Asia Society Texas works with high school and university interns each semester through our Regions Bank Young Leaders Internship program. Under this program, we have partnered with various high schools and universities in the Greater Houston area to provide opportunities for students to engage with the broad swath of programs offered by Asia Society and learn more about nonprofit operations. Interns have worked in program development, research and curriculum-writing, outreach efforts, accounting and finance, and more. Through their time with Asia Society Texas, interns learn more about Asian art, history, and culture while gaining direct experience in a professional environment.

We'd like to shine a spotlight on one of our university interns, Karla Macareno, who works with our Facility Rentals department.

Learn a little more about Karla and her internship experience below! Click here to read her interview with Regions Bank! 

Quick Facts

Name: Karla Macareno
School: University of Houston
Date of Internship: Spring 2023
Favorite project you’ve worked on during your internship: My favorite project that I worked on during my internship was creating an SOP (standard operating procedure). An SOP is a step-by-step process that helps you stay organized and works as a guide to accomplish the assigned tasks. 
Most interesting thing you’ve learned during your internship: The most exciting thing I've learned and saw during my internship was how the events get set up and require a large group of people working on different things, ensuring to finish right on time before the event starts. Seeing the outcome of everyone's hard work is so inspiring because it shows how dedicated and passionate they are about their work.

Reflection

During my internship, I worked on a lot of things, like learning how to create invoices for catering, processing payments, coordinating meetings with clients, creating event proposals and contracts, and with the event manager overseeing the event setup and happenings. 

When I first started my internship, I was pretty new to everything; I didn’t know much about working in events. As I continued to learn new things, I’ve found working for the events team very interesting and fun. There’s always something to do and it's always exciting to experience the events and learn from the team. 

I chose to intern at Asia Society Texas because I wanted to have the opportunity to be able to expand my skills and learn some new ones through different tasks. Asia Society Texas is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to strengthening partnerships with people. Through the different programs and events, the Asia Society provides a platform for people from different cultures to learn from each other and develop a deeper understanding of each other’s traditions and values. I appreciate how we can learn a lot and not only enjoy from the events department but also get to know the educational and artistic side of the facility. I am also thankful to have gained valuable experience and be able to apply all my learning to my future work. 

I hope to find a job where I can continue to grow and learn. I’m open to any opportunities that cross my path in order to follow the journey that feels right to me. Through this internship, I began to strengthen my skills in communicating with others. This experience has also given me exposure to a variety of tasks, challenges, and responsibilities. All the knowledge and skills I’ve gained from this internship have helped me grow and challenge myself as a person.

Business and Policy programs are endowed by Huffington Foundation. We give special thanks to Bank of America, Muffet Blake, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and United Airlines, Presenting Sponsors of Business and Policy programs; Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher, Presenting Sponsors of Exhibitions; Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsor of Education and Outreach; Syamal and Susmita Poddar, Presenting Sponsors of Performing Arts and Culture; and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Sponsor of the Japan Series; and Regions Bank, Title Sponsor for the internship program. General support of programs and exhibitions is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and Vinson & Elkins LLP, as well as Friends of Asia Society.

Title Sponsor for Internship Program

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.