Tag: internship

By Nathan Palomares

The World Affairs Council of Orange County’s internship program is the backbone of the organization and its mission. Students and young professionals alike have the opportunity to conduct impactful research and work in an environment focused on international affairs and global politics, all while having access to thrilling events and networking opportunities with experts and speakers. Interns who have completed their internship at WACOC have gone on to prestigious opportunities and traveled to places they could not have imagined before interning for the council.

Welcome to the October edition of Where Are They Now? Series, in which we interviewed two former interns of the World Affairs Council of Orange County to learn more about what they have accomplished since leaving the council and how our internship program has set them up for success!

Cindy Tse, Programs Intern, 2022-2023

Since leaving the council, Cindy Tse has gained valuable experience as a volunteer coordinator at AmeriCorps and in various legal roles. She is currently working at Gibson Dunn, a law firm based in L.A., coordinating and reviewing contracts for its individual clients. As of last June, Tse earned her paralegal certificate.

Speaking about her internship experience with the World Affairs Council, Tse recalls the amazing opportunities to meet people that prepared her for her professional career.

“I got to meet a lot of interesting people,” Tse said. “Having that internship experience and kind of learning how to work with people who are more experienced and are older than me has prepared me for my current work.”

Tse’s favorite memory during her time with the Council was a travel conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. She was one of the interns selected to attend the young professionals event and recalls it being a great experience. Besides offering her experience, the internship program has been foundational to Tse’s career, catalyzing her focus on it and clarifying the future she envisions for herself.

“It made me feel a lot more realistic about my goals,” Tse said. “Attending those events and speaking with people who have worked in that field (International Relations) really helped me understand how I should create a trajectory to work in that industry.”

This exposure to industry insiders and seasoned professionals that the council’s internship program offers to its interns has made Tse realize just how many doors of opportunity have opened and the different paths she can take.

“You think about I.R. like, ‘wow, really glamorous, traveling, international lawyer championing human rights’, and yeah, there is that, but there’s also a lot of things in between,” Tse said. “But there’s so much more that goes into International Relations, and so meeting all these people who have worked in some aspect really showed me how big and how many options there are.”

Having experienced all that the council’s internship program can offer, Tse has advice for current and future interns.

“Really explore your options if you’re able to network and make those connections, and getting your face in front of them will help you open a lot of doors, and a lot of them have really good advice to share,” Tse said.

This includes keeping up to date and active on your LinkedIn, which Tse has recognized Jayne Herring, the President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Orange County, as a “LinkedIn warrior”. Cindy Tse learned a lot as an intern and gained a wealth of experience that has helped her achieve the goals she has reached and will continue to achieve, all thanks to the World Affairs Council.

“The World Affairs Council is a great organization,” Tse said. “They have really great guest speakers and get really informed opinions. Just being educated is so, so, so important, so please always try to absorb everything you can.”

Kelsea Clemente, Membership Intern/External Affairs Officer, 2017-2018

Kelsea Clemente is currently in her third year of law school at UCI Law and has a post-grad job lined up in real estate finance at an M100 firm in Orange County. Her journey into law was not something she seriously considered during her undergrad; however, the COVID-19 pandemic led her to reassess her career plans.

“I originally wanted to go into nonprofit work, so that’s how I found myself working at the World Affairs Council, and it gave me a good sense of what working in a nonprofit is like,” Clemente said.

Clemente started as a membership intern and then transitioned to an external affairs office, where she focused on community outreach, marketing, and targeted work.

“Working in that role really gave me a lot of valuable substantive experience,” Clemente said. “I was really able to make it my own and take ownership, and it really pushed me out of my comfort zone.”

This idea of being pushed out of one’s comfort zone was a big takeaway from Clemente’s experience with the council that has helped shape her current career goals.

“In hindsight, it gave me so many valuable skills that I didn’t really see in the moment,” Clemente said. “It’s like just pushing me out of my comfort zone, being in a role that I’d never really been in before.”

This insight from Clemente highlights one of the goals of the World Affairs Council’s internship program: to offer interns opportunities to take on new challenges and responsibilities that teach them valuable career skills they can carry with them throughout their lives. For current and future interns at the council, Clemente offers advice echoed by other former interns.

“Being in this internship, you’re in a really unique position where you’re placed in these rooms with just really incredible and accomplished people, and just absorb and take in as much as you can,” Clemente said.

As our interview came to a close, Clemente offered a piece of advice to every intern who will walk through that door at the World Affairs Council.

“The advice that I would give is to just talk to people; you have to network, but not in a transactional way, but really just to learn and see what’s out there,” Clemente said.

