Abby Teague presenting research results
Author: Abby Teague | Major: Management | Semester: Summer 2022
My name is Abby Teague, and my major is Small Business Management with a minor in Marketing. I had the amazing opportunity of commencing research this summer in Belize. Within Belize, I had an internship and was given a project to work on. My project was Small Business Development. The other interns, Thomas Consolino and Drew Patterson, and I worked to actively develop the local economy of Dangriga, Belize, through the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA).
Dangriga is one of the more underdeveloped areas in Belize, so most businesses have no online presence. So, we conducted research and created marketing workshops to teach the businesses in Dangriga how to manage their online and social media presence. The research that was done included google presence and social media analysis for businesses within Dangriga. The trip allowed me to develop a new way of thinking and living to further pursue my research about small businesses, social media and marketing. I used the knowledge and critical thinking skills I use in the classroom in a real-life situation that impacted and helped people within a community. I was able to understand another mindset that the Belizeans had for work and business. I was also able to offer and give numerous resources to help catch them up to the way businesses are now run in the 21st Century. I received tremendous feedback and gratitude from my boss, Carlene Sanchez, and the businesses we worked with.
The people I met in Belize were delightful, but I am most grateful that I met a Belizean beauty influencer with whom I bonded in friendship. She helped me market products in Belize for the company I work for in America. It was an absolutely amazing opportunity that I got not only to meet a new friend but a business partner. I got another chance to learn from someone that works in my field in Belize. He works with marketing and digital software within Dangriga, and I met him through his father, who owns a local art gallery. I visited the father’s art gallery in Dangriga about five times because he talked to me about the culture of Dangriga, and I wanted to learn everything I could from a true local before I left. Also, learning from his son helped me see the progress of the digital world in Dangriga that will develop even more over the next couple of years because of his marketing and digital software business. I visited many different archives within Dangriga, and learned about the culture, traditions, and how Dangriga came to be through artifacts, art, historical documents, and records.
This trip allowed me to experience the life and work of the people in Belize. I had no air conditioning, no car, and barely any internet. It was a very different lifestyle, but I absolutely loved it. It helped me grow personally, and the research helped me grow intellectually. The trip gave me freedom, but I learned more about responsibility. I also learned much more about myself, work, culture, traveling, cooking, and life in general while in Belize. I feel like I have so much more purpose in life after this experience, and I am so excited to use this newfound motivation to determine my future.