My summer internship–tea time!
July 31st, 2008 at 5:09 am (Uncategorized)
Even though I always have a job open to me at Amy’s, my parents and I both thought that getting a little experience working at another company would be interesting for me. So I am interning for the summer at Traditional Medicinals, an awesome organic medicinal herbal tea company out in the country in Sebastopol…about 40 minutes from my house. I am interning in both the QC (quality control) and R&D (research and development) departments, doing a project looking at the supply chain and sources of all their herbs, which come from little communities all over the world! TM is really committed to helping alleviate poverty and suffering by supporting these communities, and it feels great to be doing my small part to help them do that.
The working environment at TM is really cool too, since their offices and factory are way out in the country down a one lane road with horses and pigs bordering them. Here are some pictures of the building and the grounds.
This is the office building. I work on the second floor.
This is my cute little cubicle (sigh, someday I will be important and have an office with a window 
)
My absolute favorite thing to do during break and lunch is go sit in the herb garden. TM has a huge herb garden with examples of a lot of the herbs that they use, and its fun to go meander around looking and smelling the different flowers and plants, or just sit by the lavender and watch the thousands of bumblebees in bliss.
But by far, my favorite part of working at Traditional Medicinals is the people. They are all unique and totally quirky, are soo interesting and inspiring, and are really passionate about what they do. I have two bosses, Katie and Joseph (there is no picture of Joseph because he was in Germany and India doing very important things when I was photographing). Katie is VP of QC, and Joseph is VP of R&D. They both care so much, and I love working with them. I am learning a ton every day.
This is a picture of me with my boss Katie down in the cage where I sample herbs. My my aren’t hair-nets flattering.
Ok, so, this is David. David is not my boss, but he sits next to me and was sort of my boss while Joseph was gone. He is the resident herbalist, and he knows more about herbs than anyone you will probably ever meet in your life. He is also the resident British conspiracy theorist hippie whose father was the photographer for the Beatles (how cool is that? he saw them all the time growing up). One afternoon he told me that my job was to contemplate the veins on my orchid petals for the next few hours (he was kidding, sort of). This is the sign on his door:
In fact, this pretty much sums up the entire company.”Herbalists for Peace”–could i have possibly found a cooler place to intern? (except Amy’s, of course) Most definitely not.
Brittany said,
August 4, 2008 at 4:05 pm
What a great internship you found. It looks as though you have the perfect work environment and a lovely group of people to work with. I’m jealous! I hope you learn a lot of the experience.
p.s. I love Amy’s products!
Gluten Free said,
August 12, 2008 at 12:06 pm
No pictures at your desk?
Nan said,
August 12, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Amy, what a great internship! Great for you that you realize the importance of the summers between semesters and are putting them to good use. These look good on the resume’, trust me!
All the best for the coming school year! Study hard! and have fun when/where you can!
Gina Bartolacelli said,
August 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm
This is so cool! I love Traditional Medicinals’ tea, there’s one for every ailment or need! I work for a non-profit at UCSC that sells coffee on campuses and farmer’s markets through direct marketing… we are actually working to get Stanford on the band-wagon and may be giving a presentation on your campus in October! We have awesome internships (I just got back from 3 months in Costa Rica) and student groups… if you’re interested we’re called the Community Agroecology Network! Take care and enjoy the rest of your summer!
-Gina
Erin Borger said,
August 21, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Amy,
It looks like you do all types of fun trips with nature, the environment, and healthy eating. I am a board member of a great charity based in L.A. and Miami that does many similar things and was hoping you or some of your friends might want to get involved. Check it out http://www.finsea.org. If you and anyone you know is interested they can call me at (305)206-3507. Keep up all the fun stuff!
Erin
Diana said,
August 31, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Sounds like you learned a lot and had fun at your internship. I’ve tried a couple of TM’s products, which I really like.
Coil Coyle said,
September 19, 2008 at 1:11 am
Amy,
I have done troubleshooting calls for Joe on the automation of his production equipment. The production area sure is a good smelling place to walk into!
To me, a gear head, the coolest things at Traditional Medicinals are the tea bagging machines. Just watching all of the parts fly back and forth and seeing tea bags come out, amazing. Paper, strings, tea, wrapper and a staple and there it is, a tea bag.
It just blew my mind.
Coil
SHEILA KRAMER said,
October 14, 2008 at 2:26 pm
What are the best products for me, I have IBS.
Damien Figo said,
March 30, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Amy – doing internships would definitely be helpful in growing your family business which in terms would be your growth since your name is affiliated with the family business.
Have just got a question? Are you fond of cooking? I can forward you some vegetarian recipes.
Natasha said,
April 1, 2009 at 6:43 pm
That’s so cool!
I love the tea from Traditional Medicine ! I also have IBS so their teas helps!
Mary Aloe said,
September 6, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Hello,
New here. Thanks
Mary Aloe
Proud Mary Entertainment