By Nathan Palomares

The World Affairs Council of Orange County’s internship program is, in many ways, the backbone of the organization and its mission. Students and young professionals alike have the opportunity to conduct impactful research and work in an environment in international affairs and global politics, all the while having access to thrilling events and networking opportunities with experts and speakers.

Interns who have completed their internship at WACOC have gone on to prestigious opportunities and traveled to places they could not have imagined before interning for the council.

Here is a spotlight on two spectacular former interns in WACOC’s new “Where Are They Now?” series, in which we interview them about what they have accomplished since leaving the council and how our internship program can lay the foundation for future professional development.

Maelee Blancaflor, 27

Maelee Blancaflor interned at the WACOC from 2018 to 2019 as a public affairs/communication intern. She is currently employed as an immigration paralegal at Fragomen, one of the largest immigration law firms in the nation. Her main focus is working with students and exchange visitors.

“It’s kind of what I’ve wanted to do from the get-go,” Blancaflor said. “I wanted to work in international exchange in some way or form.”

After her internship with the council, Blancaflor went to work with the World Trade Center in Northern California with their international visitor leadership program. She then used her accumulated experience to intern at the State Department in the federal government through the Virtual Student Federal Service Internship. She continued her work in research and cultural exchange until she decided to begin her master’s program in public diplomacy at the University of Southern California (USC), from which she graduated in 2025.

Blancaflor had many great memories and experiences during her time at WACOC, including an unforgettable event that hosted Gaddi Vasquez, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN Food Program and former director of the Peace Corps.

“That was my first time meeting someone of authority in that sense,” Blancaflor said. “It was very nerve-wracking talking to someone of that caliber, but it was an amazing experience.”

Blancaflor’s experiences at WAC-OC, such as this one, would help shape her life goals and equip her with the skills necessary to launch her career. She expressed that the internship program at WAC-OC gave her the flexibility to delve into other areas of work that may not have been officially part of her internship description. However, she was still granted the opportunity to try, and in the end, it helped her the most.

“Everyone was very nice, and it was a great first experience that definitely solidified the work I wanted to do in international affairs,” Blancflor said.

Some advice Blancflor offers to students and young professionals reflects her own time as a student frantically trying to secure an internship.

“Truthfully, it’s difficult out there,” Blancflor said. “However, you’re already doing the right thing by getting this internship experience now, but you can have a specific plan set for yourself, and always be open to having a plan B, plan C, plan D.”

For Blancflor, her time at the WAC-OC has prompted her to reflect on the pressures young professionals face in today’s job market.

“As a young professional, we put so much pressure on ourselves to get the dream internship or the dream job, like it needs to be a perfect ladder to reach whatever you want,” Blancflor said. “Truthfully, you’re still going to be doing that until you’re 40, so be satisfied with where you are and your trajectory, but not too worried about where you need to be at the moment.”

Ryan Takeji Adams, 23

Ryan Adams interned at the WAC-OC from 2024 to 2025 as an area operations and HR intern. He is currently working at the national World Affairs Council of America as a marketing and communications coordinator. Much of his work involves crafting national newsletters and strengthening support for and representation of the various councils across the country.

Ryan has recently moved to Washington, D.C., and is pursuing a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution at Georgetown University. The opportunity to move to D.C. has enabled him to intern with U.S. Representative Derek Tran and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Furthermore, Ryan served as a public affairs intern at Cornerstone Government Affairs and a communications intern at the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Much of what Ryan has gone on to accomplish, he believes, can be attributed to the experience and skills he gained during his time at the WAC-OC.

“A huge thank you really goes out to Jayne (President and CEO of WAC-OC); she is such an inspiring person and so motivational,” Adams said. “I think seeing her leadership in the council motivated me to do well as an intern.”

For Ryan, the best part of the internship experience was the events that the council holds.

“Gaining exposure to a lot of the events and being in that community and having access to some of our board members who are very accomplished individuals inspired me to pursue a career in international relations or global affairs,” Adams said.

Adams goes on to explain that one of the main reasons for going into a master’s program at Georgetown was his experience with WAC-OC.

“I don’t think without that experience I’d be here in D.C. or pursuing a master’s,” Ryan said.

That experience interning at WACOC has given Ryan advice he wishes to share with students and young professionals entering our current job market.

“You know, it is a very competitive job market now more than ever,” Adams said. “My advice is always to start as early as you can, be willing to take some of those unpaid internships, and it is difficult, and I know not everyone can do it, but I think if you’re willing and able to make that sacrifice, it’ll push your career much further.”

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