I was introduced to Homey when I was in my second year of study. This exposure has piqued my curiosity about what a dietitian can do after graduating from university. Therefore, after a year, I take the initiative to apply for an internship at Homey during my semester break although it is not bounded to any university requirement. I would like to utilize the one-month break time to push myself out of my comfort zone and grow personally and professionally. Perhaps, I could make a difference in my future path. Thanks to Ms. Yi Chien for giving me an opportunity to maximize my learning at Homey!
Since four weeks is a short period, I was assigned the role of a content creator whereby I could work from home with flexible time. My biggest responsibility is to innovate the nutrition industry! I have successfully created more than 60 short videos (reels, TikTok) in a month.
Recording videos sounds easy but it is a very challenging and time-consuming task if you really put in the effort to produce a good video. Although the final outcome is just a 15-second video, the process to produce the video took a few days! Before starting to record a video, I need to brainstorm on the content I can do to educate the public about nutrition with my creativity. At the same time, the way of shooting the video and the music used should be on the trends to increase the visibility. I have to be creative and innovative to ensure each of the videos is unique with outstanding content that can attract the audience. Meanwhile, I have to ensure there are no repetitive scenes, music, background or attire in all the 60 videos so that Instagram followers would not feel boring or annoying with our posting on social media. Therefore, having good time management skills is very important to ensure work-life balance. Another interesting I realized is that before the internship, I watched Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram Reels for fun; In contrast, when I started my internship, every minute I spent watching those videos was meaningful as I was looking for creative inspiration to produce my videos for Homey!
Have to clean the room after the ‘war’ (each video recording)
Thanks to Google Drive, my phone has bigger available storage
Other than that, the biggest achievement I had when working at Homey is that I collaborated with other interns from different universities to conduct two sessions of Instagram Live. It was a whole new experience for me. I was really nervous if I said something wrong or gave the wrong information to the audience. Fortunately, we managed to engage with the audience well. The sense of accomplishment was really amazing and satisfying! Thanks to this internship, I was able to meet with different people and make new friends. Although we were not meeting each other in person, we could learn a lot from each other through online meetings. It was a good experience for all of us because many problems such as miscommunication or misunderstanding might occur if we did not communicate well on the phone.
(Left) First IG Live; (Right) Second IG Live
In addition, I love the open learning culture practised by Homey. We have weekly CDE sessions to discuss any interesting nutrition-related topics or problems faced by customers. Although we were not in the same department/team, we could learn a lot from each other.
In conclusion, I would say that you would never regret having an internship at Homey! I am glad that I spent my holiday with Homey despite it being only a short period. The knowledge I learned, the skills I acquired and the experience I gained will definitely benefit me in the future. Thank you, Homey! I look forward to coming back to Homey in the future!
Written by, Yew Sing Teng (Vinie)
BSc (Dietetics) Student
University Putra Malaysia