The Power of Social Media

By: Sahiti Pottlapelli

The last six weeks I have been working with Abortion Care Training Incubator for Outstanding Nurse Scholars (ACTIONS) at the University of California San Francisco. ACTIONS is a fellowship program focused on connecting and supporting students who want to pursue a PhD at the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. My supervisor, Dr. Monica McLemore, is involved with several reproductive rights organizations and as a result I have been able to join a number of organizations and different projects.

Earlier this summer, I created a social media initiative for the American Public Health Association section on reproductive and sexual health education. I presented a strategy to the board on June 11th which has been slowly implemented the past few weeks. I have worked on drafting Facebook posts and creating a biweekly newsletter. Due to the two recent Supreme Court cases focused on reproductive rights, I have been active on the organization’s social media trying to push out as much information as possible. Additionally, Dr. McLemore has been working on a new research project involving how COVID-19 has impacted early stages of pregnancy. My partner and I have been working on creating a recruiting strategy for the study, because right now the participants are not representative of the demographics of the United States. I have been working on creating graphics for social media, flyers, and have been working on creating a website.

I have enjoyed working with the ACTIONS team and I am really excited to continue my internship with the ACTIONS team until school starts. Working remotely has been difficult but rewarding. I have been able to learn many new skills such as website development and graphic design. I plan on continuing to use the skills I have gained at my internship and if my schedule permits to intern at ACTIONS during the school year.