The Internship

Our internship is an 8-week, part-time program that matches emerging designers with experienced mentors and real-life projects. Interns refine their skills, gain confidence, build their portfolio, and join a strong professional network, jumpstarting their design careers.

Want to support our Cohort 3 interns? Sponsor an intern’s flight back home for our Ho’ike on September 20th at Entrepreneur Sandbox.

Interns

Interns are matched with mentors to deliver implementable solutions for products, websites, and apps.

Interns come from diverse backgrounds including recent grads, career switchers, self-taught designers, boot camp graduates, and more.

Our selection process strongly favors kanaka and kamaʻāina candidates.

Interns are sponsored by

Mentors

  • Our hand-selected mentors average over ten years of experience across a variety of top tech companies, and most live and work right here at home. Mentors in our program build management and leadership skills, while cultivating strong community relationships.

  • Chanae Evans

    SENIOR UX DESIGER @ AT&T

  • Blake Reary

    UX DESIGN LEAD @ GOOGLE PLAY

  • Sony Atmadjaja

    DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DESIGN @ DOXIMITY

  • Mele Hamasaki

    STAFF PRODUCT DESIGNER @ COINBASE

  • Kevin Paz

    PRODUCT DESIGNER @ CREDIT KARMA

  • Christopher Sybico

    DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DESIGN @ GO DADDY

  • Ulu Mills

    DESIGN PRINCIPAL @ ULU MILLS DESIGN

  • Carolyn Rojsutivat

    SENIOR UX ENGINEER

Clients

Clients provide exciting challenges for our teams to tackle and receive first-rate quality design work for their websites and apps from a responsive, collaborative team, while supporting career-building opportunities for up-and-coming local talent.

With our new partnership with Blue Startups, we’re able to bring quality design work to a large range of companies.

Timeline

April 2024: Info Sessions

May - June 2024: Intern recruitment and selection

July 2024: Internship kickoff

July - Sept. 2024: Cohort 3 internship

  • Week 1 -2: Project planning and scoping, client management training

  • Week 3 - 10: Hands on design project

  • Week 11 - 12: Portfolio, job search, and interviewing training

*Applications is now closed

  • A woman is smiling in front of a neutral background

    "The most impactful memory was witnessing the clients say, "This has absolutely been a game changer for us" to my interns, and it was through their hard work that they single-handedly delivered something that exceeded our client's expectations."

    Carolyn Rojsutivat (Mentor)

  • A man standing outside is holding a camera

    "Mentorship was the #1 catalyst for my learning. Mele was my mentor, so I especially learned a lot when it came to UI/design systems."

    Nic Kim (Intern)

  • A man in smiling in front of a shiny building

    "I see CDI as a pioneer in raising awareness about the design profession and the tech field in Hawaii, which is severely lacking diverse professions. "

    -Anthony Tran (Intern)

  • A woman in glasses is smiling into the camera

    "The excitement was so palpable, and I really enjoyed wrangling it into actionable next steps for them so that they could channel that enthusiasm into productivity."

    -Ulu Mils (Mentor)

  • A woman with pink hair is smiling at the camera

    "I absolutely loved the community aspect of this program! Being able to meet other local UX designers with amazing backgrounds and stories was truly an unforgettable experience."

    -Kacie Shimabukuro (Intern)

  • A woman in a blazer is smiling at the camera

    "Being able to work with the client directly was a game changer for me. I saw firsthand what goes into meetings, development, and what the client truly wants."

    -Mandy Nance (Intern)