Hi everyone! I'm Madison. I grew up in Pasadena, California, but spent eight years living in Manila, Philippines, and one year in Spain. I'm planning to double major in Film and Media Studies and Sociology, with a minor in Human-Centered Design. I love spending quality time with people and having good conversations. I'm so excited to share my college journey with you!
Academic Program
Majors in Film and Media Studies and Sociology, Minor in Human Centered Design
An introductory Chinese class for beginners that provides a foundational understanding of the language, including pinyin, proper tones, pronunciation, character writing, basic vocabulary, and sentence structures.
A dynamic, hands-on course that emphasizes empathy-driven problem solving, rapid prototyping, and collaborative innovation through team projects, energizing activities, and practical skill-building sessions.
A course that builds on the foundations of Chinese 001 and 002 by introducing more sentence structures and vocabulary, with regular weekly drills to strengthen speaking and tonal pronunciation, and a shift from traditional to simplified characters in the final three weeks.
After completing five consecutive terms, I plan to take the winter term off and am currently looking for an internship during that time. You might recognize the name Joelle from YouTube. I used to watch her vlogs before coming to Dartmouth, and they partly inspired me to start my own channel. I decided to reach out to her, and she kindly agreed to a call, where she shared some really helpful advice about navigating the internship process and answered my questions about Dartmouth.
You might also remember from a previous blog post how I raved about the Dartmouth alumni network—particularly Jethro, an alum who generously offered me a summer internship before I even arrived at Dartmouth. So I mean it when I say that there are truly so many resources for career and internship support to take advantage of, ranging from helpful alumni to the Center for Professional Development.
It's not just institutional resources or alumni networks that can support your career—your friends can play a major role too. Whether it's offering emotional support or recommending you for a job because they genuinely think you're a good fit, their impact can be significant.During my study abroad in Beijing, an acquaintance named Finn texted me about an opportunity. The company he had been working with over the summer was looking for a fall intern—specifically a Dartmouth student. He suggested we hop on a 30-minute call so he could explain more, saying it could be a great opportunity. Finn thought I'd be a perfect fit for the role, given my background in media through my blog and video content creation, and because of my outgoing personality.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" is a motto I live by. So, I hopped on the call with Finn with no expectations going in. He told me about Shelf, a New York–based startup that syncs data from media platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Goodreads, and more. The app helps users track what they've been watching, reading, or listening to, and keeps them up to date on what their friends are consuming too. It even delivers a weekly media recap—imagine Spotify Wrapped, but for everything: books, music, movies, TV shows, and games.
Shelf was founded by the creators of Pinterest and joined by key minds behind BeReal. It already has over 2 million users and more than 1 million people on the Android waitlist. Super cool, right? You should totally download it if you haven't already, and add me! I was genuinely impressed by Finn's pitch and inspired to apply—not just because the app sounded cool, but because the opportunity felt exciting and full of potential.
A few weeks later, I submitted my application and lined up an interview. I ended up getting the role.
Shelf is looking to expand its presence across college campuses in the U.S., and eventually internationally. Dartmouth was chosen as the first test school because of its tight-knit, rural environment—unlike urban campuses where students tend to be more spread out. That sense of community makes Dartmouth the perfect place to build momentum.
As a growth intern, my role focuses on two main goals:
Building a sense of community among media lovers on campus
Promoting the app so students start actively using it
Literally the day before move-in, my mentor Hanna came up from New York to help kick off the internship. We spent the entire week putting things into motion—designing posters, hanging them around campus, hosting events like karaoke night to bring people together, talking to students at the club fair, handing out pizza on an "on" night while telling people about the app, and creating spaces for people to connect and share what they're watching, reading, or listening to.
Karaoke night!
I have so many more ideas and I'm genuinely excited to be part of this team—and potentially the next big social media platform.
I love our merch!
All of this happened thanks to Finn. He was a distant acquaintance at the time, and I never would've expected him to be the one to refer me, but he is living proof that Dartmouth students look out for one another, no matter how close you are.
I'm incredibly grateful to Dartmouth for making opportunities like this possible—through alumni, networking events, and simply being surrounded by talented, driven individuals. My biggest piece of advice for navigating college is to say yes to opportunities, keep meeting and connecting with new people, and stay open to trying new things, for you never know what might surprise you or enrich your life.
Before my internship in Italy, I spent two terms studying in Rome. How did those experiences help prepare me for my current position? Well, let me explain!
Summers between terms look different for every Dartmouth student! Opportunities are abundant and it's all what you make it out to be. This summer I interned on the Clean Energy Team at Wood PLC and traveled home to see my sister get married!
As an intern at one of Brazil's leading financial services firms, I spent my days working on strategy, design, and employee experience. But beyond spreadsheets and slides, I found purpose in my routine. Here's a peek into one of those days!
