Meet our 2018 Summer Interns: (from L to R) Medina Bakayeva, Shaden Safieddine Tazi, Demi Moore and Kate Greenberg. Shine is lucky to have two of them returning from the Spring and all four bringing their passion to working with us this summer.

Medina Bakayeva is a rising senior studying Global Liberal Studies, Philosophy, and French at NYU.  She was born in Kazakhstan, grew up in England and spent many childhood summers in Israel. Growing up with a variety of cultural influences, Medina was fascinated by Shine’s global perspective. Working for Shine Global during the spring semester Medina learned a lot about the world of filmmaking, non-profits and herself. She has felt a part of a dedicated team that is passionate about telling empowering stories about children around the world. As she helped kick-start a new social media plan for Shine, she was excited to continue to push forward Shine’s presence online, to grow an audience for the inspiring stories that the organization shines a light on. 

Shaden Safieddine Tazi is a sophomore at Barnard College of Columbia University, majoring in Film and Media Studies. Raised in Casablanca by a Spanish mother and a Lebanese father, she grew up Lost in Translations, speaking French, Spanish, Arabic at home and learning English at school. Then, she integrated United World College Maastricht for her two last high school years and started learning Dutch. During her stay in the Netherlands, she constantly worked with Asylum Seekers and understood that one of the worst things that can be taken away from an individual is its dignity. Shaden believes in the power of Cinema, and that it can it serve as a tool to empower, and raise the voices of the unheard. She was then naturally drawn to Shine Global’s mission and its ability to create social impact through the medium of documentary. She was also excited to work in a small team, enabling her to learn from her colleagues and in which good mood is always au rendez-vous.

Demi Alexis Moore is a Macaulay Honors College rising senior studying Political Science and Creative Writing on the Pre-Law track. With high hopes to use a J.D. with a specialization in Critical Race Studies, Demi plans to empower Black youth through a national engagement model that reassesses the future of socially-salient movement-building. Demi is a founding member of the Macaulay Crew: Hip Hop Dance Team as its Creative Director, a Student Senator in the Hunter College Senate, and responsible for leading and organizing the largest TEDxUniversity event in the country (TEDxCUNY), representing over 530,000 of CUNY’s students. To Demi, being an active citizen requires building (or finding) community across disciplines, across platforms, and across bias. She is happy to continue sharing in the Shine mission this summer which aims to make media literacy for children that often go unheard far more accessible.

Kate Greenberg is an upcoming senior at the University of Southern California where she is studying Journalism and Cinematic Arts. Over the last two years, Kate has been the executive producer of Impact, the student-produced documentary series. She has directed and produced two of her own documentaries, including one on the psychology of prison design and another on children living in the projects of South Los Angeles who are given a rare opportunity to study rocketry. After she graduates, she hopes to continue making films that inspire people to leave the world a better than they found it. Kate is working with Shine Global this summer as a Content Development Intern in order to continue understanding how films can ignite and enable social change, especially as a non-profit organization.