A little over a week ago I was still on the Stanford campus studying for finals. My primary concerns were memorizing bond price equations and packing a U-Haul for summer storage. Yet somehow, here I am, writing this blog post in my EHS dorm room feeling right at home. While my school year was coming to a close at the beginning of June, the MSBA program was just getting started. At that point MSBA was just a four-letter acronym to me, a concept that I had not yet truly grasped, that was floating around in the back of my head. Then one night, writing a final term paper, my phone exploded with ten messages. Someone in MSBA had created a group chat for all the participants, who all eagerly replied expressing their enthusiasm. I remember feeling confused as to what they were talking about, jealous of what I was missing out on, and worried that I would not fit in after missing the first two weeks.

“I discerned the importance of developing lasting relationships in the business”

Fast-forward to today and nearly all those concerns have disappeared (although I’m still bitter I missed Darren Rovell’s talk during the first week). All the members of MSBA, who were eager to hear about my summer internship and my personal background, enthusiastically embraced me. As advertised, the participants are all passionate students with a drive to make it in this industry, while the program has also lived up to my expectations. The first two speakers of the week, Mark Zablow and Jason Belzer, provided honest, passionate insight into what it takes to be successful in this industry. From their speeches, I discerned the importance of developing lasting relationships in the business. They talked about fostering meaningful connections by demonstrating value and creating trust. This advice is invaluable, as it provides a framework in which I can approach my internship. Every day at work is an opportunity to demonstrate my value to my coworkers.