By Insight Editor / 18 Jul 2024 / Topics: Culture & careers
It’s a total intern takeover in the latest episode of Leading With Insight! Z and Rich are joined by Abby Nava, Marcello Borromeo and Cassie English, who share their firsthand experiences with building robust professional networks, navigating personal branding and the impact of mentorship on leadership aspirations. You’ll discover valuable tips, challenges faced and practical advice for interns looking to make the most of their opportunities and shape their future career paths. Don’t miss out on this engaging discussion that offers a glimpse into the world of meaningful professional development and personal growth.
To experience this week’s episode, listen on the player above, watch the conversation below, or scroll down to read a complete transcript. You can also subscribe to Leading With Insight on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
Audio transcript:
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Hey everybody this is Z Tenoko and I'm Richard Reeves. You're listening to Leading With Insight. Join us as we explore the latest trends, insights, and strategies for people who love leadership. Get ready to unlock your full potential and take your career to the next level.
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Welcome to another exciting episode of Leading With Insight. Today we're gonna be shaking things up a bit as we have a few of our interns joining us here to tell us all about their insights during their internship. Today we'll be discussing and unpacking how they have developed their personal brand and professional network here. But before we get into that I'm gonna go ahead and kick it over to Z so he can explain a little bit more about the internship program. Yeah before we do that I want to give Rich a big shout out. You were here solo last time. I totally crushed it with Javier Arias. Thank you. Great interview by the way. I'm kind of nervous now. I don't think I'm gonna be here anymore. I think I'm gonna like take a break for a while. But I know a phenomenal job by the way. Thank you. Also you know I was at a state, I was in New York for the Thayer Leadership Program. We've talked about that last year as well. It's every June. Amazing experience. A lot of good leadership insight but also application.
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And can't wait to talk more about that in future episodes. But today is about our next generation leaders and this June we have again another big wave of interns.
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And by the way just a couple fun facts. The internship program is about 10 weeks.
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It does include various different things. A lot of trainings and hands-on both professional and personal development. But also they get some roundtable and FaceTime with some of our executives. And even I believe the founder of Insight. One of the brothers of Insight. So pretty cool stuff.
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And they're gonna tell us a little bit about their experience. But also today's episode is about if you're looking to join a organization or a company. What are some things that you want to consider during your internship?
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Personal brand. How to start that early. As that's our theme. And the last one is for leaders that are again leading interns. What are some best things or things that we can do to set them up for success? And that's what we're gonna talk about today. So with that let's get to meet our interns. So welcome. Thank you. How are you? Thanks for having us. So if you don't mind one at a time just tell us your name. What are you intern? What's your intern position here? And then what university you attend? Yeah my name is Abby Nava. I am the leadership and team development intern. And I go to the University of Idaho.
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My name is Marcella Borromeo. I'm a digital and operations intern. And I attend Arizona State University. My name is Cassie English. I also attend Arizona State University. And I'm a marketing operations intern. Fantastic. So I gotta give Cassie. Cassie always gave me a hard time. So when we had a workshop, presentation advantage. By the way y'all did amazing. Seeing your growth and development during that time.
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But Cassie was always like kind enough but also correct me. Like it's Cassie not Casey. And I'm just like yes ma'am sorry about that. And I said I was like I was practicing I'm over here. I gotta say it right. It shines. It shows.
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So before we go into some of the questions that we will have planned. Tell us so far what's been the highlight of your internship here at Insight? If you want to go first Marcella. Great question. So the highlight of my internship so far has definitely been the team building and the public events we have here on Wednesdays. Just recently we had like a beach themed like partner event. We had partners come over. We got the network for a bit. This is great exposure for interns and students currently in college. You sort of get like that piece of doing hard work with your department but also having like a good time talking to other companies. So that's my highlight. Yeah I mean a beach theme coming in. You probably got a towel. Who knows? Right outside the screen. That's my dog.
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The bare necessities you need to survive the Arizona heat.
