Interning at Citi: A Pencil Fellows' Story

Before my internship with Citi, if someone told me that working at a bank would be interesting, I would have disagreed. Growing up, I've been very aware of the positive impact doctors make on people's lives and decided that's the kind of profound impact I want to have on others. As I changed over the years and learned more about the profession, this goal became more appealing. However, I never really took the time to learn about other professions. My experience with the digital communications and social media team at Citi was the first time I stepped out of my comfort zone and it ended up making me rethink my career path. I was a little skeptical going in, but once I started, I was more than surprised. There's more to the banking world than I realized. I absolutely loved everything about interning at Citi; the tasks I had at hand and the people I worked with were all so kind and supportive. I now realize that there are other things that I would enjoy doing for the rest of my life, that do not necessarily relate to medicine.

This experience was both professionally and personally rewarding. In my opinion, interning and working each result in two completely different experiences. As someone with a few previous jobs, I can say that in comparison to a job, interning provides an enriched platform for growth and learning, especially interning as a PENCIL Fellow. PENCIL Fellows is an elite program that provides New York City high school students with fundamental career readiness training concluding with a summer internship at a leading business. As a fellow, I was able to participate in trainings on corporate etiquette, office technology, interview techniques, time management, personal branding, "elevator conversation," and more. These trainings undeniably played a big role in my success at Citi.

I feel extremely appreciative to have been chosen for this internship. My main tasks at Citi were to create a testimonial YouTube video and external survey to gather feedback on the CitiBike program, as well as how people perceive Citi for being the sponsor. At first, I was overwhelmed because of the vast information and number of people involved with the CitiBike program. However, I learned to prioritize tasks, which made my project more manageable. This is one of the many skills I developed at Citi that can be applicable to many areas of my life.

To my surprise, my favorite part of the internship was not riding a bike for the first time in many years. Rather, I most enjoyed the unique opportunity to be exposed to many different teams at Citi, learning more about the company each day. While creating the YouTube video, I learned about the CitiBike program, video production, legalities and video editing. I also conducted on the street interviews with random CitiBike users. For an initially shy person like me, this was a completely new experience! While creating the external survey, I was able to brush up on skills I learned from a previous AP Statistics course, such as developing research plans, conducting surveys and analyzing data results.

The most important advice I would give someone interested in completing an internship is to seize as many opportunities as possible to help develop your character and shape your future. All in all, I am immensely grateful for the opportunity Citi and PENCIL have provided me and sad that my time with them is over. I can only hope I was as valuable a resource and influence to them as they were to me.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the CitiBike video I produced. Thank you, Citi and PENCIL, for all the support and guidance you have provided during my internship!