My name is Madeleine Balliette, I am entering into my third year in honours anthropology with a minor in art history. I am from Austin, Texas originally, and moved to Montreal in 2018 to start my studies at Mcgill. When I entered university, I had no idea what I wanted to study鈥� my interests were never consistent and often fluctuated. I tried out a few fields, dipping my toes into history and political science; I even thought about switching into biology for a day or two. Eventually, I settled on anthropology for, in all honesty, its beautiful vagueness. 鈥淭he study of humans鈥� was and is appealing to me for its broad possibilities, allowing the student to embrace an abundance of cultural and scientific studies of humankind.
Since then, my interests have been honed more towards biological anthropology, and what it means that our species is a part of nature, interacts with nature, and has evolved from it. In the future, I hope to go into academia. My dream is to be a professor of social science, though the exact details are hazy. I have realized that my passion for academia is a somewhat rare one, and should be fed and explored.
This summer, when looking for an internship, I applied mostly to museums of natural history. However, COVID-19 quickly resulted in the closing of most museums in North America, and so I was left internship-less and deeply discouraged. I applied for my internship with tictic on a whim. I knew it was not perfect for me: it was remote rather than in person, and a marketing internship rather than related to social science. However, what drew me to it was the ability to research and write about cultural attractions, which would aid my studies greatly. In turn, it has become an experience that I am deeply grateful for, especially considering the circumstances.
Tictic is a travel app that allows people to make their own bucket lists and 鈥榯ic鈥� things off when they are completed. The goal of the app is to inspire wanderlust and encourage external exploration of the world that we live in. I began the internship in June working on social media posts, research of travel attractions, and writing about those that I had visited or found interesting. Soon, I was able to be a group leader of interns, delegating weekly tasks and overseeing the process.
The company is very new and in its early stages, so I was able to witness all of the scrappy beginnings of a start up in this process. One of the highlights of this was being able to sit in on meetings with investors and business advisors, which was an experience that I value deeply, for it showed me the inner workings of a business more than I had ever seen before. Another highlight would be the weekly calls with my supervisor, who would talk through weekly tasks with me, asking for input and ways to make the process move more slowly. I really enjoyed feeling like I was a collaborator in the beginnings of a start-up. This experience is something that I will absolutely be able to apply to my studies鈥� it improved my empirical research and writing skills, allowed me to hone leadership and collaboration skills, and overall gave me workplace experience that is invaluable.
In the time of COVID, I feel extremely blessed to have had a work opportunity, and by extension this internship award. The funds have helped me greatly during this time when having a paid internship was not an option. I am so grateful for The Faculty of Arts Internship Awards which gave me the possibility of having an unpaid work opportunity. The award made the unfortunate circumstances of the past several months less stressful and feel more successful. Again, I am very thankful to McGill for this award, and to tictic for the experiences that will continue to affect my academics and future career.