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So again you go to ASU. So you're familiar with the heat a little bit not accustomed to it yet? Not yet. So I was born in Spokane Washington. Lived in the Philippines for a bit. Then I came here from middle school, high school and eventually college. So despite having lived here for some a little longer than some other students at ASU. Yeah. I'm still not used to it. So speaking of another ASU student here but not from here as well. Cass, tell about your highlights so far. Yeah not to not to suck up to my hosts here today but I do think the presentation advantage workshop was like one of the highlights so far. I used to do theater in high school and it was just such a fun way for me to reconnect to that because I haven't done a lot of speaking publicly in college and it was also a great excuse for me to share something that I'm really passionate about. It's something I really like doing. So I just feel like I learned a lot. It's a great excuse to get away from work for a little bit and do something fun and then go back to work. Get some of that development and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Of course. Totally sucking up. I'm sorry.
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Abby what's been your highlight? I would say my highlight is just being able to be in office and get that hands-on experience. Obviously I'm not from here. This is my first summer ever being here. It's coming from Idaho. It's a little bit different but I think just the opportunity to be here and get that hands-on experience and be able to meet people in person. It has been really beneficial and probably the highlight. The highlight. I think the highlight for me is that you actually educated us that potatoes is not the only thing in Idaho. It's true.
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It's not the only thing. As you may believe it's not. There's more than just potatoes in Idaho. Yes.
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Like I got a five minute presentation.
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Cue the power.
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So all of my questions will be directed at the ASU students because ASU.
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No. But no bringing it back to you you were mentioning the networking event. Just to kind of go back to that you know can you share a few tips that maybe you have around networking now that you've been you've experienced insight and maybe how it's helped you grow your professional your personal brand and professional network. Great question. So I'll start with one point I always bring to every experience whether it's from work or in school or sport taking initiative. Initiative should be the rock of what every college student or any student in general should do.
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For me it's sort of been the reason why all these experiences snowball and why I'm able to have the confidence and talk to other people like outside of my department. So for example my manager encouraged me to talk to eight people outside of my department. It was very challenging a bit overwhelming for my first time. That was in my first two weeks. So I'm glad she did that though it accustomed me easier to sort of like the culture and what the people are like here and inside. It's giving me like a better more holistic view of the business you could say outside of marketing. That's great I love that. It's funny reminds me when we did the event at mastery was it last year I challenged him I go dude you're here go talk to at least five people five leaders you haven't met with and that's that's a great starting point right as a leader if you have you know next generation leaders or you have new teammates you know start to help them encourage them to go and branch out and get to meet new people. What was what about yourself Cassie? I would honestly second that I think my manager didn't go that extreme with me it wasn't like these eight people in two weeks. They gave me lists of like potential people that I would like to reach out to but whereas in other experiences I've had like managers set up those calls for me it was more like you do this like in your time it was very much left up to me and I really appreciated that because it put the onus on me like you said like taking that initiative is something that I'm working on in myself and I think we all are as students so being able to do that and just the different conversations that have come out of those you never know what you're gonna talk about. I love that. Gave you the autonomy basically but even if let's say you're an introvert or that some of some of some of you some of us might have a difficult time with kind of getting out there maybe that challenge but also maybe a warm introduction right like walking around introducing you to people. Yeah I got to give Cassie credit after the the presentation advantage she reached out and she's like you know but I really took a lot of this training so even just reaching out and acknowledging somebody for what a presentation they did or something like that really goes a long way and it leaves them leaves a mark like a positive mark so I just want to call that out. Thank you. And I was just kidding Abby you can. I was like I'll just say my throat. No I agree with everything they said. I also think just being aware that it's like everyone wants to see you succeed here and everyone's so nice and welcoming and going out of your comfort zone and making those conversations and connections with people even if they're not in your direct team like everyone's here for you and they want you to be like the most successful that you can be and everyone is so open to talk to you and meeting people from other departments has really opened my eyes like oh this sounds really interesting I never even knew this existed so being able just like yeah like take that initiative and be like I know that I might just be an intern but they don't see you as that they see you as an equal and I think that speaks a lot about the company. So I wonder if it's like you know when you're everybody's gonna have different internship experiences right the companies that go to you and the leaders they report to I remember going back to my first internship a long time ago.
