During my first internship and rotation at GE Appliances last summer, I met Richard McKnight, a member of the GE Appliances African American Forum Affinity Group. He had invited me to join them and even though I had agreed to do it, I eventually ended up never attending any of their events for a multitude of reasons. However, during my second internship and rotation at GE Appliances in the Spring semester of 2018-2019, I was invited and encouraged to join the AAF once again. I decided to attend their “New Member Welcoming” event to see how I would feel about actually joining and to my biggest surprise, it had exceeded all my expectations. I walked out of that event with a desire to make an impact on this group and leave a mark that will forever outlive me. This group was truly impacting the community, the company, and the people around them. I really wanted to be apart of that.

 

During this experience, I encountered different types of challenges, but got learn something new or meet someone  new every day. Above all else, I learned the importance of empowerment. When you give someone the belief that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to, no matter how challenging it might be, they will exceed your expectations. Case and point, when I felt empowered by this group, I went the extra mile by completing redesigning their entire website, gave each team within the group one-on-one training sessions, left documentation for them to use after I was gone (if they ever needed to add content and did not know to do it), and more.

 

Moving forward, I intend to make more people aware of what I have learned during this experience. I want to lead by example. I want to teach people the importance of empowerment. As mentioned before, by allowing someone to fail and learn from them, valuing their work, giving them autonomy, and more, you empower them, increase their productivity, but more importantly their desire to go the extra mile. After I experienced that myself with this group, I realize that its importance and the value it brings. In a nutshell, I plan on using the lessons I have learned from this experience to the benefit of the people and the community around me.

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