This section of my portfolio chronicles my experience working at the YMCA of Silicon Valley. In Teen Programs, I work in three spaces that I coin as:
Front-End, Back-End, and Workshop
Between building the logistics of teen enrichment programs and running them in real time, there is also the work of producing, marketing, and strategizing conceptual ideas that help us reach our designated audiences.
Front-End
Front-facing, I led students in teen enrichment programs, including Youth & Government, Model United Nations, Friday Night Live, College Bound, and Leaders In Training.
Customer Facing: Coordinated outreach across families, schools, and community partners to connect students with youth programs, emphasizing clear communication and service.
Ambassador & Advisor: Acted as an ambassador for youth programs and a trusted advisor to students, supporting their public speaking, academic goals, and professional development.
This experience became more crucial to my character than I first anticipated. It has given me the confidence to raise my hand and speak first in any setting, without worrying about how much more I have to humble myself for the sake of learning something new. In the end, this has allowed me to become comfortable in my own voice, confident in how I present myself, and committed to cultivating strong relationships.
Driving logistics has brought a newfound necessity to data management. I used program data to rethink and reorganize file storage, improving data hygiene and reducing financial, technical, and ethical risk in our workflows — and sharpening my eye for secure, efficient systems.
Tools Featured: OneDrive (Outlook & Teams), VolunteerMatters, Oracle Fusion
Honorable Mentions:: Excel for Program Administrative Records & Expenses
Functions:: Data Input, Cloud Organization, Expense Reports, Volunteer Database Management
Back-End
The back-end of my role requires keen attention to detail through accurate data entry, file organization, and operational speed while handling financial, ethical, and time-sensitive responsibilities.
OneDrive & Teams Database: Organized technical sheets, marketing materials, and program documents in OneDrive and Teams to ensure fast, reliable access for cross-functional teams.
Volunteer Management: Prepared teen volunteers for summer camps and managed their hours, health forms, background checks, and credentials for clearance in the Volunteer Matters database.
Expense & Budget Tracking: Used Oracle Fusion to record and submit expenses, review monthly variances, and help reallocate underspend across front-facing events and projects.
Workshop
This section shows how I blend strategy, creative production, and thoughtful AI use to create audience-specific assets and cut workflows by 20–30% during peak seasons.
Copywriting & Graphic Design: Using program-specific copy, I collaborate with Marketing to sketch teen-focused concepts and, in Photoshop, adapt YMCA-branded graphics and text into layouts that go through in-house review with our Graphic Designer.
Claude Chat Automation & Project Memory: I use Claude, an AI chat agent tuned to our programs and curriculum, to generate SAFE documents and age-appropriate content for specific age groups that follow our standards while saving 20–40 minutes per draft.
Combining my technical expertise within our collaborative strategy has helped create a long-term vision for Teen Programs. Behind each project is a team that handles planning, production, and execution, and our effort touches every phase. The work is hard to classify, but it’s given me deep practice in cross‑collaboration and the confidence to lead when technical detail and clear communication matter most.
Functions: Graphic Design & Copywriting, Technical Program Writing, Slide-Presentation Design, AI Automation
Tools Featured: Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop & Acrobat), MS PowerPoint, Canva, Claude
Samples of Copywriting and Graphic Design for YMCA programs like Friday Night Live & Leaders in Training
Technical Writing & Documentation: Using our own YMCA acronym for program activities and sessions called SAFEs, we create and document curriculum specifically using this template that is reusable, readable, and digestible by our Youth Development Org within the YMCA.
Presentation Design & Instruction: Instead of traditional speeches, I build simple, discussion-based presentations that significantly boost engagement. My goal is to make every session feel like a shared experience rather than a one-way performance.
Technical Writing and Documentation of Program Workshops & Activities: Directing Claude AI to complete sections based on my verbal and on-spot descriptions of each idea.
FNL Curriculum Project: Using Claude’s Chat Agent to Write Curriculum and Generate Documents from Project Memory Context
PowerPoint Sample from Friday Night Live program; incorporating YMCA/ FNL branded imagery and minimal text-filled slides to rely on physical speech, driving impact in engagement and overall experience for students and participants.
