the.link : Investing in Mentorship: A thank you letter to Elizabeth Inglis and Danielle Giuseffi, HBHE Alum

Jessica Roch, HBHE '14

To: Elizabeth (Lizzie) Inglis and Danielle Giuseffi

The slide-deck was impressive. The kind you see and instantly wish you would have created yourself. As I set in on my first orientation call as a Science & Innovation Intern with SocialWellth, listening to my new colleagues, Danielle Giuseffi and Lizzie Inglis, I felt a wave of intimidation – how would I keep up with the work that these two had managed to put together? What could I possibly contribute that hadn’t already been done? Had I gotten myself in over my head?

If Danielle and Lizzie ever picked up on my concerns, they never let on. In fact, they went above and beyond to create an environment of teamwork, full of camaraderie and knowledge sharing – despite the fact that we were all working remotely from different locations. They made me feel valued and as if my opinion mattered.

SocialWellth is a digital health curation company based in Las Vegas that reviews and certifies mobile apps. The SocialWellth Certification builds on the idea that effectively applying behavior change techniques is as important as the user experience. Sound like a perfect fit for HBHE graduates? Most likely that’s because Danielle and Lizzie are alumni of the program.

In my role as the very first intern for SocialWellth, I got to play around with dozens of apps, and directly apply my knowledge of behavior change to commercial products. I also got to help drive key product decisions, develop training material and engage with our CEO on critical issues – roles that an intern in a larger company wouldn’t be able to do. As the company has grown, SocialWellth has taken on additional interns, including Sarah Lindenaur and Amy Lange, both HBHE students. Lizzie and Danielle have been key players in supporting the team and ensuring that the intern experience is fulfilling and useful.

Danielle and Lizzie were always on hand to offer support and guidance, willing to share their experiences with working in previous start-ups, which was helpful in figuring out how to navigate the professional world of a start-up. They took an interest in my professional development, ensuring that I was able to take ownership of projects and build my skill set, even it if was challenging at times. In doing so, I feel that my time with SocialWellth was incredibly valuable. Because of Lizzie and Danielle’s guidance, I was able to see how to directly apply what I was learning in the classroom to the work place.

During my time at SocialWellth, I’ve learned that impressive decks are made by equally impressive colleagues, and that the best people to work for are the ones that are invested in developing your skills to help you be just as impressive one day.

Thank you, Danielle and Lizzie for providing such excellent mentorship and professional development !!!!

Best,
Jessica Roch