Meet Jill Yoder, Untold’s 2026 Summer Intern

Hi everyone, I’m Jill Yoder! I’m about to enter my junior year at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, majoring in English and sociology, and minoring in journalism. 

What brought me to Untold this summer was a growing sense of frustration around my future. Throughout all of high school and into college, I had my sights set on a career in journalism. I found my place in school newsrooms and have always loved telling people’s stories. This past school year, reporting began to feel less and less like it fit, and I realized I had nothing else to fall back on – no other future I’d spent years dreaming about. 

At the same time, I decided to add a double major in sociology to my current English and journalism plan. The lessons I dove into with these courses, and a growing interest in the sociopolitical landscape around us, built up a strong desire in me to pursue a career that makes deep and lasting change in the world. Although a good desire, this direction turned quickly into anxiety as I stressed over what career would allow me to make the most impact possible. 

Although I had never seriously considered the nonprofit field as the direction of my career, nonprofit work has always felt familiar and approachable. My family has been connected to Untold for many years, and when my mom suggested I ask about a summer internship, it felt like the inviting option in the midst of newsroom internships I felt anxious just imagining. In the midst of so much anxiety around my place in a world that needs so much help, I realized immersing myself in one place, doing good transformative work, alongside really amazing people, might be just what I needed. And after a summer doing just that, I’m leaving Untold feeling grounded and open. 

Lessons on helping

A question that has frustrated me for a while is, ‘how do I help well?’ I’ve learned throughout my life that not all nonprofit work or mission work is actually healthy, and I have been so curious to find an answer as to how to do nonprofit work well. Untold’s structure of East African leadership, supported and funded by a U.S. office and donors, does this by putting the mission in the hands of those who best understand the people we serve and the issues they’re facing. 

One of the most comforting realities of this work is that alongside this goal to help in the most dignifying way possible, Untold never claims to have it right all the time. This has been such a powerful lesson for me this summer — that helping will never be perfect. And with that reality comes to the humility to learn and listen and grow together. 

In my first few weeks of the internship, I was tasked with reading When Helping Hurts, the book that serves as the foundation for much of Untold’s philosophy behind nonprofit work. There was one line in the book that felt like a response to all my anxieties: “When we set out to change the world, we are at risk of seeing ourselves as saviors responsible for the outcomes of the people we serve.”  

Here I was, in an office surrounded by a small team of people who care so deeply for the lives, hearts, and bodies of people across the globe who they will never meet. Not trying to change the world, but supporting a mission that is giving individuals a chance to change their world every single day. 

When I visited Kenya at the end of the summer to see Untold’s activities on the ground, this reality sunk even deeper into my heart. The clients I met have transformed their lives through the support of Untold. Each and every one of those stories is worth all of the work being done by every staff member I’ve met this summer, in the U.S. and in East Africa. 

I learned this summer that the work I do in my future does not need to even come close to solving a problem to be meaningful. An impact on just one person’s life can hold all the meaning in the world for that person, and that is enough. 

Lessons in the office 

Working in the U.S. office has also shifted some of my view on work culture in the U.S. When my plan was to pursue a career in journalism, freelance work held the appeal of flexibility, independence, and change in my work weeks. Stepping away from that dream, the thought of ending up in a 9-5 office job has intimidated me a bit. This summer, I spent three days a week in the Atlanta office with the rest of the staff, and, to my surprise, I enjoyed every day. Even with so many newer members on the team, the friendships and love within the office were abundantly clear and infused in every aspect of the workplace.

I’ve learned an important lesson for my future job searches — that the people and the culture of an office matter just as much as the work. Despite many reminders from the staff that “not all work places are like this one,” I feel so encouraged that there are organizations in the world that will feel like a family, not just a workplace, that will provide laughter in the midst of stress, and celebrate alongside every small achievement.