It was easy to decide that I wanted to work at ADS for a second summer internship. From the moment I met Mark and Anselmo in June 2016 to our final goodbyes August 2017, I have experienced nothing but kindness, warmth, and lots of laughs. There is never any need for them to keep a tight leash on their employees' work because the office is such a positive environment to work in; we end up pushing ourselves from our own motivation. Throughout the day you could either hear people competitively playing ping pong, Amazon Alexa playing stand up comedy, or fresh coffee being brewed in the coffee club's vacuum press. This is something I am not used to coming from previous internships and jobs. This atmosphere also helped me complete my work faster and the days quickly flew by.

My graphic design mentor, Palak Thakkar, helped me grow exponentially. I had a lot of creative freedom with creating concepts for all of my projects and freedom when implementing my vision in order to learn from making my own mistakes instead of following a list of steps. At the same time, at all points during the day, Palak made me feel welcome to come to her with any issues, and she would gladly help me through them. Answering any and all questions without ever having to look up anything, all the knowledge was at her fingertips. She never walked away from assisting me without making sure I was able to complete the task myself. Before she even sat back down at her desk I would have links in my inbox to more resources that could help me remember the solutions in the future.

I am so thankful for my time here at ADS. Not only have I gained so much knowledge and experience, but I've made lifelong connections with my great co-workers.