Name: Joan Ndichu
Class Year: 2021
Major: Economics and Mathematics
Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya
Internship Organization: American Express
Job Title: Financial Analyst Intern
What’s happening at your internship?
This summer I worked as a financial analyst intern for American Express. I was part of the corporate planning team and my role involved creating an end-to-end processing mapping of a model used to forecast expenses for the card issued. In addition to that I also made suggestions on ways in which the model can be improved and made more efficient and worked with the transformation team to implement the suggestions. Apart from that we had sessions and coffee chats that helped us learn more about the company at large and how it operates. There were also a lot of game nights and virtual hangout activities to help us get to know different people in the company.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I talked to people who had interned at AMEX before and people who were working there currently and hearing about their experience attracted me to the company. I wanted an internship that would help me grow my skills and at the same time grow my network. I also wanted to work in a company that values its employees and the community at large and AMEX was that company.
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
My favorite part of the internship was the coffee chat culture of the company. Through the coffee chat I was able to learn so much about the company and most importantly grow my network. I met amazing people in the company who were so friendly and very ready to help in every way they could to make my internship experience very smooth.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
Throughout my internship experience I have been able to develop both my technical and professional skills in every interaction. Working on the project I was assigned has helped me develop technical skills needed in analyzing data and also has equipped me with a lot of business knowledge of how the market works which will be very helpful even in my future career path. In addition to that we had different sessions that equipped us with professional skills such us leadership, working with teams, time management, and much more. This has been really helpful. Even now as I start school, I believe I will apply them.
Visit the Summer 2020 Internships page to read more student stories.