Felicia Rentoy shares her experiences of growth after working on a client account with an international firm while battling her imposter syndrome. She is an associate with Embiggen’s Research & Development (R&D) department in the Future Innovators Internship Program.
Associates in Embiggen’s Future Innovators Internship Program get the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a consultant in an international innovation consulting firm. We give our associates the opportunity to work hands-on with our clients.
Licia, as her friends like to call her, took the opportunity to work on a client account with Professor Jose Decolongon, Embiggen’s Chief Operating Officer.
The consulting experience
Licia’s regular workday consisted of juggling academic responsibilities, student organization tasks, and the Embiggen internship. The internship program is structured to be flexible so associates can adjust the time they want to work on internship tasks.
Her main responsibility in Embiggen was handling a client account. Licia shared that she did a variety of tasks for this.
During her first week in the internship, Licia read through the data and documents from past client meetings to acquaint herself with the client’s case. She had some late nights to attend meetings for the client, prepare client reports and do more research.
Challenges
However, working on the client account was not easy. Licia admits that it became quite stressful at times. She also faced other challenges throughout her experience.
One struggle she had was with imposter syndrome.
“I didn’t have imposter syndrome until I joined Embiggen. I was surrounded by super competent people and there was a time that everyone was progressing in their project except me because I was stuck,” said Licia.
Highlights at the Embiggen Future Innovators Internship Program
One way Licia was able to cope with these challenges was also one of her highlights during her stay in Embiggen.
Licia shared one of the main ways she was able to cope with this were the people she was with in Embiggen. She said that she was surrounded by a supportive group of people.
“I go to the R&D group chat and ask ‘hey, do you want to join me on Discord so we can work together in silence?’ and that actually helped. We did that a while ago for 15 minutes, and I was super productive,” said Licia.
Another one of her highlights were the social nights. Social night is when everyone in Embiggen gets together on a video call to bond through team-building games like online breakout rooms and Kahoot.
Licia hosted Embiggen’s first social night alongside her fellow associates in the R&D department, for a night full of fun and laughs. Everyone got to take a break from working on Embiggen tasks and bond with one another.
After this night, everyone broke out of their shells and got more comfortable with one another.
Onto the future
“My main takeaway from my internship right now is to always consider signals and future events,” shared Licia.
Licia’s background is not in technology, futures thinking nor innovation, however she had the interest and drive to learn. As she stayed in the internship, her interest and knowledge in technology and innovation grew.
Her newfound interest in technology even shaped her vision for her career path in the future. Licia shared that before the internship she wanted to be a data analyst in a corporation.
However, her work with Embiggen has influenced her to explore other career paths like going into the technology industry. Now she also likes to stay updated on the latest technology and innovation news, not just for her client, but also for her future.
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Embiggen is a corporate venturing group that partners with groundbreaking organizations to build, scale, and invest in new digital ventures at startup speed.
Start your career in consulting and venture capital today! Learn more about Embiggen’s Future Innovators Internship Program.