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That wasn’t the advice I expected to hear during our Cornell Leadership Program visit to J.P. Morgan Private Bank, but it was probably the advice I needed most.

As a first-year finance student, I spend a lot of time thinking about how involved I can get: which clubs to join, what internships to pursue, and what skills to build. My conversation with Luke Davis reminded me to put just as much thought into figuring out what makes me me. I want to keep exploring interests outside of finance, get comfortable talking about them, and let my personality come through when I meet people.

That advice felt especially fitting for a trip that took us to five very different companies. At Petite Keep, we met founder Lindsay Mullenger and saw the operations behind a business that has grown incredibly quickly. At Edward Jones, I learned how its partnership structure gives associates a stake in the company, and how much thought goes into building lasting client relationships. At TRUE Fitness, I enjoyed talking about the challenges facing the fitness equipment industry and seeing how far ahead the company plans its marketing. At Nestlé Purina North America, I was surprised by how much science goes into pet food, and I enjoyed learning about initiatives like the Purple Leash Project and how the company handles public relations.

I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to speak with us, and to Mary Beth Marrs, Stacy Rohr, and Jennifer (Pulsifer) Schupp for making the trip happen.

Not many people can say their internship involved hitting golf balls and occasionally jumping out of their chair in celebration…

But that was a pretty normal day at Rapsodo.

That wasn’t exactly where I expected this internship to take me when I started back in late January. Since my last update, I finished up the HR dashboards I had been working on, shifted into market research across Rapsodo’s golf, baseball, and softball markets, and eventually found myself spending my final few weeks with the product team.

Those last few weeks were a whirlwind. I spent hours hitting golf balls, getting to know new products, and trying to figure out why something wasn’t working. There were plenty of moments when we weren’t sure what to try next, which made finally figuring it out that much more satisfying.

That work made me way more attached to the products than I expected. The setbacks hit hard, but that only made the breakthroughs more exciting. Those moments when something finally worked and the whole room lit up are some of my favorite memories from the whole seven months.

A few months in, my boss, Kate Ponder, gave me feedback that stuck with me. She told me I had strong instincts and reasoning, but that I needed to trust myself more. Working with the product team really pushed me to do exactly that. I stopped waiting until I was completely sure before saying what I thought. If I had a theory, I’d say it, test it, and see where it went. Being wrong stopped feeling like a failure and started feeling like part of the process of finding the solution.

More than anything, the people are what made Rapsodo so hard to leave. I got to work around people I genuinely admired, people who were incredibly smart, passionate about what they were building, and always willing to bring me into the conversation. Whether it was an insightful strategy conversation with Kate Ponder, working through a problem with Charnsin Tulyasathien and Kaan Alpsü, or going through all the highs and lows of product testing with Parker Schniepp, I was always learning while getting the chance to actually contribute. Thank you to all of you, and to everyone else at Rapsodo who pushed me to learn and grow into a much more confident version of myself.

I’ll be sticking around as a beta tester for one of Rapsodo’s new products, so apparently I’m not quite done hitting golf balls for them yet! I’m also looking forward to staying in touch and getting to watch what this team builds next.

Thank you, Rapsodo!