Press Associate Nada Hafez talks about interning with Unity for Equality for this semester. She says, “Although I love to write, when I first started working as a press associate intern with Unity for Equality I thought I would just continue what I was doing in University. After all, you always need research to be able to write, especially for an organization. I thought that might make me feel more like I'm finishing an assignment than doing something I like. I was wrong.
I found out that when you stop researching even as a creative person, you begin to think that you know all sides of a problem or think that a problem is more simple than it actually is. The more I researched, the more I found public opinion topics more complex than I initially thought and that solving the problems associated with them takes more than just reforms. This made me make bigger connections from history to psychology to collective and individual beliefs. And as someone who wants to create films, this has made me remember to always make sure to have listened to and met many of the people that I want to represent.
Sometimes I looked at all the research being done and I thought that although research is important, it wasn’t being applied or embraced fully for positive social change. But that’s what organizations like Unity for Equality are for, so even if we don’t have full power to make social change, we have the power to demand it or initiate it.
I believe that access to academic education should be obtainable to everyone. The research that shows us the disparities in society through data and evidence should be attainable to anyone. This is why I care for my work in Unity for Equality. I care for this organization to not only use research for that change but to empower people and make the evidence and facts available to them regardless of class, gender, race or sexual orientation.”We are very lucky to have Nada Hafez on our team and wish her all the best in all of her future endeavors!