My experience with the Adobe Sales Academy

For the second summer in a row (I honestly just couldn’t stay away), before my senior year at Brigham Young University, I worked as an Adobe Sales Academy intern in the Digital Experience organization. I was tasked with building a sales pipeline, and giving our “Path to Power” program (P2P) a facelift, which is a program designed to ensure that we leverage Adobe’s senior talent to build and maintain relationships with executive decision makers within each of our accounts.

There was never a dull moment, but my proudest one was placing first out of 46 interns in the Adobe Sales Academy Workfront pitch competition this year. As part of that, I had the unique opportunity to present to Stephen Frieder’s entire team (he’s the president of Adobe Americas). Were my hands shaking? Maybe. But I also had a great time and feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity! The team praised my soft skills and specifically mentioned my empathy for the customer’s pain points. I know that my background and experiences gave me an unexpected edge, and I’ll continue to develop and use those skills to my advantage throughout my career.

In 2018, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and in summer of 2019, I received a stem cell transplant and chemotherapy as treatment. I’ll save you the sob-story details, but I learned two things: 1. I look fantastic bald; and 2. This experience taught me how to be empathetic, and since then I’ve been passionate about bringing empathy into the business world.

It’s kind of crazy that I’ve now done two internships at Adobe, and by the time I land a post-college job, I’ll still have never worked physically inside a corporate office. However, the University Talent team put a lot of thought into our virtual experience and activities, and it made me feel like I’m part of the company. In some ways, I’ve gotten to connect with people I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to meet if I were interning in person. I do miss office gossip, but at least I can wear pajama pants without anyone ever knowing!

You might also wonder why I’ve chosen to intern at Adobe twice now. I love the company culture of working hard and uplifting one another. I can leave this experience with a smile and a sense of pride for the work I’ve done, which I’m not sure is something you can say about many other places.

As for my future plans? First, I need to finish college. I’ve been trying to study abroad since 2018—thwarted by my diagnosis and then COVID—so hopefully I can squeeze that in. But once school is over, I hope to return as an employee. My second summer here has confirmed that I have a big crush on Adobe, and hopefully I’ll be back here again — soon