Dinner With Our Alumni: Clarisse29

Hi everyone! Hope everyone had a good weekend. I did because I had dinner with the amazing @Clarisse29! For those that don't know, Dinner With Our Alumni is a series of small interviews that I conduct with 7 Cups Academy alumni to know more about their journey in the program - this my first post (!!) dedicated to the Content Development and Marketing (CDM) Program! The aim is to spread more awareness about the program and hope everyone gives it a read!

So a little about Clarisse29! @Clarisse29 or Smriti is what 7 Cups knows her by, she just graduates high school and is about to attend college for a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and English (congrats to Smriti!!) She absolutely loves content creation, psychology, and mental health (what better place to be than Cups <3) In her spare time, Smriti likes to write (mostly fiction), read (again mostly fiction) and volunteer for social work activities! For those that didn't already know, she also supports the CDM program as an Academy Mentor (and does a great job!!) Some of her other roles include being a Project Agent for the Positivity and Gratitude Community, Content Writer for the Content Team, and a member of the 7 Cups translation team - jack of all trades!

What was on the menu? Only dessert - which is better than anything! Chawal ki kheer, which is an Indian dessert, kind of like a pudding, made out of rice, milk, dry fruits, sugar of course, flavored with cardamom and a lot of love! <3

Without further ado, here's Smriti for you:

What made you join the CDM program?

I had always wanted to combine my love for content creation and mental health advocacy but never really found many outlets for the same. When I came across the Content Development and Marketing Program, I knew without a single doubt that I had to do it! The Program just seemed so perfect in every way, entailing everything from article writing to graphics creation. I didn’t find a single thing in it that would have made me reconsider my decision to apply.

How was your experience doing the coursework?

I had a positively challenging experience that helped me push my limits when it came to creating formal written content for the community. I had always been used to dreamy, fiction writing with elaborate descriptions and words full of raw sentiment and this was something absolutely different. It helped me get more organized with the content that I created, give my written pieces more of a structure, and also helped me understand how to make my content more discoverable on the internet! I’m someone who has the hardest time ‘keeping it short’ (bless my English teachers for their patience with my essays xD), so the program definitely aided me in becoming more concise with what I wrote and emphasizing my point in a clearer, almost marketable fashion. Also, graphics were something I seldom used to work with but with the help of this program, I’ve improved on that front as well! (Yay @SoulfullyAButterfly)

Which was your favorite activity in the program?

l Ioved doing my honors project! It was a social media activity proposal centered around students’ mental health in the pandemic and I had a lot of fun working on it since it helped me combine all the skills I had learned in the Program and put them to use in a single activity.

How did you enjoy writing an article?

It was probably the thing that took me the longest to complete but it was a process I enjoyed thoroughly! My article was titled 6 Signs of High Functioning Anxiety, and it was so fun learning more about the topic while I was in the ‘research and planning’ phase of it. When I actually got down to writing the first draft, I remember having a ton of tabs open with information from @SoulfullyAButterfly’s (shoutout to her) CDM Program posts xD But it was all so worth it because the final product was something that felt nice and pleasantly informative.

What advice would you give to a new CDM trainee?

The. Deadlines. Are. Sooner. Than. You. Think. xD Time just flew by right under my nose while I was a trainee, and one thing that helped make it all better was being consistent and having a schedule to work with. I had designated an hour every day to work on my program requirements and review everything that I had already done. I work best early in the mornings, so you can introspect and find out what time of the day you feel the most productive in and work on your requirements then! I also liked to reward myself with a little snack whenever I was done with a week’s tasks (call me Pavlov’s conditioned puppy xD) so gradually I found my motivation to complete tasks increasing!

What are some new things you learned about content through the coursework?

There was a myriad of things I took away from the Program like how to work with Search Engine Optimization, how to write better titles and headings for my articles, making spot-on captions for an informative social media post, and working with hashtags!

How can mentors offer better support for the program?

I feel mentors could offer better support through checking in with the trainees onboarded that week via PMs and making sure that they know a mentor is available if they need any help with the Program, maintaining their suggested response time in case they get queries from the trainees and being the patient and kind beans they are in general! <3

How did you enjoy creating graphics for the program?

Although I had created some graphics before becoming a trainee, it was still a relatively new concept for me. CDM helped me identify exactly what to put in my graphics and how to align it with any captions/written content I might have, to go with it. Graphic creation assignments were always so fun and it is a skill that I have used in my post-CDM life a number of times now. It’s just been immensely helpful!

Thank you for reading till here! I would love to hear any suggestions/question ideas that I can add to this series. If you are an CDM graduate and would love to contribute, please PM me so we can set up our dinner! Meanwhile, please give a big shout-out to @Clarisse29 for doing this, you're amazing!

If you want to apply for the CDM, please click here.