Hello! My name is Leah Mrozek. I live in New Castle, Pennsylvania but enjoy living in Pittsburgh during the school year. I am currently a rising junior studying accounting, supply chain management, and dance. Originally, I wanted to major in marketing but switched during my sophomore year because accounting and supply chain management are better for my personality. At the University of Pittsburgh, I have maintained a 3.8 GPA throughout my first two years by staying on top of my due dates and filling up my color-coded planner. At this point, I have completed almost all of the general education requirements and business core classes. Each class has challenged me, and I enjoy learning more about the business field. When I’m not taking business courses, you will find me in the dance studio. I take classes for my dance minor and also for Pitt Ballet Club. Dance has been a passion of mine for the last 18 years, and I hope to incorporate it into my career one day. 

This summer, I will be interning at Devaney & Durkin, a small firm that provides business, tax, and financial advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Dublin, Ireland. My role will consist of working with debits and credits, marketing, and accounting-related projects. Interning at this firm will allow me to explore the accounting field and observe how business is conducted in other countries worldwide. I am excited about this opportunity provided by the Virtual International Internship Program. The most important career goal I hope to accomplish is finding a position at a company that I love. However, I am still deciding if I would like to pursue a career in accounting or supply chain management. The IIP Program will be another step on the path toward my future career. Through this internship, I hope to gain experience in the business field, learn business etiquette in other countries, and expand my network of business professionals. These skills cannot be learned by reading a textbook. They need to be learned first-hand in a true business environment. I believe this experience will help me to be more successful in my post-graduation career. 

The personal goals I hope to achieve after completing this program are the most important to me. Confidence, experience working with other individuals, and cross-cultural awareness are three specific examples of my personal goals. Through this program, my objective is to become more confident within the classroom and the business environment. Additionally, gaining the experience of working with various business professionals will encourage me to collaborate with different personalities effectively. Learning how business is conducted in another country will enrich and add a new perspective to my experiences as well as my business degree. While studying abroad, I also intend to develop as a business student and globalize my degree in order to grow academically. Studying abroad will add cultural knowledge to the content I am learning while studying business at the University of Pittsburgh. The concepts and skills from the business courses I have taken will be invaluable during my internship through this program. I will apply this experience to connect related business concepts and strategies from the internship to my courses. For my remaining business courses, I will better understand the content because of the internship. 

An experience that is relevant to my current internship is working at an independent financial services firm. For several years, I worked as an administrative intern at a company creating social media accounts such as Facebook and LinkedIn to generate prospective clients. I also produced effective marketing and organizational material through Canva and other applications. Maintaining client touchpoints, such as sending out cards on birthdays, was another aspect of my internship. Although I only worked a few hours a week, the internship gave me my first glimpse into working in the business industry.

I have selected this program because I am looking forward to expanding my cultural knowledge and adding a new perspective to my studies. I am eager to learn how business is conducted in other countries around the world, even though I will still be in my small hometown. The Virtual International Internship Program matches my interests in developing cultural awareness and bringing a new perspective to my coursework. Although this is a virtual experience, the program will give me the opportunity to expand my professional network and learn how to communicate and collaborate with colleagues from other countries. I am looking forward to the start of my internship and meeting the other students in the program!