What is your role at Halo?

As a Hardware Intern, my role is to assist the Hardware team with the development and testing of electrical components, harnesses, and assemblies for the fleet.

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What do you work on?

Being an intern has allowed me to work on a variety of projects. I have supported reverse engineering some of the features on the vehicle fleet, such as identifying the signal for the blind spot indicator on the side mirrors. I also made a circuit board that allows us to easily interpret control signals from the vehicle. Right now, I'm working on phase two of the secondary braking system, which acts as a safety precaution to stop the car in an emergency.

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Tell us about your background - where did you grow up, and what did you study? What were some of your jobs before joining Halo?

I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City, MO, where I spent most of my time playing competitive soccer. I have a bachelor's degree in Sports Management and had a career in hospitality for about a decade before becoming an Electrical Engineering student at UNLV. Most recently, I was an Event Coordinator for Hilton in Las Vegas, but I have also worked in customer service and sales for Marriott in Missouri and Texas.

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How did you end up working here?

Last semester I was searching for internships and heard about Halo.car from some fellow engineering students. I checked out Halo's website and thought being part of their team would be an invaluable experience, so I emailed them to see if they had any intern openings, and they did. It was very serendipitous, and I feel lucky to be here.

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What excites or motivates you about working at Halo?

In recent years, I have become more interested in our impact on the environment and how we can minimize it. When I chose to study electrical engineering, I knew I wanted to work with companies that were also environmentally conscious. Halo’s mission has its customers in mind as well as the environment, which assures me that I am in the right place. It’s exciting to be around intelligent people with various backgrounds who are working together to push technology forward.

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What attracted you to Halo when you were applying?

The idea of having a rental car come to where you are and then send it off when you are done is incredible to me. There are a few times I would have loved to have this as an option when I was on vacation. I believe in this concept, and that made me want to be a part of it.

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Who is a mentor who has shaped your career?

During my first semester at UNLV, I regularly met with a tutor for one of my engineering classes that I still maintain contact with. He helped me with my final project as well. When the semester was over, he taught me how to turn the project into a PCB, which is one of the projects that gave me an edge when applying for the internship at Halo. I'm grateful for him and his willingness to teach and share his knowledge; even now, as he is getting his Ph.D., he shares his projects with me. This keeps me motivated as I continue through my degree.

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What do you like about working at a startup? Have you worked at a startup before?

Working at a startup is quite different from what I’m used to. I've always worked for corporate companies that weren’t empowered to implement new technology and faced a lot of hurdles when they tried to, so it has been challenging and exciting for me to see what it's like on the other side of that. There is so much we can learn with innovation and thinking outside the box.

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