Mentorships

During my junior year at Indiana University Southeast, I knew that as an international student majoring in business I had to begin developing professional relationships and build a network of local business contacts. In this regard, I started searching for a professional development organization geared toward the needs of young graduates with an international background. Soon after my initial search efforts, one of my college mentors mentioned that I should look into Greater Louisville International Professionals (G.L.I.P.).  I signed up for the Mentor-Protégé program and was soon provided with a list of business-people willing to guide me in the initial steps of networking and professional development in the Louisville area. I chose Mr. Pai Charasika, a financial advisor with Stifel Nicolaus, as my mentor because his area of specialty matched my career interests. With the help of the G.L.I.P. team a meeting was arranged. Unexpectedly, during my first convention with Pai Charasika, a potential internship offer was discussed. Eventually, I did work under Mr. Charaskia as a financial sales intern at Stifel Nicolaus for the fall semester of 2011. This learning opportunity gave me a taste of the corporate world, specifically the nature of the brokerage business. Since then I have moved on to a new internship position, but I know that my initial opportunity through GLIP has significantly assisted me to jumpstart my career building process.