Anna Flavia Venturelli Lands Dream Internship, Shaping the World
Anna Flavia Venturelli is an HEC Paris M1 student who will be continuing her M2 at Yale in September. With her strong background in global markets, and her keen interest in both sustainable and impact finance, she's used her time at HEC Paris to position herself to land an important role on a UN-sponsored project where she is currently working on an impact investment fund helping to combat land degradation.
With the evolution of the job market, we see change even in industries that were once deemed safe and stable. We see a new wave of applicants rising to new demands, while challenging themselves to do work that matters on both personal and global levels, understanding the instrumental role HEC Paris can play to get them there.
Even in competitive markets, the best opportunities continue to be available to HEC Paris students.
Hello Anna. What first drew you to the HEC Paris double degree program?
I have a couple friends who attended HEC Paris before me, and they encouraged me to apply. They knew I would enjoy the unique student experience the campus offers, the interactive and engaging courses, and the sport activities that shape an HEC’s student life.
In addition, I’ve always really liked France and its culture and I had already studied some French language in the past so it seemed to me like a great opportunity to experience living in the country while improving my French.
Another dream of mine is to study in the US. When I found out HEC Paris and Yale offered the opportunity to spend one year in each university I did not hesitate to apply to get the best of both worlds.
What were the biggest challenges in your application to HEC Paris? And how did you overcome them?
I think writing the essays took me the longest time as I felt like they were such a big and important part of the application. It can be hard to convey all your thoughts and ideas in such a limited number of words.
It was really helpful for me to take time to brainstorm all the potential ideas I could develop in my essays before starting to actually write. Also, working under pressure gives me a big push, so I gave myself firm deadlines to finish my application.
How did you manage to land an internship?
I heard about the job from a friend who is working on-site. When an internship position opened up I applied by sending my cover letter and resume directly to the team. Shortly thereafter I passed my interviews with the team.
What does a day in your life look like at your internship?
It can vary a lot depending on the priorities of the day, but in general I work on investment memos for projects investing in natural capital in emerging countries. A big part of the job is to get as much information as possible about the project and its developer, and then analyze all the financial and operational data. It is also common to have calls directly with the project developers to clarify our doubts, and with the rest of the team, especially now that we are working from home, to update everyone on the projects’ status.