This month we catch up with one of our summer interns who came to us with great hospitality and service experience as well as a sense of uncertainty about how to find meaningful work. It’s a story that many of us can relate to. I, myself attempted to travel the world as a chef before realising the importance of sustainable production and consumption, and making a huge shift to tackle the issues from another direction. We’re very happy to say that this particular intern found real connections and inspiration from her month-long internship with us. It is stories like this that we love to hear, because it gives us living, breathing proof that we are creating a positive change for the coming generations.

My story starts in Vienna, going to a normal high school and suddenly realizing that I need to educate myself in a specific area in order to have good chances on the labour market. Due to my love of food and people, I signed up for a vocational college with a focus on hospitality. A lot of internships later I came to love and hate that business. Nowhere else you get to be with so many people at the same time, getting direct feedback about your work, which can be so fulfilling.

 

The other side of the medal is, though, that it is so hard to maintain a work-life balance, and I didn’t see any career opportunities in that field. So, after graduating I decided to study business management and entrepreneurship. And although I have now a good insight into most areas of a business, I also realized that I don´t just want to work 9-5 in an office, waiting for the weekend. Studying abroad in Australia made me so much more open for the coincidences in life, and so I stopped planning ahead too long-term and decided that I don´t always have to know where I´m going, but instead I always need to check if I´m on the right track. The need for autonomy and original new ways of work environment led me to Impact Hub.

 

So what is Impact Hub Stockholm for me?

 

“It´s the first time that I observe that a company is really living their mission statement and their core values of trust, courage, collaboration. I think every member shares these values and applies them somehow in their everyday work.”

 

Flat hierarchies and open communication, combined with a lot of new and interesting people to meet are the main things I appreciate here. Impact Hub Stockholm enables you to follow your passion while challenging you to go out of your comfort zone.

 

One of my main driving force is being efficient and productive. Working in a coworking space, where there is a lot of distraction and you have to totally self-manage your work time, that is a big challenge for me, every day. What I want to develop is a deeper understanding of what I´m good at and where I can apply these skills. Also, taking concrete action towards my goal and staying focused, but still being able to welcome serendipitous things that happen along the way, is an attitude I want to strengthen.

 

Following my deep longing to help people, I pursue my goal of changing the world by making people around me happy. I believe that a lot of small changes have a huge impact in the end. That´s why I strive for something bigger than myself but starting small. So wherever life is going to take me. I want to make the most of it, try and error, experience, live and influence as many people as possible in a positive way along on my journey.

 

Written by Sarah Lily Steiner

AUTHOR

Cathy Xiao Chen is the Community Manager at Impact Hub Stockholm. With a background in food sustainability, she advises and connects startups with collaborators to maximise impact.