MBA 2020 Summer Internships: The art of connection at T-Mobile

Part of a series about summer internships from Olin MBA 2020 students. Today we hear from Felicia Kola-Amodu who worked at T-Mobile as a retail organizational and human strategy intern.

How I prepared for my interview and landed the internship

A few months before school started, I knew a few of the companies I wanted to apply to and T-Mobile, where I ended up interning, was one of them. Therefore, I started researching early. I researched the company, I looked at hundreds of interview questions on Glassdoor, spoke with a highly-qualified friend at length and did mock interviews with him as well.

How I’m using what I’ve learned at Olin during my internship

One of the most profound things I have re-learned at Olin is the power of being myself and building genuine relationships. These were things I knew before Olin, but being in such a business environment and among very knowledgeable people can be daunting.

But by the end of my first year at Olin, I had learned how to be more comfortable in my own skin, be very affirmative while open-minded and to think bigger than what I can see or feel at that moment.  

Felicia Kola-Amodu

I also learned a few “power plays” in Peter Boumgarden’s Power & Politics, that were very useful during my interactions with different people in different positions.

I did not think I learned a lot in Critical Communication, but there were a few things that helped me formulate my ideas and thought patterns better, that I know I learned during Cathy Dunkin’s CritiComm.

How the internship is preparing me for my final year at business school

In the last year, I have mostly worked with students, done school work, and have generally been away from a professional environment. This summer, working on real time, real life projects opened my mind a lot more before. I have learned to be more open minded.

Something I did not think I would learn is building better slide decks and it is safe to say I am now a “slide deck buff.” I am learning to see setbacks as learning curves, not just complete failures that usually wear me down. Lastly, I am understanding the meaning and art of connecting and networking with people.

A day in the life

Interestingly, my days varied a lot. I would either walk in and just get down to a new project or something I had been previously working on. Other days, I walked in with zero clarity or expectations of what I would be working on that day, while on some days I walked in and it was one call or meeting to another and me trying to stay awake all through.

How the internship is shaping my long-term career goals

Something I have been thinking about for a while is how to connect my communications and journalism background and degrees with my MBA, I realize now through a chat with T-Mobile’s EVP for communications and community engagement, that it is more than possible.

Also, a look into the different teams, work streams and people here have expanded my mind to see beyond the traditional MBA career paths. Lastly, “doing good by doing well” is a phrase I latched on to, listening to Ambassador Symington last semester, during his visit to Olin.

I have seen people live this everyday at T-Mobile and it has greatly reshaped the way I think about my long-term goals.