Huge thank you to longtime friend Rachel for having me on her new podcast And This is How it Started. Honored to be a part of its launch! I talk about my experience creating a meaningful summer internship experience during COVID and working on a new start-up. Take a look!
Here's the transcript:
And This is How it Started
Rachel
0:04
Andrea Lirio is a rising junior at Bryn Mawr College majoring in International/Global Studies. This summer, Andrea interned as an External Communications intern at Fidelity Investments. Back in May, Andrea grew a 30 person team to manage Relay, a resource website for COVID-19. As student internships and several plans were rescinded due to the pandemic, Andrea wanted to provide opportunities to create a meaningful project over the summer. COVID-19 resources are hard to find and that is where Relay enters the picture, Relay Resource is a site that responds to COVID-19 from a student's perspective, hoping and educating others about the pandemic to stay safe, and informed. You can find really on their website, Facebook page, and Instagram. As a young entrepreneur, Andrea will be spending her gap year 2.0 to write her first book “Creative @ Work” with expected publication in April 2021, and working on a fast moving venture, which consists of a TV show and product line component. In this episode, Andrea will tell us how Relay Resource started, her TV show startup, and her experience as a student entrepreneur.
Welcome on Andrea to the podcast! Just wondering where you're calling from, what school you attend, and how you started Relay.
Andrea
1:18
Yeah, so, I'm Andrea. I'm calling from Long Island right now. Usually I'm in Boston, but just calling from somewhere else. And, I just finished my second year at Bryn Mawr College, a Historically Women’s College, out of Philly and excited to be here! So, really long story, basically Relay started back in March or April, like the simple idea to create a site for families who were struggling to get information about COVID-19. There's actually two ways it started. That was the first one, and then the second reason was, I noticed a lot of my friends had lost their internship opportunities, or they were supposed to work in retail or at camp and obviously all of those were cancelled as well which was really hard to see and hear about like on LinkedIn or like posting on social or text. And so I wanted to create something and I was fortunate enough to have my internship program through the summer. So I wanted to find a way to create a resource for families and students who just like you know giving back in that way but then also giving back to students in figuring out a way for them to have a meaningful impactful summer and doing work that they could talk about for future opportunities that you know they weren't able to get this summer. And so, yeah, I just created it out of those two things and, basically, I built the team by reaching out to people I knew so family and friends, and I literally just texted them and I was like, hey, not sure what you're up to this summer but if you're interested I'm working on this cool project will also organize workshops and professional Q&As is to help explore your interests, you know, let me know what you're thinking. And so from there. They invited their friends to join family or friends to join as well. So we grew to over 30 plus interns so I ended up, managing the summer, which was a really cool experience, definitely really cool because I have to figure out like how to best manage different kinds of workers and get them to really make the most of their experience, and so that helped me like become a better manager and also just a better time manager for like myself figuring out how to better do things. So yeah, it was just a great experience. That was unexpected I think, but just overall really great that the interns were able to have it, people using our site were able to have this this new site and then for me to be able to figure out how to do it. So, yeah.
Rachel
3:48
Yeah, it sounds like such a cool experience being able to you know manage so many interns at like such a small like company capacity but you know like what made you decide to use a website, as a form of communicating these resources.
Andrea
4:04
Yeah. So I think, like, so going back. I've made my own personal site, one time because I was really bored, and I still have that but I've also worked on multiple other sites and I just thought like this is something I have some exposure with I can figure out how to do this on this scale with like other people and making a resource more like with numbers and you know I mean everything keeping track of cases in different areas. So that's how we figured out, or decided to create a site and then it was also just easier because everything is remote and virtual that it's just easier to be able to share the information that way. But that's how we came up with the idea, and also because we were actually able to connect with two other groups who are working on helping during this time as well and so kind of working in tandem with them like one person was helping with planning virtual funerals and another group was working on getting tablets to hospitals to help out because a lot of people can't say goodbye to their loved ones and go to the hospital. So working in tandem with those two groups and figuring out how we could best help the other two and so that was just a great experience for us and exposure too.
Rachel
5:18
Yeah, so really is on Facebook, Instagram, and as well as your website. So what has your experience been like, you know, growing that platform and really leveraging social media during this time as we're more virtual than ever.
