Anasheh Tahmasian may not work in genocide awareness anymore, but she still carries what she learned during her time as a USC Shoah Foundation intern with her.

Tahmasian, now an on-call marketing research consultant at Lieberman Research Worldwide, interned for the Institute for seven months in 2013, before graduating from USC with a degree in psychology in December 2013.

At USC Shoah Foundation, Tahmasian did everything from posting on social media to helping with the research department to finding new videos.

“I took a tour of USC Shoah Foundation for Armenian Genocide Week at USC, and immediately, I wanted to intern there because I’m Armenian and I grew up listening to stories of genocide survivors,” she said. “I had to apply.”

Tahmasian has now transitioned to a career in marketing. She is currently preparing to take the GMAT and putting together applications to apply for and attend business school in September. Afterward, she plans on continuing working in market research, in which she consults with clients, conducts surveys, and analyzes data. Though this may sound significantly different than her work at USC Shoah Foundation, Tahmasian said she her time at the Institute has helped prepare her for her future work.

“Watching the testimony and seeing people’s emotions and how they describe situations helps you be more sensitive to people’s situation’s in general and everyday situations,” she said. “So I feel like the internship has made me, first of all, more self-aware, and also more sensitive to other people’s situations and what’s going on in their lives. I feel like that makes me a better leader overall.”

Outside of work, Tahmasian said she is always looking for ways to be involved with the community and that her time at the Institute influenced her outlook on life.

“I’m just so lucky to have everything that I have in my life, and I feel like that has a lot to do with the archive and the testimonies that I watched,” she said. “Sometimes you take things for granted, but when you see how resilient people are and how they survive, that kind of brings things in perspective. You don’t let the little things affect you anymore.”