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I didn't know those tips man I was just like I got I got there right first of all I didn't get paid which I was like what the heck oh I would like to get paid for these hours but that aside I'm not bitter by the way is that I would just head down doing my work whatever work was given to me again you know kind of going back to way I was raised but if I would have taken that time and really maximize yes get my work done but then also spend that time to network get to know people go out of my comfort zone get to that who knows right where that would have taken it but again that's why I'm here today I'm good but that is the thing that if you can start early that's so powerful. What other tips that y'all have like if you're if you're given a given new intern coming in to an organization what is some things that you would you know would have loved to have you know what information or tips would you have left to receive in the beginning that you know now. Of course so I'd like to start off with learning how to advocate for yourself so a lot of college students may not have that track record of like delivered successes at previous companies and they're competing with a lot of students who don't have those same experiences so sort of that last mile you have to go as an intern and a student is learning how to be your own be your own person to talk about yourself this can look like a lot of things for me personally it's learning how to tell good stories you can tell good stories about yourself where you've been what you're doing now what you hope to do in the future and that's how I personally got to this position I got rejected the first time from one position the data science position then I talked to the recruiter and then she said okay well we can plug you in with someone else and by that time I'd already like solidified what sort of made me competitive in that role my personal brand personally is that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and so with that like I try to gather interest and find ways I can like embody that that's amazing going back to our storytelling thing too right I mean I'm glad that you are starting off with already knowing that right because it's one of those things that as your career progresses we start not many people like really implemented that or even think about I need to work on my storytelling I need to collect these stories or these things even if you haven't had a lot of experience you still have stories I mean since you were born you have a story right what are your thoughts on this yeah no I mean hit the nail on the head right especially with a lot of things that we've been discussing leading up to this episode storytelling you know just being able to communicate effectively and efficiently you know and enjoying your time here right you know the whole networking piece right is there any one particular thing that you can think of that maybe has you know helped out your networking experience I think the encouragement from my managers to branch out and not just feel like I need to be doing every single thing that they have in mind for me like it wasn't like they came into this with like this is your day-to-day everything that you're doing it was very much what do you want to do and from there I've been able to see which aspects of the company interest me most and that helps me figure out who I want to talk to you most so having that encouragement from my managers who are very much like the mindset of if you don't ask you're not gonna know so might as well just ask the worst thing that they can say is no and just go out and try yeah I like the the partnership there it's not just right here's what you're doing here's your you know and whatever your eight hours and stuff and it's mapped out that'd be kind of boring right yeah it seems like you have a lot of freedom and you kind of just kind of map your own your own trajectory of what you want to do with your time that's awesome it's been great I would agree with what Cassie said I also think just knowing that like we are here for 10 weeks and it goes by so fast like it's already gone by so fast so just knowing like if you want to make those connections don't wait till tomorrow like what's wrong with today so just go out and do it because these 10 weeks are gonna fly by they already have and so I feel like also I've met with a bunch of different people on my team and they have been so encouraging to meet with other people and be like are you interested in this and I'm like yeah they're like talk to this person in this person so I feel like even just talking in your own team can help you make all those other connections which has been really cool so it sounds like your your leaders so far have it had some kind of plan but it's not fixed so much that there's no flexibility and opportunity so it seems like there's a nice balance of both because what would happen if you would have you know join let's say an internship and there was like no plan like you're just sitting there going I don't know you know they have no idea what what to do or what to have you do how would that feel right yeah be a lot of personal advocacy which is hard as Marcello said yeah especially I feel like when you join a company and you have no idea what you're doing it doesn't give you that like courage and strength to go make those you don't even know what I feel like I don't have a voice yeah so I feel like not knowing anything would be really stressful yeah already a stressful situation and awkward it just makes it even more right what do you guys say something tell it looks like yeah it's a great time for interns this summer 2024 just cuz like the marketing team got a lot of like leadership rearrangement there's a lot of projects going on so there's always something to do outside of our current role that's cool yeah so maybe you never know when you're gonna what type of team what type of dynamic you're gonna enter team intern so they take advantage of it like you wait something you're gonna learn something that's awesome sounds like these three would be