LMU senior Amanda Meegan was awarded the 2020 World Trade Week Southern California Scholarship. In addition to receiving the scholarship, Amanda recently completed an internship in Global Investments at the California Governor’s Office. She is pursuing a degree in marketing with a concentration in data analytics.
Amanda was in the late stages of the recruiting process when the pandemic hit; all of the summer internship programs were canceled. Amanda still wanted to make the most of her summer so she dedicated her time to watching as many webinars and learning as many new skills as possible.
“One of the webinars was particularly fascinating,” said Amanda. “I sent an email to the presenter whose comments really resonated with me.”
This exchange led to an internship with the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and the presenter, Kaina Pereira, was her supervisor.
Amanda began her summer internship remotely from her hometown of Chicago. She had the opportunity to apply her knowledge of marketing and data analytics to projects that focused on international partnerships, job creation and economic prosperity.
“My favorite part of the internship was the amazing team I got to work with. Everyone on the international team was so passionate about international business, which made them so effective at their jobs,” said Amanda. “Working with such talented and dedicated people was inspiring, and truly helped me foster my own passion for international business.”
In addition to her work on job creation and economic prosperity, Amanda analyzed international trade data to present in governor’s briefings, created two-way trade reports government webinars, and prepared investment guides. Her favorite task was creating presentations for senior trade officials about opportunities for bilateral partnerships that facilitate global business expansion from countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Germany and Greece.
Amanda discovered that the most important skills for this internship were synthesizing and design.
“I would go through trade data and other important documents and have to summarize and display it in a way that made sense on presentations and flyers,” she said. “The audiences for the media I created were from so many different places, so it was important to make content versatile and clear!”
Amanda recently started a new internship as an international trade assistant at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she will provide direct support to international trade specialists in outreach, market research, trade promotion, international trade, and economic policy development. Throughout this U.S. Department of Commerce curated program, Amanda will gain experience in conducting and analyzing economic research data.
“I am looking forward to gaining an understanding of the breadth of services offered by the U.S. Commercial Service, and how they are assisting exporters in this crucial time of economic recovery,” she said.
At LMU, Amanda is a member of the Creare Service Organization, an LMU Tour Guide, and co-president of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society. She’s also an international research fellow with the University Honors Program.
After graduation, Amanda looks forward to putting the skills she has learned at LMU to good use. She is particularly excited about completing her senior thesis on the impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. trade with Australia and hopes to pursue a career in international business data analytics specifically focusing on Australia.
