Internship Profiles

After an exciting Summer interning all across the country (Booth Marketers interned in New York, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, Silicon Valley, and many other locations) and in a multitude of industries (CPG, healthcare, high tech, retail, and more), we are all settling back into school and classes, but wanted to take some time to share some of our experiences.

So our first post of the year comes courtesy of Marketing Group Co-Chair Risa Shapiro, with details on her experience at Sara Lee:

Internship in Brand Management (Risa Shapiro ’11)

SARA LEE, CHICAGO (DOWNERS GROVE), IL, BRAND MANAGEMENT INTERN

Experience prior to Booth: Marketing & Communications

What do you like most about the marketing career/internship that you have chosen?

I’ve been working in marketing for years and I knew I wanted to continue down the marketing path. It absolutely fascinates me that we as marketers can influence the way consumers behave. Brand management for a consumer products company is fully focused around the consumer but it also marries my interest in general management.

Why did you choose this career/internship?

When I applied to school, my end goal was to move into entrepreneurship but I knew that I wanted to gain additional experience before making the leap. Often times, brand management is likened to entrepreneurship because you really own the product or brand you manage which will give me great experience if I ever do decide to start my own company.

I chose Sara Lee specifically because culture is one of the most important aspects of a job to me and I felt that Sara Lee’s company culture fit my personality well – the people are very results oriented, but your performance is also rated on how you reach those results. As a result, the people that work there are very supportive of one another and collaborative.

What skills do you need to succeed in this field?

In my experience, the most important skills for brand management are leadership, the ability to influence those around you, creative problem solving skills, analytical skills, and you can’t be afraid to speak up!