more than okay if they're later didn't have a plan for them but even then let's say talk about you know you've been you know interacting with a lot of interns this year and plus not only in the office right but like remote what what are you know this is kind of I wish I can ask them more than this than any question but let's say if you were working remotely in an internship it maybe you have if you have in the past but what would be some things that you would appreciate from your leader if you did work fully remote what are some things that would help you be engaged get the most out of your internship if you were in a remote setting I did have an internship last summer that was fully remote more on my choice than anything I didn't want to pay rent at somewhere else so I lived with my parents the shout out to my parents thank you for letting me stay with them but no I think what my manager did during that internship that was really great and helpful for me was she did have more of a solid plan than I think my managers here did and that was helpful for a remote intern when I'm sitting in my bedroom and I could very easily just sit in my bedroom all summer and she knew that thankfully because she went in prepared of like these are who you need to talk to this is what you're gonna be doing and it wasn't like day by day still but it was a lot more structured than it has been here and that makes sense though right yeah you definitely need that more because you don't have the freedom of like hey how's it going or over you over there you you're like you know you have to reach out or I am and when they're available so that structure does help so that makes sense all right so I guess we're talking about some adversities has there been any challenges so far it doesn't have to be here or it could be but any any challenges or difficulties in internships that you've experienced that you had to overcome or that you had to figure out on your own that were challenging or were difficult I would say just kind of like the hybrid style because sometimes if like being able to work remote but also be in person it's like you come in person and maybe the person you're wanting to meet with isn't here so just being able to be like okay I need a message to them also being comfortable with teams and being know that it's okay if you message someone and they don't respond right away they're probably busy they're probably in a meeting they're not just ignoring you so I feel like just being okay to know that people have very limited time and that people are busy so it's not like all on you to be like oh my gosh I have to wait until they're free because sometimes they might never be but also coming in office has been really beneficial for me because I feel like I get more out of it and it's okay if I'm like if no one in my team is here like that's okay and it's okay to just work on my own and get things done yeah opportunity to network right or do what you have yeah any other challenges maybe that you've experienced that you had overcome sure so for me definitely not knowing enough about a subject or about like some sort of expertise to ask the right questions to sort of get that conversation going it's very hard for me especially for example we'll take last week tried reaching out to like the data and Gen AI team here this was of my own choice I found them on Outlook and just saw what they did okay this seems really cool so I sort of just cold messaged them I didn't really get much of a reply other than like hey if there's like anything like you know about the subject you can bring it up like someone else so with that mind sort of not knowing enough about something can be a barrier especially for me as an intern still student but really my only solution to that is keep doing it right just keep those conversations going yeah yeah so it sounds like getting enough information so it starts off in the right foot but also giving you that opportunity to find it on your own which is kind of rewarding would you say like if you're like oh my gosh I figured it out but not where you're completely in the dark or just like I have no clue where I'm going now I felt bad that they're waiting for something or they're expecting something and I'm just like not given any information so it seems like a balance just enough but you can to figure it out and it feels good is that what I'm hearing definitely also in addition to that not feeling like a bother to some like teammates who are doing very important things like for the director of marketing like I reached out to her Andrea Winkle I said hey I saw like the new playbook we have for the last half of the year is there a way like we can have conversation like exchange some thoughts I saw like she's pretty booked up and like you know it took her a while to get back to me she's doing a lot so sort of that I'm still getting around and sort of like the emotional intelligence around that too it is yeah yeah back to what he said it was because they're not responding doesn't mean that they're not they don't care whatever they just you know it gets the who knows what that inbox looks like right but I love that it's like you know him you know being understanding and kind of continue to be persistent and up in a professional way not be too too much yeah what a good yeah no that's amazing having that fortitude just to you know keep keep foraging on right like you may not get a response the first time okay try again you know you're absolutely right you hit the nail on the head people are very busy around here we're doing a lot of great things there's a lot of moving parts so just keep reaching out keep reaching out being consistent and I promise those those things those type of things will pay off trust me and they don't go unnoticed either but one thing I'd want to ask it's a bit off topic is so you mentioned the office tell me what your thoughts are on the office here yeah I personally love being in person and I didn't think this is gonna be opportunity just because I don't live here like I said but being able to come in and like be surrounded by everyone that's just working and