Meet Our Interns Asia and Tabitha

This summer, we were fortunate to have two incredible interns join us to support our work. In response to the Black Lives Matter movement and a nation-wide reckoning for racial equality and economic justice, TMC Community Capital launched a paid internship program to mentor young women of color in the Bay Area. In this post, our interns Asia Hankins and Tabitha Shukuku reflect on their summer at TMC Community Capital.

Asia Hankins, Digital Marketing

My internship at TMC Community Capital has been an incredible learning experience and has been unbelievably positive. I appreciate that I had time to get acclimated to the non-profit prior to assisting with the Small Business, Big Heart Grant Program. I found the grant program to be a great first project to start with, and it clearly showed me TMC Community Capital’s dedication to underserved small business owners. 

I was attracted to the internship position because my passion for economic justice aligned with TMC Community Capital’s mission statement and their work within the Bay Area community. I enjoyed my finance courses in graduate school and was eager to learn more about microlending in action.

My expectations aligned well with my experience as an intern. The management team at TMC CC are very supportive and well-rounded, which I thoroughly appreciate. I received a warm welcome when I began interning in the office and I was impressed by everyone’s dedication to helping small businesses survive this challenging time.  

I learned quite a bit in a 3-month period and didn’t want the learning experience to end! I am very grateful that I am now with the company as a full-time employee so I can continue to learn and strengthen my skillset. 

My internship with TMC Community Capital supported my professional development by encouraging collaboration and creative thinking. The pandemic continued to evolve during my internship, but we still found ways to virtually collaborate and serve small business owners through our programs. I learned about creating an efficient and impactful grant program under the leadership of Hanna, TMC’s Program Manager. I learned about microlending thanks to our Coffee with Your Lender webinar series with Anna, TMC’s Program Associate.  I also grew as a professional because I became a stronger problem solver, and I became more comfortable sharing my insights during meetings with board members.

Tabitha Shikuku, Strategic Partnerships

My internship experience with TMC Community Capital has been a very rewarding, exciting, and unique opportunity. Working with the team in various projects enabled me to move outside my comfort zone and use the newly learned tools enough to become a technical expert in my field. 

I am passionate about promoting women entrepreneurs' well-being and rights by providing them with financial inclusion and a path to exercise their social innovation. The internship position allowed me the unique opportunity to work at the intersection of sustainable economic development and entrepreneurship advocacy. Supporting the Small Business, Big Heart Grant Program gave me an avenue to personally interact with small business owners and help them to thrive and continue doing good in their community.

The opportunity to work with TMC Community Capital advanced my capacity to promote entrepreneurship and enhance business models that support finance platforms while addressing the missing gaps in that sector. I’m grateful for the summer I spent learning from and working with the TMC CC Team.