Editor’s Note: Jorge Marzola served as an i2E Fellow at i2E’s Oklahoma City offices during the spring 2013 semester.
After completing the first year of my MBA at Oklahoma City University, I knew I wanted to land an internship before graduating. I didn’t want any internship, I wanted the perfect internship! I wanted to work at a place where I would enjoy working. I wanted a place that would help me develop as a young professional, and a place whose business practices were in line with my own interests.
This task proved more difficult than I anticipated. I looked everywhere I could think. I talked to faculty and staff, I asked friends, and yet could not find an internship that appealed to me.
Midway through the fall semester I was ready to throw the towel. I was in the computer lab at OCU applying for an internship that I didn’t really want, but that it would look good on my resume.
At that moment, one of my undergraduate professors walked by. He asked me how I was doing and what I was up to. I told him how I was applying for an internship that I didn’t really want, because I couldn’t find anything better. That was the first time I heard about i2E. My professor, Dr. Robert Greve, said he would talk to his contact at i2E and see if he could help me out.
After a quick Google search, I realized that I had found the place where I wanted to intern. The i2E Fellows program at a company helping entrepreneurs was right up my alley.
Being able to apply concepts learned in the classroom to real life situation has been amazing. I love being challenged and rising to the occasion. Every project I worked on was more challenging than the previous one. That is one of the greatest things about working at i2E, because easy tasks are boring but challenges are fun. I knew I was interested in entrepreneurship, but after working here I can truly say that I love it.
After working at i2E I know for a fact that I want to be an entrepreneur.
It is funny to think back and realize that thanks to pure coincidence I landed my dream internship. If I wouldn’t have been in the computer lab at the time Dr. Greve walked by, I probably would have never become a fellow at i2E. I have truly enjoyed working here this semester, and the hands-on learning experience cannot be matched by any MBA class. The work experience I have gained has been great, but more important than that is the people I have worked with.
Every single one of the i2E’s employees has had some kind of impact on me, and that is something I would never forget. I hope the new fellows enjoy working here as much as I did.