like everyone like going towards is like a same common goal has been so encouraging for me to like work hard and like to put my best effort forward instead of like Cassie said sitting at home you can get very distracted and you can just kind of zone out and kind of not pay attention so like last week presentation advantage like that was really good to have in person because then it like kind of forced you to pay attention and I feel like I got a lot more out of it than I would if I was remote and remote it just takes that extra effort to like pay attention and stay on topic but I love coming in office and it's I feel like it's a very good environment to be in yeah I absolutely agree I feel like I spend a lot of time doing like work from home because both my managers are remote so I don't necessarily need to be in the office but it is like so nice to just be here it's a beautiful space there's so many plants it's so bright like it just makes me happy it makes me feel more productive and I and I am more productive I am doing work all the time Marcello walked past my desk earlier today I even noticed him because he was like I was just so locked into what I was doing tried saying hi twice but she was in a meeting I was like okay but let me follow up meet me follow up on this one so again which is a leadership podcast have during your internship have you learned any leadership you know skills or anything during your internship here and then if you have if you don't mind sharing what they have been or what they are sure so one thing I really like about insight that I haven't really found anywhere else I'm sure it exists anywhere else but inside really reminds me that people really aren't just people so sure there's it's a big company there's a hierarchy of like leadership and responsibilities but my manager made it very clear is like hey Marcello you're not working for me you're working with me basically and so she puts me on that same level of like responsibility as like a normal full-time teammate would be keeping me accountable but also giving me the confidence to do a good job that's awesome talk about that executive presence and all these things right like we say we can't it leader really brings energy right gets energy from you instead of depleting it because you know when you look at old movies I imagine they've seen when you think of a leader like an executive walking down the aisle like oh man you're intimidating and stuff hopefully have an experience that year but I don't think that's the case anymore maybe back then it might have been but not no more I don't know he's pretty intimidating but no what I will say is that you know that servant leader mindset is really key here and something that really shines through right you'll meet a lot of different leaders and they'll all have a very common thread that runs throughout and a lot of the great leaders here to do is that you know I'm here for you I'm here to develop you and help you progress in your career and it's really really amazing to be in that atmosphere and environment so yeah it's really anything else from anybody else yeah just kind of jumping off that I feel like the leaders are really like in the trenches with you like they're going through all the hardships with you and they're not there to like tell you what to do they're there to do it with you and help you and watch you succeed instead of just running up the hill and leaving you behind like they're gonna be right there with you which I think as someone who has been in like a big work company like this is really like and like reassured me yeah let me let me take it to the next year so before you join you know working for you know internship for a company and now experiencing it can you tell me about your perception or your your feelings going into it going man I'm almost gonna be done with school about to enter this workforce how did that feel and now going through this internship has a change your feeling towards going to the workforce I think it's given me a lot of career validation above anything I knew I would love insight I knew that but I had just a marketing internship last summer and I was like I like this but I want to do more in-depth and so marketing operations marketing analytics is what I'm doing and that's exactly what I'm studying in school so I was like if I don't like this what I'm studying in school is not gonna be good for me but I love it so it's like so validating and it makes me feel very confident going into my senior year of college that I'm on the right path good yeah by each other well there are a few gaps I guess I had like understand what a real company a big company is like so being with inside is like both a reaffirmed that yeah we have hard work to do and we're all contributing to like big projects and stuff but we know how to like to have a good time and just like get along together it's very organic too so for example I can tell that insights very intentional with sort of like their office spaces both by like it's very collaborative very open the ceilings very open they also have like stations where you have like a golf putt too and earlier one of the interns and I in between lunch we're playing darts so it's really cool yeah sometimes that's where the best ideas come from and you got to step away from your desk and get that white space that yeah take that pause I agree with everything that was said I feel like I've always heard great things that inside but it's like is anyone really gonna talk bad about their company if they want you to work here so actually coming here and realizing that it is even better than what people have told me and it's really like okay people want me to be here people are like not gonna give me a horrible job and be like good luck like good people are gonna be nice and watch me succeed yeah so one of the things that we've been hearing for from like the next generation we've gone and you know done panel interviews and career development panels for different schools and stuff one of the concerns that comes up is hey I I want to work for a company that's not gonna drain me or not give me that