ATA Intern Profile: Zia Rashed

ATA Intern Profile: Zia Rashed

In order to highlight our growing membership of individuals who support our mission to promote civic engagement in Austin’s tech sector, we regularly feature profiles of ATA members.

Up now: one of ATA’s summer interns, Zia Rashed!

What got you interested in interning for Austin Tech Alliance?

Last year when I interned at Capital Factory I came to know about ATA and learned about the work they do with engaging the tech community in Austin. I am about to begin college majoring in marketing and thought how great it would be to solve civic engagement problems with marketing and technology. I’m truly excited for this internship so I can combine advocacy and design together.

What’s one thing you want to accomplish during your time interning at ATA?

An accomplishment to me is the feeling of truly understanding and loving what I’m learning. I want to learn more about marketing and get real world experience doing what I want to do as a career; I want to learn about civic engagement and how to apply the right marketing techniques to engage the right people at the right time for the right projects.

Why is civic engagement important to you?

Civic engagement is important because everyone needs to know what political candidates stand for and how they will change Austin. As a 17 year old, I can say the last few months and changes brought by COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter Movement have made me realize the importance of being involved with what is going on in our surroundings. Changes like these are also the best time to learn and I’m thankful that my friends and peers are interested in advocacy and political participation as well. It excites me that social media is the biggest outlet of civic engagement for Generation Z and that we’re already starting to make an impact. 

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