and gain experience. Throughout your college journey, there will be opportunities to grow in different areas of business; reach out to them so you can develop a diverse set of skills and separate yourself from your peers. This will often lead to more opportunities and enable you to create a larger impact wherever you end up.
JCA: My advice is to network, whether it be on professional online business platforms or in-person business events. Getting your name out there raises the probability of you finding the work you desire. Also, be confident and learn to be comfortable outside of your comfort zone.
Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.
Get Good News of the Week in your inbox every Friday.→ Sign up
For the week of August 6, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:
To identify evolving trends in local business needs and operations, ensuring their ability to grow and thrive in the region, EDC is surveying more than 200 companies in the region’s key industries on a rolling basis throughout 2021 to monitor and report shifts in their priorities and strategies. See past analyses here and share your input with us for future editions.
I was always a pretty good athlete as a kid. Good enough to hang with the older kids in my neighborhood. Good enough to make the teams that I wanted to make in high school. Good enough to play at the college level. Good enough. But looking back, I recognize just how much harder it would have been to be truly great at any of it.
These thoughts are top of mind for me every few years when the Olympic Games come back around and I find myself in awe of the world’s most elite athletes. To think of what it takes to be the best in the world at anything is pretty overwhelming. To imagine being able to reach that level within a particular/finite window of time, on the world’s largest stage, with your team and your country watching and counting on you, is almost impossible. And that is what makes it so amazing.
Every two/four years we not only see the world’s greatest athletes compete with one another, we also get to see a reflection of the world around them. And sometimes it isn’t pretty or easy to watch. We have seen athletes use their crowning moments on the podium to call attention to injustice and inequality—and we know that many of them have paid a price both personally and professionally. We have learned of athletes who are under such pressure to win and succeed that they are willing to use performance enhancing drugs to stay on top. We witness horrific injury and heartbreak. And this year, we learned that the pressure of it all can become too much for anyone—even the greatest of all time.
I am not sure that 20 years from now I will remember who won Olympic gold in 2021 in the long jump, or who started on the basketball or soccer teams—but I know I will remember Simone Biles.
So many people around us are carrying more on their shoulders than we will ever realize. The last 18 months have only added to those burdens and made life more complex for all of us.
By stepping away from the sport when she did, and by acknowledging that the pressure being put on our young Olympians in insurmountable moments, Simone Biles has no doubt modeled behavior that will help those who are approaching their own breaking points. And gold medals and floor exercises aside, it is within these actions and convictions where we find true greatness.
When I write these pieces, I normally have some way of wrapping my thoughts into the work of EDC or the state of the local economy around us. But this time I will simply end here—acknowledging and appreciating the vulnerability and humanity that I have witnessed once again in these Olympic Games, and in all of you over the last year and a half, and hoping that you have found meaningful moments of your own in a summer that has gone by far too quickly.
For all EDC news, events and updates, please continue to follow along with us on social media, blog, and more. We remain appreciative and thankful for all of you, and for the support that you continue to provide our team.
Continue to stay healthy and safe and we look forward to seeing you in person in the months ahead.
The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program launched in Summer 2020 in a remote-capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to provide up to 100 San Diego-based employers with fully subsidized interns. This program targets small employers with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.
As students are closing out their Spring business internship experiences, EDC has rolled out this blog series to highlight the innovative local companies that comprise the third cohort of the program, and the interns they hosted.
In this feature, we sat down with Meri Birhane, CEO at Meri Consulting Services. As part of the third cohort of host companies, Meri Consulting Services provides social media management services, LinkedIn coaching, and sales training for sales teams. The team helps businesses book more meetings and generate more revenue without cold calls.
Read on for more about ASD intern host Meri Consulting Services.
Why was your company founded, and what are your current points of focus?
It all began with an idea. In 2017, Meri Consulting Services, a Black-owned and woman-led consulting firm was founded to help businesses book more sales meetings, increase revenue, and reduce sales rep churn and burn. We do this through social media management services, sales coaching, and LinkedIn training. Passionate about giving back, we also host monthly “Empowerment Mastermind” events to provide opportunities for minority founders who have been historically underfunded.
What does growth look like over the next few years?
Meri Consulting’s growth means expanding our social media management services to reach more businesses and creating digital courses to reach more clients.
How has your company pivoted as a result of COVID-19?
Meri Consulting Services focused on fractional VP of sales services but with COVID-19 clients needed new ways to connect with customers. This created more demand for our digital marketing services and LinkedIn coaching services.
Tell us about your experience building a small business/startup in San Diego.
The CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center was the most valuable accelerator program as I obtained mentoring and a $5,000 grant. This led to a lot of exposure for my business and access to mentors. Furthermore, Advancing San Diego, in partnership with Manpower, helped me get two superstar marketing interns (Chinnery and Michelle) helping me take my business to the next level.
Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.
Get Good News of the Week in your inbox every Friday.→ Sign up
For the week of July 30, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:
Advancing San Diego Company Spotlight: San Diego Loyal
Through Advancing San Diego, EDC provides San Diego-based small businesses with paid interns in high-demand fields. With the business cohort underway, we sat down with Ricardo Campos, VP of Operations and General Manager at San Diego Loyal, and with the soccer team’s student intern Dominique Hernandez to discuss their experience in the program.
