Meet Maya: How a Purpose Brands Internship Changed Everything

When Maya R. first walked into the Significance Project studio, she barely made eye contact. A junior at Bentonville High School with a sketchbook full of drawings she’d never shown anyone, Maya had signed up for the Purpose Brands internship on a whim — mostly because her guidance counselor said it would look good on college applications. She had no idea it would become the most important decision of her high school career.

“I remember thinking everyone else would be more talented than me,” Maya recalls with a laugh, sitting in the same studio six months later — this time with her chin up and a portfolio she built from scratch. “I almost didn’t come back after the first day. But then Marcus showed us the HEAD ON brand and explained how students just like us had created it. That changed everything for me.”

Over the next several months, Maya threw herself into every aspect of brand development. She learned graphic design fundamentals, studied color theory, sat in on real client meetings, and eventually took the lead on a packaging refresh for HEAD ON’s spring collection. Her designs were bold, unexpected, and unmistakably her. When she presented her work at the student showcase in November, her parents were in the front row — and her mom cried. “I didn’t even know she could do this,” her mother told us afterward. “She never showed us any of her art before.”

Today, Maya is applying to design programs at three universities, including the University of Arkansas and MICA in Baltimore. She credits the internship not just with teaching her technical skills, but with giving her permission to take herself seriously as a creative. “Significance Project didn’t just teach me how to use design software,” she says. “They taught me that my ideas matter — that I matter. I’m not the same person who walked in here six months ago, and I never want to go back to being that quiet.” We couldn’t be prouder of her journey, and we can’t wait to see where she goes next.