Internship at Pinnacle Advisory

In 2017, I completed an internship with Pinnacle Advisory under the supervision of a founding partner, Ken Solow. Mr. Solow instructed me to contact 500 Howard County corporations and get the email addresses of various CEO and HR Directors. While this job was very tedious, I used Microsoft Excel’s conditional formatting to help keep my spreadsheets organized. This tool was extremely helpful because I could sort each business by zip code, mailing city, and /or executive title. This was also my first experience cold calling.

Although I learned several valuable Microsoft Excel functions throughout this internship, I also learned how to communicate effectively with high-level officials from many different industries. 

I loved this internship because I worked and reported directly to Mr. Solow. In addition to being a co-founder, Mr. Solow is also a national speaker, popular writer, and sits on the Investment Committee Chair at Pinnacle. I would provide him with weekly progress reports and we would discuss some of the obstacles I was facing throughout my assignment. Together, we would strategize and implement new approaches to increase my productivity. 

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At the end of this internship, I also asked Mr. Solow if he would donate my contract salary to my GoFundMe Campaign: 兰颖's Orphanage. Without hesitation, he accepted and doubled the amount we had previously agreed upon.

Overall, this internship helped me utilize technology more effectively, as well as, furnished my time management and verbal communication skills. In this technologically advanced day and age, I believe possessing knowledge and experience in Microsoft Excel will be vital for this upcoming generation. Additionally, moving forward, I hope to work with other great mentors like Mr. Solow.