autonomy to enjoy my life too because we're seeing from our parents or from our family members or uncles or aunts how miserable they are and that now since you're here I just want to kind of you know I'm curious like did y'all have that same perception going into it as well or seeing that when it just want to get your thoughts on you know kind of what you're seeing that growing up and what you saw the workforce looking like for you in the future yeah I was worried I mean not necessarily about insight but just about my future work-life balance is a very important thing I like to phrase it as life work balance more so than anything and that's been something that I have been sure to ask in all of my coffee chats with people it's just like what has your work-life balance been because I know that it's gonna look like look differently to different people but I like to see especially people who've been here for a long time how they've kind of developed that through their lives people who have kids people who have things outside of work because that'll be me in the future and I everyone has been very open to talking about it and everyone is seems to have a very healthy mindset about it which is very nice to see here I agree with Cassie definitely just like the transparency around work-life balance especially because inside promotes both like hybrid and like remote and so we have great talent from all over the world and country being put towards insight and it's wonderful there's so far for all the coffee chats I've had it's only been like positive things yeah I also feel like when I was growing up I thought a nine-to-five would be I'd be sitting in a little cubicle typing away from nine to five no break no no interaction with anyone and yeah and I was like oh no like I don't know if I want to do that for the rest of my life but it's not like that people are always talking networking and even being able to work from home and have that like oh and sometimes me you want to sit on the couch and do some work and that's okay but I feel like it's not like sitting and typing for 10 hours a day it's very like go out meet people go to lunch with people and I feel like that is really reassuring because I don't think I could sit in a cubicle for the rest of my life so I know we're getting towards the end maybe like maybe if all of you don't mind sharing one bit of advice if you if you were to have like a good colleague or friend or peer that wants to join an internship what advice would you give them going into an internship that would be a game changer for them I would say just be confident in yourself and even if you don't have like a lot of background history in work or what you're even going into just be confident and it's better to show that you're interested and that you actually care rather than try to be like try to pull the random things and make it seem relevant like if you're going for a marketing intern and you try to talk about math and try to make it relevant people are gonna make what but if you start like I don't have a lot of experience but I'm so excited to get that experience that will make you stand out a lot more inside isn't looking for people to be who inside is they're looking for people to add to inside is so that's one point of advice that would offer one way where you can sort of gauge that for yourself if you're gonna be a good side you got a good fit for inside or inside a good fit for you definitely work on that personal brand I know that was sort of like the topic today's discussion like you know professional network and things like that working on being resourceful articulating to other people what makes you competitive in a pool of people who who won't go that last mile basically so each snowball each experience should snowball on each other so yeah yeah I second both of those things I would say also especially to people who are younger in their college career even in high school I think it's really easy to choose a path when you're 17 or 18 and go on that major and just stick to it and then you graduate and you're in a job and you're like oh I don't like this and I changed my major twice like early on in my career and it hasn't impacted my graduation date or anything like that and I'm just so much happier now so being able to take time a few years into college a year into college think do I actually like this because I can pretend to like it all I want but I don't want to pretend for the rest of my life so like putting that genuine thought into it is gonna be really helpful and we've learned a lot of great things here today with our interns be your authentic self have that go-getter mentality to just get things done you know definitely make those relationships throughout your work you know you'll definitely learn a lot a lot more along the way right yeah before we close out just a quick plug-in for our internship program if you want more information you can visit our insight.com career page again when we do publish it you know feel free to apply and get in get your foot in the door just like these amazing interns also a sneak peek you know a little bird told me that we're gonna start expanding to Canada now and of course as since we are global you will be having more and more opportunities which is gonna be amazing absolutely thank you all for joining us today appreciate it if you guys haven't already please subscribe and hit your notifications please turn those on so you get all of our content as soon as it releases thank you for joining us and keep leading with insight.
Host
Z Tinoco is a diversity, leadership & organization development manager who believes in building teams, inspiring minds and creating authentic connections. He helps people reach their goals and find success through humor, leadership and a diverse mindset.
Co-host (2023 - July 2024)
Richard is an experienced paid media specialist with a proven track record of creating and executing successful campaigns across various platforms. Richard has a passion for tackling new challenges, connecting with people and loves all things tech.
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