Andrea
5:36
It's been a really cool experience I think it’s definitely been harder, I think, to get the interns to be okay with just posting, like I told them it's okay if you post and we don't have many followers when you first start, of course, but I think we still have this mindset as like teens that we want to make sure we always get like optimal likes and all of this stuff but kind of bringing into this idea that we're just starting so it'll start somewhere and we grew to 75 plus Instagram followers and then 200 plus, Facebook likes or followers and so, obviously, it's still not like that crazy big but I think to have grown that much in a very short time is and also for the size that we are is really cool so it was really fun coming up with the content to put on social media and like figure out like what content are we creating that people will really want to see on social and like targeting that more so. But yeah, I've had some experience with social so I think this was also me wanting to teach other people what they could do with it too. But yeah, I think it was a great experience for our interns too. They were reading a lot about optimal times to post. Search Engine Optimization like all of that kind of stuff behind the scenes so it was like a great learning experience for them too.
Rachel
7:00
Yeah, pivoting to entrepreneurship, how did you, you know, know that you were interested in being entrepreneurship or even taking entrepreneurship classes did Bryn Mawr offer those resources to you? How did you start?
Andrea
7:16
Yeah. So, for starters, my school doesn't offer a very robust entrepreneurship space, which I think I knew coming in like, I knew I wasn't going to get that experience there I think mostly when I decided to go to my school I wanted to go to grow like more personally and understand myself and my worth and really what I wanted to do. And from there once I figured that out like I was thinking in the back of my mind for a while like through high school I knew I wanted to go into business, but it was just the question of how, because you can go in and so many different routes. And just figuring out what exactly was the thing that like I really liked doing was the hardest part but through experience and through multiple internships, I really like startups and like creating something from scratch and really being scrappy with creating what you want to or envisioning something and then moving it to the final product I think that's really cool. So, I didn't get that experience or support really for my school but I think definitely what they did help me with is figure out that that's what I wanted to do. And it's actually really crazy because now, I'm taking my second gap year and I just recently decided that I'm going to try and see if I could move to another school to pursue this interest and love for entrepreneurship and business. I didn't think this is going to happen like literally going in like I would have never thought this would happen but I think just seeing like now what I really want to do. We'll just see what happens in the future. I really want to keep pursuing this and that's how I figured out it was literally just like me exposing myself to different things. So from my first internships to even school clubs really, they really helped shape like I was part of the newspaper and like acapella in high school, and also similar in college but they just really open your eyes to be like, oh yeah like I'm capable of doing all of these things and sometimes you, most of the time, you don't have to do it by going to school necessarily and I think that's where I learned the most is like the hands on experience which I know a lot of people always talk about, but for me, I definitely learned the most by like getting hands on actual experience. So that's why I think also school doesn't necessarily add to my passion for business, problem solving creativity, innovation. But yeah, so I don't know that's why I decided to and now I'm like really just gonna try and push that boulder up the hill or whatever to make it happen. But yeah, that’s how I figured it out.
Rachel
9:58
Yeah, and I guess you're making it happen with your TV show that you're going to be working on right yeah tell us more a little bit more about that process and what it's been like for you.
Andrea
10:12
Yeah! So, right now I'm working on a few projects but one of the most exciting ones is I'm working on a TV show, that's going to be, it's a part of the startup that I'm working on during this gap year. So it's a TV show with a business or app component that goes with it and then matches it, which I actually designed and helped create which I'm really excited about. And it's a really cool story because we're still working on it so as we're working on it like I'm just learning new things and we're in the middle of pitching right now execs and TV producers which is a cool process. But basically, our CEO came up with this idea like 10 years ago, actually, and she tried to do it then but a lot of things got in the way she decided like, okay, like, I don't have time to do this right now with everything else she was doing, and then due to COVID and just being inside quarantine, not being able to go out she had a lot of time to reflect and look back at this idea that she had, and she was like, wow, I actually really still want to do this and it's still needed in the world. And she contacted my aunt, which is crazy and she said hey, I'm gonna pick your brain about this. I just thought this is a great idea. I didn't do it 10 years ago, what about now? My aunt literally told her drop everything you're doing, and you have to do it like now this is the perfect time, you know to pursue this project. And so, then my aunt called me and she was like this is a great project you should really work on it with me and this CEO like she's gonna be like the CEO of the company now she's gonna be great like we're gonna be able to create this. And so, it's just a really cool process literally from like that phone call to then sitting at this dining table here now in Long Island where we move down to talk about how, what to name it like what what we want in the show so basically the concept is we're trying to create like an American Idol, Shark Tank, Amazing Race esque show with a certain goal in mind, obviously, which will lead into the app, and of course this is in stealth mode still because we're a little, you know, we still want to make sure you get the funding before we talk about it.
