Senior Advisor, Sycamore Partners
People & Perspectives
Today's interns, tomorrow's leaders
On National Intern Day, we’re celebrating our 2022 corporate cohort with a reflection on this summer’s highlights.
Kennedy Williams, Walgreens Stories
From left: Holly May, Gabriel Facusse, Kyle Andrea, Cheyenne Lewis, Roz Brewer, Kennedy Williams, Andra Raibulet and Arisley Rodriguez.
A group of six interns stood anxiously near an elevator at the Walgreens Boots Alliance headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. They had been selected to meet with some of the company’s top leaders earlier this week, including WBA CEO Roz Brewer and Executive Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources Officer Holly May.
A few moments later, Brewer and May glided out of the elevator with enthusiasm and started an authentic conversation with the interns that quickly turned their jitters into joy.
“I want to be Roz Brewer when I grow up!” says Andra Raibulet, Third-Party Operations intern. “At first I was nervous to meet such impactful and inspiring women in executive leadership, but I quickly learned how genuine they are.”
This summer, the single biggest question on the minds of Walgreens’ 38 corporate interns was, “What do you think we will do throughout our internship here?” Their answers varied. Some hoped to learn skills that would help them become a better asset to a corporation, while others just wanted to get as much experience as possible.
And this group of interns believes they have accomplished both of these goals. Throughout their 10-week program, they’ve had unique opportunities to work on various projects in their departments, meet and ask questions to different leaders throughout the corporation through an Executive Speaker Series and Networking Panel, sit in on meetings, develop their skills professionally through workshops, mentor young kids at the Midtown Educational Foundation in Chicago and work on an intern innovation challenge called OneX.
“The Walgreens internship program has given me great insight into what a potential career looks like for me, while also giving me the ability to test my own knowledge and develop my skills,” says Maliah Nizam, Marketing and Merchandising Intern.
Our interns also credit their great experience to support they’ve received from each other and new colleagues, most of all Valerie Simmons, the intern program manager who takes pride in helping them grow.
“As a former intern myself, it’s such an honor to oversee the Summer Internship Program at Walgreens,” says Simmons. “Seeing the amazing talent entering the organization inspires me as we continue to build our future pipelines. These students inspire me every day with the excitement and creativity they bring to our organization.”
“I want to be Roz Brewer when I grow up!” says Andra Raibulet, Third-Party Operations intern. “At first I was nervous to meet such impactful and inspiring women in executive leadership, but I quickly learned how genuine they are.”
This summer, the single biggest question on the minds of Walgreens’ 38 corporate interns was, “What do you think we will do throughout our internship here?” Their answers varied. Some hoped to learn skills that would help them become a better asset to a corporation, while others just wanted to get as much experience as possible.
And this group of interns believes they have accomplished both of these goals. Throughout their 10-week program, they’ve had unique opportunities to work on various projects in their departments, meet and ask questions to different leaders throughout the corporation through an Executive Speaker Series and Networking Panel, sit in on meetings, develop their skills professionally through workshops, mentor young kids at the Midtown Educational Foundation in Chicago and work on an intern innovation challenge called OneX.
“The Walgreens internship program has given me great insight into what a potential career looks like for me, while also giving me the ability to test my own knowledge and develop my skills,” says Maliah Nizam, Marketing and Merchandising Intern.
Our interns also credit their great experience to support they’ve received from each other and new colleagues, most of all Valerie Simmons, the intern program manager who takes pride in helping them grow.
“As a former intern myself, it’s such an honor to oversee the Summer Internship Program at Walgreens,” says Simmons. “Seeing the amazing talent entering the organization inspires me as we continue to build our future pipelines. These students inspire me every day with the excitement and creativity they bring to our organization.”