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29 Jul 2020 | Cheryl Ng

A #BettrFromHome Internship - Lynn

Solidarity, fortitude, unity, and resilience. Even with these unprecedented, multi-billion dollar stimulus packages, Singapore’s circuit breaker was a period of extreme adversity for F&B companies. We’ve had to dig into our own resilience, find fortitude, and build solidarity and unity within our teams to come out stronger. For the Bettr Group, the closure of all of our retail outlets and our academy left us at a crossroads; what would our baristas, our events team, and our trainers do?

Lynn Drescher, a current student at Yale-NUS College, embodied the Bettr spirit when she completed 10 weeks of a virtual internship with us. Facing travel restrictions from returning home to Germany and an uncertain summer, she transformed these challenges into an opportunity. Working from home is difficult even during the best of times, and Lynn chose the Bettr Group as her first internship experience in Singapore. This is what she learned over the course of a fast-paced, digital summer.

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The summer of 2020 wasn’t full of travels or even a visit home after your freshman year of college. Can you tell us a bit about how you came to know about Bettr and how it felt to take up a virtual internship after plans changed?

Lynn: I learned about Bettr during a visit with my college in 2019 and was inspired by the B Corp concept and Bettr’s work. Wanting to make my summer meaningful despite not being able to return to Germany, I chanced upon Bettr’s summer internship opportunity. In the first weeks, it was all about understanding what work would be most meaningful. The Bettr team was immensely supportive and open to create new opportunities and tasks that allowed me to shift focus while still investing my time purposefully. Communication was the key concept here, and I always felt supported and encouraged to try new things and reach out for help if needed.

What was your day-to-day internship experience like?

Lynn: I had regular check-in meetings with my supervisor and always had an objective for the week and tasks to work continuously. The tasks were diverse and I learned a new skill every week while building on existing ones daily. Working on some projects over the span of multiple weeks, my expectations and responsibilities were clear and working online actually made it easy to reach out for clarifications. The remote work allowed me to use my time more efficiently, and I felt as connected as possible thanks to the motivating and supportive work culture at Bettr. Meetings were always insightful and encouraging; the exciting reunions made every day full of new insights and learning.

What was your day-to-day internship experience like?

Lynn: I had regular check-in meetings with my supervisor and always had an objective for the week and tasks to work continuously. The tasks were diverse and I learned a new skill every week while building on existing ones daily. Working on some projects over the span of multiple weeks, my expectations and responsibilities were clear and working online actually made it easy to reach out for clarifications. The remote work allowed me to use my time more efficiently, and I felt as connected as possible thanks to the motivating and supportive work culture at Bettr. Meetings were always insightful and encouraging; the exciting reunions made every day full of new insights and learning.

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Lynn and her supervisor, Suyin on the Social Programme team. Image: Bettr Group


You were responsible for breathing life into an entirely new brand, our non-profit arm Bettr Lives. What was that like and what did you learn?

Lynn: Setting up Bettr Lives was an experience with a steep learning curve. It was challenging at first with two full weeks of social media marketing strategy research, and then choosing specific inspirational quotes and learning to organize multiple social media channels concurrently. But as much as it was a little scary going into this task with barely any experience, I felt incredibly grateful for having been given this opportunity. It was a stretch zone experience and at the same time a wonderful journey in which ideas were flowing freely.

We have come a long way from starting the social media journey for Bettr Lives and just streamed the first live episode of a webinar series with professional guest speakers. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to be part of that journey, and I’m also very proud of what we managed to create.

What’s one thing you’ll take away from the summer for the rest of your time in Singapore and beyond?

Lynn: Leading starts with leading yourself towards your goals and dreams. You have to understand who you are, how and why you feel the way you do in certain situations to help yourself to actively choose your reactions and further steps. To have this compassion for yourself will help you to become better, to keep striving towards your dreams, and to see every situation as an opportunity for growth.

Do you have any message or words of wisdom for future interns, virtual or otherwise?

Lynn: In working at Bettr you have to communicate and be open. You have to want to grow and proactively create or ask for opportunities to do so. Trust you are supported, which is even more important when working online. Reach out whenever needed and set clear goals of what you hope to accomplish, formulate smart goals that you can track, and evaluate your progress in after your internship. Be excited, be proactive, be curious!