The first week was focused on introductions for understanding the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women's different programs and getting comfortable across several work teams. I began with doing background reading on the Foundation's mission and past projects. I started reviewing digital finance literature to support a new research project the Foundation was starting. I was particularly proud of being able to move between very different types of work and meet people on different project teams, while gaining a better understanding of how each project connects to the Foundation's broader mission of supporting women entrepreneurs.

I initially underestimated how much context I needed before beginning some of the research tasks. Because I was getting introduced to multiple project teams at once, I sometimes focused on understanding the immediate task rather than first clarifying how the eventual output would be used. Going forward, I want to spend more time understanding the purpose and audience of a project before diving into the research process.

The value that was most visible this week was curiosity. I asked questions and explored unfamiliar areas, particularly digital finance and AI adoption. I also got to explore various work streams with different teams so that I got exposure each part of the organization, learning about how a charity foundation operates. I also experienced some tension between being fast and being curious, because even though moving quickly was important, I learned that speed without sufficient background knowledge can create unnecessary setbacks.

I began to recognize that research for a nonprofit goes beyond producing accurate information, as I was previously focused on during my first research summer. Small ways in which information is presented can influence how women entrepreneurs are understood and what interventions are prioritized in broader contexts. For instance, singular words that are used in a blog post can be influential for public perception, making the details crucial for the overall mission of the Foundation.

Next week, I will dive deeper into the Research and Impact Evaluation team and begin to work with data and literature review. I will workshop my values by being more intentional with implementing each value into the start of each project I work on and using the values to guide my research.