Interning with Geaux Girl! Magazine

Since August, I have had the opportunity to be an intern for Geaux Girl!, a local non-profit magazine created for and with New Orleans teen girls. In 2018, Heide Winston founded the magazine to combat the significant lack of sex education resources in New Orleans. Working for a magazine that includes comprehensive reproductive health information in each issue has been extremely impactful and inspiring.

At the beginning of my internship, I assisted with organizing donor databases. Since Geaux Girl! is a non-profit, keeping track of donations is essential. Using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, I organized data from a total of 171 donors across multiple years and events. In addition to helping with day-to-day operations of the publication, I also directly communicated with Geaux Girl! teen contributors.

For this project, I notified teens whose work was selected to be in the magazine and collected their information for publication. Sharing this exciting news with the selected teens illustrated Geaux Girl!’s commitment to community engagement and to New Orleans teen girls. I strongly believe that Geaux Girl! is also unique in its involvement of the Teen Advisory Council, a group of approximately 15 teen girls who shape the magazine’s content through writing and interviewing, voting on submissions, and exchanging ideas. I was fortunate to attend a Teen Advisory Council meeting, where I saw firsthand the Council’s meaningful conversations and thought-provoking insights.

My last major project was assembling information for the creation of a mental health resources page by researching local, low-cost services. By contacting providers, I discovered certain limitations of mental health resources, such as parental consent, cost, and age, which can be barriers for teens needing to access mental health care. Through my research, I learned about crisis and support providers, including teen-specific resources, such as the Louisiana Teen Crisis Textline. My internship at Geaux Girl! has taught me the importance of accessible mental health services and reproductive health knowledge. I look forward to continuing working with the Geaux Girl! team and helping teens navigate the challenges and celebrations that accompany young adulthood.