Post is a part of the Day in the Life series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student who shares their "Day in the Life"
Hello to whomever is reading this! My name is Penny Vorissis and I’m a rising second year at Anderson. Before jumping into the nitty gritty of what my exciting (& virtual) summer internship looks like, I’ll give you a little bit of background on myself. Prior to Anderson, I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch doing corporate finance in Columbus, OH. Despite my love affair with the retail industry, I knew I wanted to pursue an MBA so that I could focus on the intersection of retail, operations/strategy, and sustainability. Nike felt like a natural fit for me, and the global operations role offered me the ability to explore the intricacies of Nike’s immense and impressive supply chain. This summer I am on the APLA (Asia Pacific, Latin America) Connected Product team, focusing on RFID Implementation. And, without further ado, here is what a day in the life of a virtual Nike Intern looks like!
7:00 AM – Wake up & snooze my alarm for what would normally be the time I’d need for a commute.
7:30AM – Get out of bed & get ready
8:00AM – Enjoy my morning supergreens supplement & wait for my coffee to be ready. I read my emails, catch up on news via the Morning Brew (& of course the Retail Brew), and prep for my first meeting.
8:45 AM – Have my morning meeting with my manager Mark (say that 5 times fast). Every morning we touch base to make sure that I’m on the right track to present my deliverables and that we’re in sync with each other. It’s a great way to level-set expectations for the day!
9:00AM – 11:30AM – Various meetings with folks in Global Ops at Nike! Nike is a company that has a huge culture of networking across the organization. When I started my internship, Mark gave me a list of 25 people to meet with and every single one has not only been willing to meet, but has been a huge value add to my summer project. The list also keeps growing which is a great way for me to continue learning about the company.
1:00PM – Call with the Grupo Axo team who runs our Nike Partner Stores in Mexico. They give us a weekly debriefing on the progress of the RFID pilot in their stores.
1:30PM – APLA Leadership seminar. This week’s topic is Leadership Defined! We had an HR lead taking us through Nike’s new thought process with regards to developing talent. We were able to understand where the APLA Ops team stands in terms of where they feel strong as well as where they want to improve.
2:30PM - 4:00PM – All Intern NTC Workout. Nike really takes their principle of “Make Sport a Daily Habit” to heart, even in the midst of a pandemic. The University Recruiting team really pulled out all the stops to make sure the interns have a connected and truly “Nike” Experience.
4:00PM – 4:30PM – I shower because I definitely don’t look as fresh as I did at the beginning of the class.
4:30PM – 5:30PM – Working session with my manager on my final project deliverable
7:00PM – Take a load off for the night. I am breaking in my new hiking boots for my first ever backpacking/hiking/camping trip in the southern Sierras this weekend! Navigating a new internship amidst COVID has certainly been challenging, but I am so lucky to be in a place like California that has so many nooks and crannies to explore. Plus, thanks to all the training from Nike, I’m feeling fit and ready for anything.
-- Penny Vorissis
ABOUT PENNY
· Hometown: Thousand Oaks, CA
· Undergraduate Studies: Finance & Spanish - University of Notre Dame
· Pre-Anderson: Financial Analyst – Abercrombie & Fitch
· MBA Summer Internship: Global Operations - Nike
· Post-MBA Goals: Internal Strategy
· Leadership@Anderson: President – Retail Business Association, Executive Vice President - Admissions Ambassador Corps, VP of Finance - MENA
· Activities@Anderson: Retail Business Association, Admissions Ambassador Corps, Women's Business Connection, Net Impact, MENA, Anderson Wine Club
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