1. How did you secure your internship?
   
   Knowing my background and passions, both my 2nd year MBA student mentor and Office of Career Services (OCS) advisor mentioned the opportunity to intern at PepsiCo in a sales strategy capacity as a great fit for me. Accordingly I attended an OCS PepsiCo info session where I met an alumnus and was further intrigued by the entrepreneurial nature of the position. I landed an internship offer and accepted.
   
2. How did Smith assist you with the internship?
   
   Honest to God, My OCS advisor ran me through a mock interview which I firmly believe landed me the internship. Beyond that, two alumni who currently work at PepsiCo were very helpful in regards to offering prep advice.
   
3. What is your career goal after graduation and how do you plan on leveraging this internship opportunity to achieve that goal?
   
   I will be working for PepsiCo as a sales strategy manager post-graduation. My plan is to work in this capacity for a few years while continuing to build my own firm. Ultimately I plan on working full-time in the Christian entertainment arena on both the management and marketing side. Working for a successful firm like PepsiCo prior, will allow me to further build my skill set while learning best practices that can be leveraged and transferred to my areas of passion.
   
4. How did Smith prepare you for this opportunity? Highlight your most challenging moment of your internship:
   
   The alumni network at Smith was my best resource in regards to performing well at PepsiCo. In particular, two Smith alum who were based in Chicago with me were extremely helpful. At the beginning of the summer they both extended themselves by taking time out of their schedule’s to sit down with me to review my. The timelines and models that came out of these initial sessions proved to be vital to the advancement of my project as I dug dipper into the work. My summer would have been a lot tougher without it.
   
   The highlight of my summer was definitely my final presentation to PepsiCo executives. It was a long challenging road to that point, but I walked out of there knowing that I had put together a viable plan that the company was excited to put into play.

Hometown: Boston, MA

Undergraduate University & Major: Boston University, Marketing

MBA Concentration: Marketing & Strategy

Industry & Function before MBA: Music & Entertainment, Marketing

Are you a career switcher? No

Career Goals: Entrepreneurship. I hope to continue to grow my own marketing & management firm .

MBA Student Clubs: Black MBA Association, MSEA, Consulting Club

Extracurricular activities:
Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) Global Business Project, Brazil Spring 2012 (Syngenta- PPM)
Social Value Consulting Project, Fall 2012 (The SEED School in Maryland)

Favorite thing about Smith or MBA program so far: The Smith Experience projects. I’ve gotten to know many of my classmates more personally through these projects and also gained an appreciation for their overall business acumen which has rightfully furthered my own.