My journey, both academically and professionally, began in high school and continued to evolve and grow during my freshman year at Wake. Before I got to college, I knew that I wanted to pursue Entrepreneurship and study the creation/ideation process of new businesses. This interest led me to pursue the School of Business and ultimately choose BEM as my major, with a concentration in New Business Development. During my freshman year, I participated in the Bridge 2 Business program, which allowed me to visit local companies and meet with employers. These experiences helped me to begin to understand what I valued and desired in a company – and what I want to look for down the road in terms of internships and full-time positions.
The summer after my sophomore year, I interned with an equipment and apparel company in Colorado. Shortly before I started the internship, I was placed in a new department. I was hoping to be working with the Product Development team, although ended up being in the Sales Department. I was a little disappointed in this at first, but ended up loving the work that I was doing and the team that I was on – and this experience led me to pursue a Sales Internship for the upcoming 2025 summer.
Advice that I have for current students is to try to truly put yourself out there. Whether it is scheduling a meeting with a career coach for the first time, sending an email to someone who works for a company that you’re interested in, or pursuing an opportunity no matter if your friends or those around you are interested in the same thing. Additionally, I would say to see every experience you have – in various parts of your life – as an opportunity to grow. No matter whether the experience is a super positive one, or a super negative one, you will learn something from it, and it will help you be better prepared for a future situation.