My high school mock trial team is the foundation of my approach to everything in my professional and personal life. I joined in freshman year as a Bailiff. This was where I made my first few friends and learned the concept of collaboration and completing something till it’s close to perfect. I learned to pour 100% effort into a role no matter how big or small it is. As bailiff, my role was to call the court into order and make sure everything was running smoothly. With the help of my teammates, and my coach I was able to win Best Bailiff. In my later years, I worked as a witness and a Secretary for that club. Being exposed to the judges and attorneys in the San Diego Federal Courthouse was extremely inspiring and was the first time I realized how life would be after college with successful colleagues. I realized that the best growth happens after having an open mind and accepting help from those smarter. Along with such mental growth, my presentation, analytical, and writing skills improved tenfold. I was a much more confident student after this program.

This was my first real job in college. I worked at the dining hall during my first year in college. I didn’t particularly enjoy this job, but this was the first time I gained a sense of independence. I also met a plethora of people from different backgrounds. I learned how to stand up for myself and speak up if I was uncomfortable doing anything, and how to think quickly on my feet. Before I used to feel self-conscious about the uniform and the apron but then I learned to be proud of it because at least I was doing something with my free time, I was making money. I also realized that people do not necessarily judge as much as we think they do. This job is still a topic of conversation with many of my friends and even professors. I recommend a food services job for everyone!

This is my current job in college. I work at the residence hall that I used to dorm in my first year. I work a lot more this year, particularly because I enjoy it. I am friends with all of my co-workers, residents, and even my supervisors. I work to assist my residents by helping them with lockouts, move-ins, move-outs, and processing packages. I learned how to multi-task and effectively communicate. I also learned that it is okay to not know everything and to ask your co-workers and supervisors if you need help. I use my experiences in dining services and my time at the residence hall to excel at this job. I am sure to speak up, but I also make sure I collaborate with my co-workers. I am shifted alone, but strangely it is not isolating at all. During my last job, I was constantly around people but I rarely talked to them. Learning from my co-workers’, and my supervisors’ experiences reminds me to keep an open mind, and be open to all possibilities and opportunities.

This was my first real exposure to finance. Throughout freshman year, I attended several meetings where they talked about DCF,  the screener we use to analyze a particular stock or ETF, and stock pitches. I tried out for the Request For Proposal team. I got accepted and was put in charge of the utility sector and later collaborated with the whole group to work on the portfolio and presentation. I also participated in a stock pitch where I pitched an international ETF. I learned how to thoroughly analyze an ETF and present my findings through this process. We presented the RFP at a competition in the Fall. This competition did not go well at all. I did not present but we had issues with the portfolio and the presentation. It is easy to pass judgments when you are not presenting, and those who presented were extremely brave to do so in front of experts in the field that we all aspire to go into. We learned from this and are actively working on improving the program for next year’s team. I believe we will improve and learn from our mistakes!

My interest in Financial Consulting is what led me to go through the recruitment process and I was accepted as a consulting intern! The recruitment process was one of the first times I had done anything like this successfully. I met several like-minded, and inspirational people who have worked in impressive internships. I learned about a different approach, which is to focus on a particular company instead of just mass applying. The resume workshops were extremely helpful because I learned unique tips to improve it. I love the hands-on approach of this organization, and I believe that you learn the best by doing. I was able to work on a project for a start-up. I helped with the d2c strategy. I researched social media marketing and used numerical data to support my findings regarding the influencers and social platforms that I believed would expand the reach of this service. I was also exposed to the work involving improving the b2b strategy. I helped create the slide decks and was quickly made aware that presentations in the corporate world are very different from the Google slides used in group projects at school. I made several mistakes but my mentors were kind and gracious enough to stay on call with me for hours to help me figure out how to improve upon them.

This was my very first internship and it helped me realize that I made the right decision in picking finance as my field. I love working in a collaborative setting. As a Cards, Payments, and Fraud intern, I worked on the operations side of the credit union. I worked to log in fraud transactions and learned about the chargeback process. I also sat in on several projects to minimize fraudulent transactions. I had daily check-ins with my managers and directors and learned a lot from their experiences. I admire how passionate they are about their fields, and aspire to be like them in my professional life. I also learned a lot from my fellow interns. There were 9 of us in the program and we all grew pretty close to each other. I was in a financial institution so I had to seek out the opportunity to shadow the Financial Planning and Advising Department. I learned a lot about what went into the planning of their products, and branches in the area. I also shadowed the Real Estate department for a day. I learned about the loans that the credit union has to offer and the process that went into accepting or denying them. Our internship program ended with us interns presenting how to expand the credit union’s reach to people in my demographic, Generation Z. All in all this was a well-rounded experience, and I cannot wait to learn more about the field of finance!