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PepsiCo Summer 2020 Internship

This summer I was given the opportunity to work as a Sales Management Intern with PepsiCo through a 6-week virtual experience. This internship gave me real-world sales experience, which coincides with the education I am pursuing to achieve a marketing degree. I was able to work on projects that involved cross-functional teams comprised of other interns and PepsiCo employees in the marketing, sales, finance, and supply chain functions.
My view of the marketing and sales world was expanded and strengthened during this internship and additionally, I found that my understanding of how I would work in a virtual environment in comparison to my past experiences in more traditional office settings was initially ill-informed. Coming into the internship I had a lot of experience with marketing as I have previously had a marketing internship and all of my course work has been very focused on marketing, given that it is my field of study. Learning more about the sales side of a corporation, specifically a corporation that is as world-wide and influential as PepsiCo, was a very transformative experience and I feel that I learned a lot through the conversations I was able to have with current employees as well as the e-learning that I participated in when I was not in meetings or working on projects. I was surprised at my ability to adapt to a virtual setting so easily; going into the internship I was very apprehensive at the idea of not being able to be in contact with any of my co-workers and have my entire experience be online. However, after the second week, it was easy to find a routine and I was given a mentor for the internship who was pivotal in my ability to succeed in the new format.

PepsiCo sent the interns welcome boxes in preparation for the internship start date!

PepsiCo laid the internship out in a way where each week, aside from our meetings with fellow interns or PepsiCo employees, we had e-learning and webinar events. These ranged from learning about the front-line delivery and sales teams through pre-recorded videos to attending zoom webinars with senior leaders. These activities and events were opportunities to both further our knowledge about PepsiCo and their product offerings and business projects but to also give us as interns an inside look at PepsiCo and their culture to give us enough information and experience to make a decision going forward in regards to full-time employment or a returning internship. These activities and events were an important part of expanding and strengthening my view of the marketing and sales world; through them, I had the chance to see functions of marketing that go internationally as well as being able to hear from top sales executives of the company, events that I do not necessarily have access to as a student.
My most important relationship during the internship was with my mentor, Laurie Markwell. Laurie was someone that I met with once or twice a week and she was a source of information and guidance but most importantly reassurance and friendship. She made sure to tell me from day one that no question I had going through the internship was too big, small, or non-important. She made our weekly meetings a safe space for me to bring up what had been going wrong or what had turned out amazingly in the last week and she encouraged me to consistently do and be my best. Without having that connection and support throughout my internship I do not think it would have gone as smoothly. Additionally, she made sure that our connection was not a stopping point for me, and throughout the six weeks, she made an effort to connect me with people throughout the company that she thought would have an impact on both my internship experience as well as my future career.

My challenge team’s final presentation!

The biggest part of my internship was my connection with other interns. The internship was originally planned to be in person and PepsiCo had a lot of bonding and networking events planned for the different locations for interns to meet each other but to also network and mingle with current PepsiCo full-time employees. This was one of the things that I missed the most going into a virtual internship. Having all of our meetings and events via zoom took some adjusting to and the fact that I never met anyone in person that I worked with for six weeks is still a very strange new normal to me. However, in the face of these unprecedented times, our managers and campus hire team still managed to give the interns opportunities to meet and have interactions that were less professional and more about networking and getting to know each other. My favorite experience and something that attributed to my ability to adapt to the virtual setting was a meeting we had towards the end of the internship that was “The PepsiCo Buckeyes”. This meeting connected current full-time PepsiCo employees that were alumni of Ohio State with current interns attending Ohio State and it felt like meeting family. We had an hour-long zoom meeting where we all talked about our favorite spots on campus to study and our favorite professors for different core classes; it was a very grounding experience to have during such an intangible event.
The change that this project brought with it is significant to my life because it gives me a foundation for my career. I can confidently go into my senior year with experience and insight from real-life projects and connections I have made. More importantly, being able to experience an internship with such an impactful company during a world-wide pandemic allowed me to experience a career in uncertain times and see in real-time how my peers and I were able to adapt and succeed in such an environment. The long-lasting effect of the transformation is that I was able to make strong connections with people who have provided me with guidance and support both during my internship and going forward into the workforce post-graduation. My most important professional goal going into my senior year was to secure a job with a company whom I believe ethically supports the community and has a worldwide presence; I have been able to complete that goal at the beginning of my senior year thanks to my summer internship which allowed me to apply for a full-time role with PepsiCo. I recently was offered and accepted a position for post-graduation and it couldn’t have been possible without some of the aid that the STEP fund was able to provide me with during a time where most things were uncertain.