Rhiane’s Rules

“I knew what Glimmer 411® was creating was revolutionary. So when I heard they were looking for interns I just had to be a part of it”

-Rhiane Brooks

Rhiane Brooks is Glimmer 411®’s one and only Developer Intern! Originally from Hampton VA, she grew up as a military kid and traveled all around the U.S. with her family. Even though the military never took the Brooks family international, Rhiane was a baby polyglot and knew the basics of 7 different languages. It was this early interest that sparked Rhiane’s life long love of language learning and current pursuit of Korean.

In middle school Rhiane got her first chance to travel abroad when her teacher invited their class to go to Italy. Now a senior at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Rhiane doesn’t study Italian anymore but instead uses Korean and coding languages to fuel her linguistic curiosity.

This school year Rhiane cemented her decision to pursue a B.A. in Linguistics with a focus in Korean. But before committing to linguistics she spent a lot of time in the world of computer science. It was during her junior year of college, while she was deep in her information systems courses, that she first got involved in Glimmer 411®.

“I was chosen to beta test an early version of Curl Cupid™ with a friend and knew what they were creating was revolutionary. So when I heard they were looking for interns I just had to be a part of it,” Rhiane says.

Recently Rhiane worked alongside Glimmer 411®’s Founder and CEO Mayowa Osinowo and Mecca Parker, our Chief Marketing Technology Officer, to launch Curl Cupid™ this past March. Her phenomenal contributions have led to the development of our Porosity Bot, a one-of-a-kind tool that uses Glimmer 411®’s proprietary algorithms to identify the porosity of any product. .

“I can’t say too much about the project I’m currently working on now,” she smiled, “but what I can say is that I’ve learned some awesome new coding frameworks and languages like Angular and Javascript to help me bring them to life.”

It can go without being said that Rhiane loves learning languages of any type. As someone who’s steeped herself in the world of communication, what are some of Rhiane’s biggest language learning tips?

1. Get to Know Someone who Knows the Language

“People say this all the time but finding a native speaker who can help you is honestly a game changer,” Rhiane says, “last year I lived in an off campus apartment that was right next to a small Korean grocery store. You’d be surprised by how excited native speakers are to practice with you. I’d talk to the manager so often that my mom was shocked at how familiar we were after I took her to visit.”

2. Fall in Love with Learning

“For me playing with accents is so much fun. I speak Seoul Korean but back in high school my friend and I used to talk to our Korean teacher with the heaviest (U.S.) southern accent we could,” she laughed, “I’ve also noticed that when I talk to my college seonsaengnim (선생님들) who grew up in Busan or the Korean countryside for too long I’ll pick up their natural twang. ”

3. Make it Fun

“You probably already guessed that I’m really into K-dramas and K-pop,” Rhiane laughed, “They can actually be really helpful learning tools, especially when it comes to K-dramas. I love watching them without subtitles to see how much I can understand.”

Want to know what K-dramas Rhiane likes to watch to brush up on her Korean? Check Out:

Rhiane’s Reccs

A short list of K-dramas that are guaranteed to make you laugh, smile, or bawl your eyes out.

My Country: The New Age
Hello My Twenties!
Fated to Love You
Strong Woman Bong Soon

Rhiane knows first hand that learning new skills like coding or a foreign languages can be daunting. But she also knows that if you can find a way to fall for learning it’ll be so worth it. So next time you’re looking to pick up a new skill, maybe try learning a new language! Who knows, it could lead to the development of an innovative product, or the start of a lifelong friendship.