Andrea
12:22
But we've been really working on the pitch decks. So it's been a really cool process because you have to pitch the show, and the app separately because obviously you can’t ask the same people for the money when it comes to it because one's more creative and then the other one is the money generating inside of the company. So it's been a really cool process to create the pitch decks and really create this brand. And I think this concept my aunt keeps talking about is, we're really pitching this company like that doesn't exist yet to these investors, we don't have like anything created it's literally just like we have this pitch deck of concept and idea that we want them to help us come to life. And so really figuring out that, and figuring out like budgeting like how much money do we need to get this to happen. And so like right now we're trying to raise 5 million. So we can start working on it, and create it by September 2021. So that's been a cool process so far we've raised a million so like we're slowly getting there. But it's really cool we've been talking to a lot of people from Spotify, Netflix, Disney, Pinterest, and they're all really excited about it. So far, nobody said no, about the idea like everyone's really excited so it's really promising I think they're obviously always times when we look back and we're like, or we're in the moment and it's like this is just really hard because you have to find a way to convince people that like this is worth giving their money toward. And so that process is always just hard for us and coming up with like our MVP like most, you know, our you know our viable product what we want to create for the minimum viable product and and it’s hard because we want to do so many things but what like is actually like the stuff that we can do in year one, and so that and even figuring out like what network or streamer we want to be on. Because that's such a difficult process like we've come to the conclusion that Hulu, or ABC Family or Freeform would be our ideal to be on just because it's more accessible for more people. Because, you know, it gives us more creative reign over what we want it to be like, and also just financially, is the better option and then potentially there's room for growth but I don't know it's been a really cool process we go, we've mostly been having friendly investor calls so people, we're already you know friendly friends with, because then you know it's not it's less scary like they tend to are saying yes. And then also, they just give us advice, which is really helpful because every time we have those calls, we go back and we continue to edit the deck and edit any video, anything, any other files we have that go with it. And then, you know, going back to the drawing board editing that and then getting ready for the next meeting so we actually have one this week, but at the end of this week which is really exciting with another friendly investor so it's not that nerve wracking but we've come a long way with like the business model now we have the contact with the design, we have a demo like a prototype of what the app look like. So it's just been a really cool experience to be able to do all of that and even present to them and tell them like, oh yeah this is the concept, this is, you know, and really find a way to hone in on the story and a lot of my previous experiences have led up to this, I believe. So, I'm just excited to see where it goes. Sorry that was a very long answer to your question, but yeah that's how it's been going.
Rachel
16:02
And that's great, I guess, cuz you have so much experience you know being in this space. You know, the film industry has changed, you know, since the pandemic happened you know films are being released now and streaming services are being postponed. So, how do you think that these challenges will affect you know your TV show and, or how you make decisions on what streaming services you're going to want to pursue.
Andrea
16:31
Yeah, that's a great question and we're also preparing that answer for investors, that's in our deck in the appendix but we actually created a slide like what are we going to do with the ongoing pandemic and how that affects our production like once we get the money, how are we going to produce it if you know everything's still closed? And so, since we're trying again to create this reality show like American Idol, Amazing Race sort of stuff like where people will have to fly in from all over. It's hard, but it's not impossible. We're trying to create like a nimble small team that can really record all of the stories we want so I think we're going to start you know with the American Idol classic finding the stories and telling them that component, and then hopefully, the goal is to find a location that we can get maybe like 10 to 20 contestants you know they should all be tested and everything come safely. But, to get them to stay there for the remainder of the filming period. And if that's possible that would be the most ideal just to make it so like obviously won't have live shows like American Idol used to have now they don't have that either but still find a way for contestants to be in one place at a time, but also American Idol went after it in a very unique way really had people film at home so I don't know that's always a possible route but it's definitely difficult and like I've been thinking about this a lot too with just like my own love for TV and movies like how are they going to film my favorite shows and favorite movies now that you know you have to socially distance and you have to be safe about everything so I think it's still possible people are still filming. And there's a lot of opportunity there but like I don't know if you saw but Selena Gomez came out with a show where she was just cooking in her house. And like people are teaching her how to cook from their houses and I was like, I sent it to everyone on the team and I was like, guys, we could do this like this. This is so simple, they just sent all the equipment to her house in their house, and we could totally do something like that so things like that are possible. It's just, you know, it's definitely not the most ideal but if we can do that at least to get it launched I'm sure in the future, there'll be room for big live shows and everything like that. But yeah, this is a really good question.
Rachel
18:59
Yeah. Do you think that you know creators are going to come up with new ways of creating content for users and, you know, maybe this is a time of innovation in the film industry.
