Ryen Weckback interned at MBM Wealth Consultants doing marketing and finance projects.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
Throughout my MBM Wealth Consultants internship, I worked on both marketing initiatives and operational tasks. I developed and presented a project presenting a social media strategy with the creative director. I was also able to sit in on client meetings and develop relationships with the marketing staff. Operationally, I worked to keep the client records updated and learned the system they use and did a lot of scanning and digitizing files for the firm’s upcoming office move. I gained a lot of knowledge about financial services, like industry terminology and general strategies, while strengthening relationships with colleagues. I contributed to both day-to-day operations and long-term brand engagement projects; whatever was asked of me I was happy to do.
What new skills and knowledge did you gain?
During my internship at MBM Wealth Consultants, I learned how to use industry tools I had never heard of before. I used Redtail, and gained a better understanding of financial products such as IRAs and trusts. Learning these new tools developed my communication skills a lot, because I learned to not be so scared to ask for help using new systems. I practiced my attention to detail and organization skills when I was digitizing client files.
I also expanded my knowledge of marketing by working on the social media strategy project, which I think will help me the most in the future. Finally, I practiced collaborating and executing tasks with specific deadlines. For my project presentation, I ended up having to present earlier than I thought I would. I think my presentation skills got even better because I felt the pressure to perform!
How was the internship related to your Applied Humanities degree?
My internship with MBM actually connected closely with my Applied Humanities degree because I was given an opportunity to showcase the skills I learned in my PAH classes, my emphasis area classes, and my minor. Because of my Applied Humanities classes, I was able to smoothly move between creative work and more analytical tasks because I was prepared to adapt quickly. From my Retail and Consumer Science emphasis courses, I applied what I have learned about consumer behavior and relationship building. My Marketing minor was extremely useful because I was taking the class at the same time as I was working on my marketing project at my internship.
What was your favorite or most satisfying part of your internship? Why was this meaningful to you?
My most favorite part of my internship was preparing and delivering my marketing presentation. It was meaningful to me because I worked really hard on it, and it gave me the chance to showcase all of my knowledge I have learned in school. I worked hard to build my first professional presentation in the business industry, and getting compliments from people really helped build my confidence. I was already confident in my public speaking skills, so having that confidence be validated was a really satisfying feeling.
How has your internship experience influenced your plans for your future?
My internship experience is something I am really grateful for and doing it with my marketing minor has motivated me to look for a marketing-focused internship next. My role at MBM helped me build up my core skills like communication, project management, and creative problem-solving. By using these skills it sparked my interest in applying these abilities specifically to marketing to align with the minor I recently completed. My favorite parts of my internship were when I could work on presentation design and storytelling. This made me realize how much I love using my creativity to appeal to an audience. I think that a marketing internship would allow me to dive deeper into branding, which I have a passion for. Overall, it feels great to have more focus for my future plans and I could not have gotten to this point without my internship at MBM.
What advice do you have for other students as they search for or begin their internship?
The best advice I could give is to not overthink an internship. It was easy to get caught up in what everyone else was doing, but once I started just thinking about what works best for me everything fell into place. An internship does not have to be the perfect fit for you; especially your first one. Anything you do, you will learn new things about the industry and about yourself. When you start, be open minded to everything and ask questions. Asking for clarity is better than messing up on a task later. It might seem short, but the summer goes by fast. Be confident and have goals for yourself, it is a really exciting experience!