Name: Katarina Guerrero
Year: Junior
Major: Economics, International Studies
CFS Class: Business Field Studies
Employer: SafeStamp

For my winter 2021 internship, I worked as an analyst for SafeStamp, a startup on track to revolutionize the anticounterfeiting industry with a glowing packaging icon that utilizes advanced nanotechnology. This was my first professional internship experience. I was a project manager on a small team of interns working in business development. When I was looking for a CFS internship, I wasn’t really interested in working for a startup, and I had no experience in the pharmaceutical industry. However, I was drawn to SafeStamp’s innovative product and the internship description.

SafeStamp’s mission is to save lives, such as the millions that are lost as a result of counterfeit medicines and vaccines. Before my internship, I knew that I wanted to go into a career where I felt I was making a positive difference in the world, but I had a narrower idea of what that difference might be. After working at SafeStamp, I learned that no matter what the cause is, if I am doing work for a good cause I feel passionate and motivated in my daily tasks, however mundane. I have always been a big-picture thinker, so I was excited to apply that mindset to thinking about how my work would help contribute to a much larger goal. One guest speaker we heard in my CFS course this quarter, Natasha Krol, encouraged us to reflect on what kind of daily work we want to be doing in our jobs. With my CFS internship, I learned that the kind of work is less important to me than the overall mission that work contributes to.