When Rhoda Ann Roby interned at the Temple of Understanding in 2025, she conducted a research project about sustainable fashion and presented it to her peers. When she returned July 14 as a guest speaker at an event about youth voices and climate change, she had transformed her research into a concept for textile recycling solution.
Rhoda Ann Roby
“I walked in as an intern, and now, I’m a founder and entrepreneur,” said Roby, the founder of TwinWorld, a platform in the early development stage which helps fashion brands redistribute excess textiles and uses AI to match textile donors with the right recipients. Once operational, the platform will help keep discarded textiles out of landfills.
Roby shared her story at the Temple of Understanding’s side event, “SDG 17 and the Power of Conviction: Youth, Faith, and Climate in partnership.” The event, held off-site at the Church Center for the United Nations alongside the UN’s 2026 High Level Political Forum, highlighted the importance of youth voices in the climate conversation. Held with Climate Cardinals, the event emphasized the importance of grassroots networks to support SDG 17, which focuses on partnerships in realizing the UN’s sustainable development goals. The current cohort of TOU summer interns heard from Roby and other former TOU interns, who explained how the Temple of Understanding supported them on their journey to becoming leaders in their career fields.
During Roby’s TOU internship, the group met with leaders from the fashion and waste industry, which is where she first learned about the problem her platform aims to solve, Roby said.
“That is where I was first exposed to the concept of textile waste and how significant the problem truly is globally,” Roby said. “Hearing from industry leaders about how much fashion waste ends up in landfills every year sparked something in me, and I knew I wanted to do something about it!”
The program staff at TOU “gave me insight, asked me challenging questions, helped me network more, and pushed me to think differently and go above and beyond.”
The Temple of Understanding, which advocates for interfaith values, peace, justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability in the secular setting of the UN, has operated its youth internship program since 2005. The month-long program offers a hands-on learning experience with the work of the United Nations, with the hope that it launches the interns’ careers as global citizens who care about the humanitarian goals embraced by the UN. Many former interns are now working in diplomacy, peacebuilding, international relations, advocacy, law, and related fields. This years’ group of 12 interns hailed from countries including Spain, China, Afghanistan, the U.S., El Salvador, South Korea and Ukraine. At the side event, youth leaders encouraged them to speak up for their values and network with others who might be further along in their career paths.
Emma Shockley, right, chief programs officer for Climate Cardinals, speaks with Pallab Saha, an investment banking analyst, 2017 TOU intern and 2019 internship program associate director at TOU’s HLPF side event, “SDG 17 and the Power of Conviction: Youth, Faith, and Climate in partnership.”
“Your voices matter more than you think, whether it’s a seed of inspiration planted in you by someone else, or a seed of inspiration they plant in you,” said Pallab Saha, an investment banking analyst, 2017 TOU intern and 2019 internship program associate director.
Emma Shockley, the chief programs officer at Climate Cardinals, agreed. Shockley encouraged the interns to explore different paths for doing good in the world, and not to shy away from asking for help along the way.
“People are often more willing to help than we give them credit for,” Shockley said. “Anybody who has had any degree of success has obviously had people help them too.”
This year’s cohort of interns also heard from others who were once in their seat at the Eco-Justice for All webinar June 29, in a program entitled “From Intern to Professional: Internship Alumni Reflect on their Global Affairs Career Path.” Former intern Grace Hudson, who interned with TOU in 2020 and 2021 later worked as an associate director for the internship program, said she still values the relationships that emerged from the program.
“I joined TOU when I was still pretty young,” said Grace, now 26, who now works for the International Finance Corporation helping support capital markets development in emerging economies. “I had this very lofty goal of making the world a better place, that I didn’t actually know how I would be able to translate into a career. TOU really takes those people who have these really crazy goals and they say, ‘No, your goals are not ridiculous. They’re not naive. They’re doable, if you’re in the right setting with the right support.”
Throughout the course of the 2026 internship program, the interns also learned about different religions through visits to interfaith sites, heard from guest speakers, and chose topics for research projects, which they presented to their peers and TOU leadership July 21 and 22. The research project topics included the role of interfaith dialogue in diplomacy, health and wealth inequality, refugee protection, and rethinking peacebuilding across ethnic divides.
Interns in this year’s cohort called the program a “once in a lifetime experience.” They cited the first-hand experience they gained at the UN, offering them a chance to understand how decisions made there can impact lives.
“This has been an incredible experience overall,” said Zoe, a 2026 intern. “It’s given me a real insight into the international community, and the work that the UN does, and the work that non-profits such as the Temple of Understanding does to carry out the UN’s missions. It’s given me so much context about the world, and how the world is really just carried through people. And they’re all here in New York, and at the UN.”
Interns also celebrated the cross-cultural friendships they developed throughout the course of the month, saying they gained new perspectives from people from a wide variety of countries.
“Even though we were in this small space, there were so many people here it felt like many countries were present,” said Jayden, a 2026 intern. “So being in this small space gave me the feeling of being in the whole world.”