The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program launched in Summer 2020 in a remote-capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to provide up to 100 San Diego-based employers fully subsidized interns. This program targets small employers with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.
As students are closing out their Spring business internship experiences, EDC is rolling out this blog series to highlight the innovative local companies that comprise the third cohort of the program, and the interns they hosted. To date, ASD has placed 93 student-interns in local businesses, with $455,000 in total wages and support services paid.
In this feature, we sat down with Michelle Consunji, intern at Meri Consulting Services. As part of the third cohort of host companies, Meri Consulting Services provides social media management services, LinkedIn coaching, and sales training for sales teams. Their team helps businesses book more meetings and generate more revenue without cold calls.
Read on for more from Michelle.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Michelle Consunji and I am a recent college graduate from California State University San Marcos. I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in marketing, and was grateful to have received an internship with Meri Consulting Services at the start of my senior year of college. I have always been passionate about all things creative, including social media, branding, and content creation. Some of my passions in life include fashion, traveling, and design.
How has your experience in the ASD Internship Program been, and what projects have been the most meaningful?
My transition between being an eager college student looking for professional working experience, to gaining an internship through the ASD Program has been pivotal to my current success as a recent college graduate. Not only has this internship allowed me to finally showcase my marketing skills, but also provided me with experience working with real world situations, people, and problems. My usual tasks included content creation for the company’s social media platforms, developing monthly newsletters, and tracking social media analytics. My most meaningful assignments have been the social media audits and competitive research reports I created for my boss, Meri Birhane. This assignment helped me showcase my strength in taking large chunks of information and simplifying it into something concise and easily digestible.
What advice would you give to high school students looking for a successful career?
Each experience you take on will have an impact on you. Even if it’s something you’re not sure you will connect to, you will always find out something new about yourself and your capabilities that you didn’t know before. No matter what you do or where you end up, taking that leap of faith will help you grow into who you’re meant to become.
Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ (GNOTW) features a curation of positive headlines from across the San Diego mega-region, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.
With and through nearly 200 investors, EDC works to maximize San Diego’s prosperity. From helping companies secure relief funding to quantifying the impact of AI in the region’s Cybersecurity cluster, here’s what EDC accomplished in June 2021.
The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program launched in Summer 2020 in a remote-capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to provide up to 100 San Diego-based companies with fully subsidized interns. This program targets companies with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.
As students are closing out their Spring business internship experiences, EDC is rolling out this blog series to highlight the innovative local companies that comprise the third cohort of the program, and the interns they hosted. To date, ASD has placed 93 student-interns in local businesses, with $455,000 in total wages and support services paid.
In this feature, we sat down with Ricardo Campos, VP of Operations and General Manager at San Diego Loyal. As part of the third cohort of host companies, San Diego Loyal is a professional soccer club that was founded locally in 2019 and is currently competing in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship.
Read on for more about ASD intern host San Diego Loyal, and hear direct from their student-intern here.
Why was your company founded, and what are your current points of focus?
San Diego Loyal SC is built on four core pillars–independent, authentic, inclusive, and optimistic. San Diego Loyal plays for America’s Finest City and is led by some of the best in sport. The club was founded to bring professional soccer to San Diego and the point of focus is to make this city a better place to work, live, and play through the beautiful game.
What does growth look like over the next few years?
We are currently playing at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium, which can seat over 6,100 fans. Over the next few years, our focus is to identify a location within San Diego County to build a soccer-specific stadium.
How has your company pivoted as a result of COVID-19?
We played two games in front of fans in 2020 and took a pause at the onset of the pandemic; however, we returned to playing in July 2020 without fans in attendance. This had a major impact in our ticket revenue for the season but we were blessed to have our corporate partners stay with us during such challenging times.
Tell us about your experience building a small business/startup in San Diego.
Starting a professional soccer club is very challenging but resources within the United Soccer League and an experienced club management team were key factors in our success. Process creation and execution are one of the hardest parts, as you new employees implement standard operating procedures for long-term success.
In your opinion, what is special about San Diego’s business community, and the talent that drives it?
San Diego is special in many ways. The local talent is on par with any major region in the world. We are confident that the San Diego region can deliver quality talent no matter the industry.
Over the last several months, our work at EDC has had to move and change in some significant ways to respond to the economic conditions around us. And while this is always a part of our work and planning, it is safe to say that 2020—and the early stages of 2021—challenged us greatly and taught us a lot about our work and our economy, as it did all of you.
Investors and community partners often ask me what a day or a week at EDC looks like—some are just curious what the actual work feels like on a day-to-day basis; others are interested in knowing what we are seeing and experiencing through the businesses we work with to better understand if their needs and priorities may signal bigger or broader economic trends, challenges, or opportunities for the region.
As we kick off the third quarter of the year and begin developing new and improved programs, strategies, and focus areas to keep stride with our fast moving and re-opening economy, here’s a quick glance at EDC’s Q2 2021:
As always, we do all that we do with an eye on building a stronger, more inclusive economy, producing more skilled workers, creating more quality jobs within our small businesses, and establishing more thriving households and a better quality of life for businesses and residents in all corners of the San Diego region. We truly could not do any of it without you, and we thank you for your continued investment, leadership, and support.
