I was employed by HDD this Autumn as a Program Management Intern. The internship was meant to be only 5 weeks long but, after 2 weeks, I was offered a permanent position with the company as a Program Management Associate. This title was legitimized in staff meetings, in meetings with the Board of Directors, on HDD’s website, and at their 34th annual gala in October, with more than 200 patrons in attendance. I accepted the position prior to spending more time with the company and discovering that the administrative staff was severely overworked, and frequently verbally abused.This position was offered to me with the knowledge that the company would have to seek funds outside of their intern budget in order to pay me.I was told that this gala would be taking place one week after the completion of my internship, and that the program manager would not have enough time to create my new contract until after the gala was over. I worked that extra week off of my internship contract, including overtime hours the day of the gala.The week following the gala, I was told not to come in to the office, as the program manager and director (Heidi Duckler) were “discussing the details of my contract.” I then received an email from them at the end of that week, terminating me from the company, with claims that there would not be enough funding to permanently employ me.Mind you, it was made clear that the decision to hire me was a permanent decision at the time of offering, so much so that I denied job offerings from different establishments. They also hired two other staff members at the time.Aside from the fact that Heidi Duckler has rendered me, a college student with little to no financial help from family, unemployed—I don’t believe that her ethics are in alignment with that of a non profit organization that is deserving of the funding to continue to employ interns. Additionally, the praise she receives as a choreographer is in vain, as I have personally watched her eat and stand in silence as her dancers choreograph the entire piece on their own, with no credit.Heidi Duckler knew that her gala patrons would be paying over $200 for tickets and that she needed as many hands as possible. Instead of asking me to stay for an extra week with honesty and integrity, she took advantage of my status and my labor, lied to me, and left me with no way to pay for my bills or my classes next semester.The nature of my situation leads me to advise against giving Heidi Duckler Dance any form of support until her ethics are thoroughly investigated.

Not bad^^