Summer Showcase – Meet the Operations Team!

Summer is nearing its end, and while our team at Editors for Impact has been busy juggling several impactful projects over the last few months, we also found the time to have some fun.

This month, we’ll be taking a look at our Operations Team, and what they’ve been up to over the Summer of ’22.  

Our passionate and dedicated Operations Team consists of the brilliant Brendon and the one-of-a-kind Oleksandra. Together, they manage the day-to-day operations at E4I, and ensure that our partners are not only matched with their ideal editor, but also that our partners’ needs are met to perfection!

First, let’s see what Oleksandra has been up to over the summer:

“I’m from Ukraine, but moved to the UK 3 years ago, and currently live in London. I am a second year student at UCL studying Information Management for Business. The things I enjoy doing the most whenever I have some free time are film photography and reading.

This summer I got a summer job at a summer language school for international students aged 8 to 17 in Hastings. I was working as a House Tutor, which meant taking care of the kids in the house as well as organising and holding activities and trips for them. I also had a chance to go back to Ukraine in the beginning of summer and am now travelling with my mum and our friends in Croatia.

I am Operations Executive at E4I and the part of the role I enjoy the most is being able to help various volunteering organisations find a person/people who would be able to help them with their request. It is very rewarding seeing the final results of the project and realising that you did a tiny part to help that organisation share their message. I think the biggest challenge of this role is finding an impact editor when the project is very time pressured. However, I believe that we have a great team of editors, and we rarely struggle to find someone suitable for a project.

Here’s what Brendon has to say:

“Hi everyone! I’m an undergraduate student at UCL, heading into my second year in September. I’m originally from Singapore, and just moved to London about a year back so I’m still exploring what the city has to offer! Big fan of cooking, baking, and grocery shopping – these take up a huge chunk of my free time.

I’d say this summer has been quite restful for me. There’s been quite a bit of lazing around at home, catching up with friends, and taking a break from the hectic school terms. But I’ve also kept myself slightly busy with student society roles and external work like E4I. Earlier on in the summer, I travelled to New York with my family (whom I haven’t seen in a couple of months), and that was great fun.

The summer break also marked the first time I’ve had a kitchen since moving to London so I’ve been experimenting with a lot of new recipes and feeding my friends with what I hope is good food.

I am the Head of Operations at E4I, mainly in charge of making sure our projects run smoothly. My day-to-day role mostly involves formulating briefs to scope our projects, and communicating with partners as well as editors to ensure that the projects are progressing well.

It’s incredibly fulfilling when our partners and editors return to us with positive feedback about the projects. With the way E4I operates, the impact we create isn’t always directly observable. Hearing the feedback from our community reminds me of the reason behind the work we’re doing and makes me happy that we are making a difference.

I would say the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far is juggling between E4I and other commitments. There were busy periods when I had to take a back seat from E4I work but I’m so thankful that our management team is in sync and we are able to cover for each other during these periods”