Andrea
19:12
Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think like, all in all in the world in general, everybody is like finding a way to make the most of what's happening now. I think they'll definitely have new ideas like the Selena Gomez idea that is so simple, but they were able to pull it off so easily and it still looks like a quality show you know like it doesn't look like somebody filmed on their phone, like I think that's a bit different but, and also that technology that just came out the one more it's like there's a stand that follows you as you walk like I saw an ad for that and I was like, this is just the new world of film and TV or movies that like you couldn't do stuff like that, and I was watching another one I don't know if you've seen like on Disney+ they were showing like how they made the Mandalorian, and how they created it with like all these screens like on top and around. And you don't even have to go anywhere like you can just really film from there and I was like, you know, from there we can really find new and innovative ways to do and I think a lot of people are doing computer animation like there's a lot more that people are doing from their computers at home, which thank God we have those. But I think definitely this is just going to be the time where people find a way to create this new technology for us to make this possible. Because I was reading like George Lucas talked about it like a while ago he was like imagine if you could film an entire movie or show from your garage, and it's just crazy because we're getting to the point where like you can, you know, so we'll see what people create but I'm just excited because like the technology they create every year of like you know from green screen to now these full, I don't know gaming sort of setups is really cool and I think there's a lot of growth for that. But of course it would be great if everything can be like in person and that would be the ideal, but, yes.
Rachel
21:08
Yeah, so before we talk about gap years, I was wondering if we could just pivot back to relay for a second, and just talk about, you know, if we ever returned to the new normal. Do you think that you would transform Relay into more general resources about health related topics, or would it still focus on COVID-19.
Andrea
21:33
Yeah, it's a really good question. I actually thought about that. The other day because my uncle listens to this podcast called TWIV, and he always listens to it and you know they talk about COVID, a lot there. And I asked him, I was like, What did they talk about when COVID is over? And he's like oh they just talked about other viruses, I was like, okay well that's because they're a virus podcast like they talked about sicknesses and all that so that makes sense like they'll continue to talk about it. But, I thought about it too for Relay, I wasn't sure what direction we would go in like following COVID but I think right now we're going to slow down a bit, because of the semester starting we'll still have people continuing through the year, continuing creating content, and everything like that. But I think, following like the end of COVID, I just whatever that is. I think that that will be the end of Relay, as well I think it was really just like to serve its purpose during the time. And I think again like the biggest thing for me was wanting to make sure all of my friends, peers, family were able to get this experience that they weren't able to get because of something that was completely out of their control and finding a way for them to have this experience or meaningful impactful experience so I think it was a great idea like a great question but we're also combining with another company. So maybe she can use this for content marketing. But I think, yeah, it was just a really great experience I think for everybody, and I'm glad everybody was able to work hard and figure out how to do this, and hopefully moving forward we can really have the connections with each other. And, yeah, but I didn't know it was definitely great to see it come from nothing to a site with video and graphics and everything like everyone's so talented so yeah I'm just excited to see what other people do.
Rachel
23:30
Yeah, so I know that you took a gap here after we graduated and you're planning to take another gap year. You know there's such a stigma against gap years you know parents are saying you know why are people taking gap years why is it so important. Now, I just wanted to know your take on gap years and what your experience has been like and what you did.
Andrea
23:50
Yeah. Yeah so right after high school I decided to take a gap year because I really needed a break, I think from school and also our high school being very competitive and very I don't know everybody is just so smart and driven and ambitious that I think I just needed a break from that I needed to re energize figure out what I wanted to do before jumping into school and continuing with that, I think like heavy mindset. And so, for my first gap year my goal was really to gain work experience, and I guess to figure out what it's like living without school. And like what people do, and sharing about people's experiences and connecting with people in a way that I hadn't before. And that was a really amazing experience. I was also able to travel so that was also a bit different from what the staff here is now going to look like. But I took a lot, away from that anything, I was able to go into high school, definitely. I was able to go into college definitely more mature and having experiences I knew what I wanted to do more so than I would have before. But definitely like you can go straight into college, I just knew that I needed to take one and it was hard to convince my parents to like what you're saying. Parents don't like the idea of people taking breaks. But I convinced them I was like, I'm gonna do this during this month like from this week to this week it was a very specific plan so I think if you're a person who has a plan and knows what you want to get away from the experience definitely take one. But otherwise, maybe going to school might be the best bet. If not, if you're not willing to put in the time to figure out what you want to do, um, but this year varies a lot from my first gap year. I call it gap year 2.0, just like, I don't know, that's why I call it. I don't know why I call it that. But, so this year I have more exciting projects more than less like