• by Larissa Faw , July 25, 2019

Tinuiti has wrapped up its first 10-week paid internship program supporting career-oriented college-bound seniors from Dillard High School, a Title 1 school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The "T-Up" hybrid internship/mentoring program was inspired by Tinuiti CEO Zach Morrison after speaking at Dillard during a “tech week” at the school.

“Many internship programs teach students about business, but very few, if any, teach the important life skills that are necessary in and out of the workplace," he says. "We wanted to fill that gap.”

In addition, the vast majority of agency programs are specific to college, rather than high-school students.

Two interns in the inaugural class received training in specialized subject areas, including paid search, and developed a business project. Now, these students will have access to paid internship positions while they are enrolled in college, as well as ongoing mentoring from Morrison and the Tinuiti HR team, throughout college and post-graduation.

“Entrepreneurship and digital marketing are career choices that aren’t typically presented to high-school students,” says Morrison. “When these young adults expressed interest in our industry, I became excited about helping them cultivate and develop that passion.

Separately, 22squared is unveiling its intern project, designed to challenge the unconscious gender bias found in artificial intelligence-enabled voice assistants.

The "Not That Kind of Assistant" initiative runs across social media, influencer marketing and public relations by calling attention to the fact that female voice assistants respond to rude remarks with silence or passive responses. Saying “You’re a slut” receives “Well, thanks for the feedback.” People are encouraged to submit their alternatives to these questions.

The 22squared interns have built Twitter and Instagram accounts and a website, hoping these platforms will collectively ignite enough social-media pressure to force companies to change these default responses.
Here is a link to the intern-created website.

“The fact this group of interns found the power to call out the largest technology companies in the world, on this blatantly sexist, misogynistic misuse of AI, is a beautiful thing," says Matt O'Rourke, Chief Creative Officer, 22squared. "When our industry uses its powers for good, we can do anything.”