This summer, several undergraduate students have been interning at startups through the Kathryn Stewart Fellowship program. Undergraduate Stewart fellows are awarded a $3,000 scholarship if they are able to secure a summer internship with venture capital or angel-funded startups and early stage companies. The Dingman Center interviewed each fellow about their experience.
Emily Turner – Hybrent Inc.
Tell us about Hybrent Inc. What is the company’s mission and core competencies?
Hybrent is a medical supply chain company. The core competency of the company is to evolve the supply chain process to be more efficient and cost cutting.
Our mission is to develop technology that improves the clinical and operational efficiency of healthcare facilities. Hybrent products and services are dedicated to solving real problems in the healthcare supply chain by providing groundbreaking technology, business intelligence and visibility beyond the limits of current enterprise systems. We help procurement managers make better decisions when running their healthcare organizations.
Tell us about your responsibilities thus far at Hybrent Inc?
My main role at Hybrent has been to develop the customer engagement department. One of my major responsibilities is to make sure all Hybrent users feel fully comfortable using the system and placing orders through our platform. In order to stay connected with users, I design customer satisfaction surveys, newsletters and emails. I also track user activity and reach out to any users that I notice are struggling to find an item.
What projects are you most looking forward to working on with Hybrent Inc?
The project I am looking forward to working on for Hybrent is creating a series of tutorial videos for our platform users. I have been working with a professional marketing firm to create these videos. I write the scripts for the videos and then send them over to the marketing firm to be made. Once the video is complete, I help edit them. These videos are crucial for Hybrent because before using the site Hybrent users are trained by an implementation specialist. These videos will make training easier for the implementation specialists and will give users a reference to use if they forget how to do something on the website.
Why did you want an internship with Hybrent Inc?
One of the main reasons I wanted an internship with Hybrent was because it would provide me insight into the strategy, decision-making and culture of a young company. Also, the whole concept of Hybrent was very interesting to me. I have always been interested in finding new markets and developing new products for those markets. That is the case with Hybrent, Inc. which has been a pioneer in providing products and services which improve the efficiency and flexibility of the medical product supply chain.
What do you hope to gain from a summer spent at Hybrent Inc?
I hope to expand my skill set and make new connections.
Have you had any cool startup/networking experiences since you’ve been at Hybrent Inc?
Our office is in an office space known as MAKE offices. In one office floor there are many start up companies. Several times a week we have meet-ups in the office kitchen where everyone has an opportunity to interact and network.
What has been the biggest adjustment? (you can talk about work and/or life)
I think the biggest adjustment has been waking up really early and commuting to work everyday.
Emily Turner is an International Business and Marketing major at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. She just spent her spring semester of junior year studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Emily is a member of the College Park Scholars, where she participated in the International Studies program. She is also an active member of Kappa Delta sorority. Emily has worked for a startup marketing firm in her hometown of Morristown, New Jersey for the past two years. She hopes to use her Spanish speaking skills and marketing skills in her future career.