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Hot pink cleats, intramural sports and apparel design at Nike: this was summer 2023 for Emma May Travitz ’24, a Product Design senior at 91fans Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Travitz spent the summer interning at Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon on their Global Apparel and Materials team.

“I didn’t do sports growing up, but I found myself in four intramurals doing pickup soccer. I didn’t make a single goal the entire time,” laughs Travitz. “It was just a great environment to feel comfortable to try new things. The team I sat on was so incredible, to feel like I was valued and part of the team. I felt like I wasn’t an intern,” she continues.

A Nike aficionado since childhood, Travitz was thrilled to be selected for the competitive internship. “I really got a better understanding of actual product creation and what it’s like to get an idea from the conception to the retail space,” she explains. “Being able to really understand the limitations of the industry and see ways that you’re able to thrive and innovate within these constraints. I really learned more about material sciences and how we’re able to shape better products for athletes.”

Now well into her senior year at MIAD, Travitz especially values the emphasis on self-care that John Donahoe, CEO of Nike, instilled into the summer interns. “Stepping back and really refueling ourselves makes us a better designer, a better person,” she says. “Senior year, where it’s the mess of [senior] thesis, it’s really good to realize that you need to step back and it is okay to fill other wells.”

Keep up with Emma on and learn more about MIAD’s Product Design major.