
June 29th, 2018
The room was filled with my boss, my boss’s boss, and a lot of other people that will determine if I get a job or not. It was their first impression of me, and I wanted to appear as a knowledgeable, confident team player. I’ve always been good at presenting in front of people, but when we practiced our presentation early in the week, I was so nervous.
All I could think about was that I don’t have this job. It is not permanent. I am not guaranteed an offer at the end of the internship. I have to work hard and earn that offer, starting with nailing this project.
Luckily, my team was willing to work that hard. Like I said before, it was challenging to bring all our ideas together. But that’s life, and we had to figure out how to work as a team in order for all of us to make a good impression. We worked a lot with the analysts from our office, which allowed us to make better connections and show them our skills.
I really can’t begin tell you how important it is to form those connections with people in your own office and other offices! Now when I see them in the office, I stop and say hello, or I feel like I can approach them when I need help.
But anyways, the presentation went VERY well, and my buyer seemed to like our insights. I scheduled a meeting with her to receive feedback about our project. That’s another thing I’ve learned in the last four weeks: make the effort to talk to your boss. They, and anyone else for that matter, will always make the time to hear from you or give you advice. Plus, taking initiative shows that you’re invested in your role, your work, and embracing change.
Just because we were finished didn’t mean we got to take a break.
The next day, we had a class about our second major project. This is an individual assignment in which we look at sales data to determine what’s doing well and why. I’m going to present on women’s athletic socks, and the other interns will each talk about products from their offices.
One of my favorite parts about this internship is the exposure to leadership. Every week, the interns hear from executives about their career before Kohl’s and what their working on in their current role. We’ve already heard from CEO Michelle Gaas on our first day and Logistics Executive Kip Kopelke last week. Even though I’m not working in the logistics department, it was really cool to hear how they operate and their roles at Kohl’s. I’ve so many times that the Buying Office works with almost every other office in the company, and after hearing from Kip, that’s starting to make sense.
This week, we heard from Michael Gilbert, EVP of Product Development. He started at FIT after a curious childhood: “I was fascinated with how things were made. I would pick up a shirt in a store and exam in to see the stitching, fabric, etc.” However, he never finished his degree there, and instead worked in a GAP store in Chicago. From there, he worked his way to the corporate level, accelerating GAP into a retail powerhouse.
“They weren’t always my ideas, but I recognized them from other retailers and implemented them.”
By the end of his speech, he had taken us through his entire life and how his career has changed over the years. He had so many chapters that all started when he was young, shopping for clothing with his mom.
He left us with a question that has left me inspired to create a career I love: “What are the chapters in your life that you want to begin do write? How do you create the future you want?”
“Relationships will affect your future. Someone believing in you will accelerate your future.”


