Hometown: Bronx, NY
Majors: International Relations and Chinese
In 2013, I was able to travel to Shanghai for the purpose of improving my Mandarin and immersing myself within Chinese culture. I enjoyed that experience so much that I decided to return to Shanghai this past summer, interning for a consulting company in Shanghai that helped foreign companies enter the Chinese market and domestic companies grow.
I primarily worked in the marketing division of the company. Now, I could bore you with tedious details of what I did every day, but it wasn’t the usual busy work typical of internship. The first day I stepped into the office I was assigned to rebrand an image of a Taiwanese-based company that wanted to enter the Chinese market. It was challenging but with some help from my boss and a fellow intern, I was able to help the company establish operations in Shanghai and Nanjing.
This experience forced me to learn how to speak in Mandarin within a professional setting. I was taken to multiple business meetings in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and a few other cities. I was truly lucky to have the boss that I did.
One experience that made an impact on me from my time interning abroad would be the last project I worked on. I was given the task of promoting a Green China project. Besides learning and using marketing strategies on this project, I couldn’t believe that I was witnessing a green initiative in China because I felt that China lacked environmental consciousness. Being able to witness that turn, and being involved with it firsthand was an experience I thought to be truly special. In all, I found that my trip to China was very rewarding, and I am positive that working in China is in my future. 再见!