I worked closely with Capital One's credit card business to identify promising external partnerships our company should pursue. My team helped identify customer needs and interests across various segments and built a framework for identifying new partners that begins with the customer in mind. We then presented findings to various leaders across the company who have followed through on several of our recommendations and continued to put our research to use in other more expansive contexts.

Our team first set out to identify complementary partnerships; should we seek partners who are the largest, the highest-revenue, the most buzzworthy?

After scoping with my team, we ultimately decided the answer was to work backward from the customer and their desires. I developed relationships and led several meetings with business partners from the Senior Manager through the Executive Vice President level. Together, we analyzed data and compiled our findings to identify key trends and received executive-level buy-in to pursue our partnership ideas.

Several business teams bought into our ideas, reaching out to potential partners that we suggested in pursuit of strategic partnerships. The customer research we compiled also continues to circulate the company, informing product decisions well beyond the partnership space.

My team worked closely with the CEO on a project focused on transforming Capital One's digital experiences for our customers and associates. I owned a workstream on benchmarking competitors across web and mobile experiences to determine what was best-in-class and gauge our experiences relative to the rest of the market. I mapped out the credit card journey, identified key areas to focus, and then conducted additional research to determine the full range of those capabilities available to customers through web and mobile app experiences. Afterward, I developed a perspective on where Capital One may have opportunities to improve its digital experience to be an industry leader.

As a Strategy intern, I was also part of the Analyst Internship Program (AIP), which includes Business Analyst Interns and Data Analyst Interns. As part of the AIP and the general student program, I attended trainings and had the opportunity to hear from senior leaders in the company through Lunch & Learns and the Executive Speaker Series. The AIP also hosted several social events to connect us to other interns throughout the company.

Strategy also provided its own group-specific training on skills like problem solving, slide making and storytelling. I received ample mentorship and advice both from formally-assigned figures such as my first-year associate buddy, project manager, and development manager, and informally from other team members. Strategy interns also had the opportunity to meet senior members of the group through Intern Coffee Chats and get to know other associates through Intern/Associate Social Events.