Digital Summer Clinic Internship Week 8

It’s hard to believe the final week of the Digital Summer Clinic is already here. With just a few days left, our team focused on final touches—cleaning up small edits on the website, prepping content for the upcoming launch, and making sure the brand’s social media accounts are created and ready to go. It’s been about refining what we’ve built and making sure everything is in place for handoff.

At the clinic, we closed things out with a final panel discussion hosted by our mentor, Sufian Q, featuring guest founders Al Houry (Roadsr), Shantonio Birch (ThermoVerse), and Amer Abughaida (Lacuum, LLC). The conversation focused on the realities of starting a business—what motivated them to take the leap, how they define success, and what they look for when bringing early team members on board. They each offered honest insights into the emotional, financial, and strategic challenges of entrepreneurship, while also highlighting the mindset shifts required to lead something from the ground up. After spending the summer working with a startup, hearing directly from founders gave real weight to everything we’ve been learning—it tied together the behind-the-scenes work with the “why” that drives it all.

Lastly, I’m incredibly grateful to the Digital Summer Clinic for such a valuable and rewarding experience. This internship gave me the space to grow, take creative risks, and gain real-world insight into the inner workings of a startup. A huge thank you to Bud Gibson for leading the clinic, and to our mentors—Sufian Q., Kim Barker, Nic Woods, Natalie Fang, and Alankrita Pandey—for their guidance, encouragement, and honest feedback throughout the process.

I also want to thank the Cargility team for trusting me to help bring their brand to life. It’s been a pleasure working alongside them, learning their story, and seeing firsthand the passion and dedication they’ve poured into this project. I can’t wait for everyone to see what we have been working on—and I’m wishing them all the success as they continue to grow and share their mission with the world.

This internship has been a highlight of my summer—and something I’ll carry with me moving forward.