travel, obviously, and more project based experience. And really I wanted to take it again like going back to what I was saying about loving hands on experience. And then also how my school didn't necessarily offer a lot of entrepreneurship access. I wanted to just throw myself into it and just see, if this is really what I love and I know, I love it. So, I'm just throwing myself into more deeper figuring out the specifics of like where my skills, where do my skills lie like what do I want to continue doing. So, a few of the projects I'm working on this year, I'm writing my first book and hopefully publishing that in April, so I'm hoping to do that, and that's actually going to be on entrepreneurship and creativity, which I'm really excited about because I'm really excited about entrepreneurship, and then I'm also working on creating a TV show with my friends so this is separate from the startup but just creating a TV show that we thought it was necessary right now, and then also interning with, you know, with other companies like notable companies and just gaining experience there and seeing like the bigger picture of like corporate and how they were able to be successful and breaking down almost like pieces of company that I think I would want to put into, I don't know a future. I don't know if I'm going to create my own company but like maybe into a future company that'll be part of. And then also working on this new startup and I, you know, just figuring out things that I really love to do because I think like for people who are self starters are really excited to figure out what they're interested in this is definitely a great thing for you to do and I think parents should support that is definitely not the most traveled route. But I think it's really worthwhile and, okay, I always say I am an experience-junkie. I just love trying new things and having new experiences all the time and I think that's a lot, like that's what a lot of our generation is like too. And just figuring out like from previous experiences bringing me into current experiences and breaking down like how I got where I am. But I don't know, I would definitely recommend a gap year for anyone who's been thinking about it. But I also wanted to note, I'm somebody who really likes to stay busy and have things all the time. But for sure there's time for breaks and like doing other things outside of work. It's just like for me I get really excited when I'm doing projects I mean, obviously that's a good thing I'm not like every day like I don't want to do this, like I'm not forcing myself to it's just like, I wouldn't do the project if I wasn't excited about it, which I think everyone, you should do it if you're excited about it. Don't do it if like, you're just doing it to do it, if that makes any sense. But, yeah, I don't know, I would definitely recommend a gap year for anyone who's thinking about it.
Rachel
28:40
Yeah, for sure. So yeah, before we close off this episode. Do you have any other advice for high school or college entrepreneurs who either want to start their own businesses or initiatives?
Andrea
28:53
I would say, just keep doing what you're interested in doing. I think obviously that's very cliche but I think a lot of the time we're always thinking about like what will make us the most money, or like, Oh, this would be the ideal career that everyone would be proud of me for doing like at least I've definitely thought about it like that, and I think maybe a lot of us are guilty of thinking about life like that, that's just the mindset that a lot of people have ingrained into us like capitalism and everything but just to think about what you're passionate about and what you actually are really excited every day to do like I've read so many of those books where they're like, what do you lose sleep over like what are you working on that you like don't sleep or you don't go to the bathroom or like you don't eat like why what is keeping you excited like every day. So doing that and I think like if you find something that you love like the money will come. I know that sounds hard but it's just like, if you really love it, you'll find a way to make it work. And then I also just to add something I've realized like through writing my book, and this is what my book is about is that entrepreneurship is like the ultimate creative outlet or art like that's what I truly believe. I think a lot of the time we think entrepreneurship is like finance and like numbers and I don't know a lot of that and I think what I at least experienced myself is that it takes a lot of creativity, passion, innovation, like interest in interest, just interest in general. So I think if you're going to pursue anything even if it's not an entrepreneurship, there's always like, remembering to be creative and problem solving or like creating something.
I know this is also cliche but like there are a lot of sucky moments when you're working or figuring out what you want to do. You just have to figure out what are you willing to do, like what suckiness are you willing to get through to do what you want to do, because anything you do will have suckiness, I know I keep saying suckiness but like anything you do will have suckiness. So what are you willing to take like what are you not willing to take. And what are you able to, because everyone has to do it. That's what I have.
And I think the last thing, again, is just don't always think like your worth has to do with your productivity. I definitely have been keeping myself busy because that's what I like to do. But don't like put your self-worth with how productive you are like we've been again taught this, because of capitalist like our capitalist society today but you know take time for you do things that you want to do and don't think about like, oh I checked off 10 things off my list it like it doesn't have to be like that. And just remember that because I definitely do that sometimes I'm like oh it was really productive today like a go me, yeah go you but again, go you but like, don't put your self-worth it with that, but I think that's the advice I would give.
Rachel
32:04
Yes, all very good advice and I think that a lot of people will, you know, see your experience and really learn from it so thank you so much for coming on.
Andrea
32:15
Thank you for having me. This is such a great idea and like I'm really glad, people are gonna be able to hopefully learn from this.
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