By Priyanshi Katare
When Maura Ford started looking for a summer internship, her ideal job would have been in the live music industry. But as the pandemic progressed, those jobs became increasingly difficult to find as the industry took a big hit. “It was right when I was applying to internships that I decided to pivot because I think it was a good choice and didn’t think I wasn’t gonna to be able to find anything,” she explained, “I have a writing background, so I was looking for anything I could utilize with my content writing background and then Jonah and Mandy [the MSLCE Career Services Team] recommended 2112 to me.” 2112 Chicago is the first incubator of its kind in the city. The incubator is focused on developing businesses and entrepreneurs in the music, film and the creative tech industry. The incubator aims to provide an engaged community, educational opportunities and access to resources to help new businesses flourish. “ Members of 2112 range anywhere from lawyers who litigate on creative contracts, musicians, actors, branding agencies, marketing agencies; really anything that surrounds the creative industries. You can have a startup and work out of that space and draw upon that network,” Maura elaborated.
During her time as an intern at 2112, Maura served as a resource for community members and worked directly with the Director of Strategic Initiatives. While her internship wasn’t rigidly structured, it gave her the flexibility to work on different projects and network across a wider range of professionals. “What I like is that I’m not being pigeonholed…and I’m also gaining a lot of exposure to different companies and different people and seeing things that I didn’t even know existed as companies and roles,” she further elaborated.
While helping across several different projects, Maura was also able to showcase her writing skills. She got the opportunity to work with Norm Winer, an integral member of WXRT, on his latest project.
During her time as an intern, Maura’s supervisor got a promotion and she was able to pitch projects to help secure a full- time offer; she’ll be starting with 2112 as a community manager shortly. While Maura aspires to be a part of the live music industry, she is excited to see the experiences her time as a community manager bring her.