Internships and apprenticeships are a time-honored rite of passage in many industries. We’ve asked some brilliant folks to share some of the most important lessons they learned during these early experiences in their career.

Denny Locascio

I was lucky to find an internship my sophomore year in college which was a year before I would start the exercise science program. When I was playing college rugby, a friend on the team took the time to help me get the internship which became one of those turning points in my life. Interning for the universities strength & conditioning department open so much in my life, from knowledge of training, to following a career path, creating mentors and friends, and overall life experience.
Interning impacted my life so much that for the past 15 years I host interns at our business to give back what was given to me. Read more>>

Mary Cross

Finding an internship in my field and location was tougher than I anticipated. Living in the Midwest definitely limited my options, but I applied to as many opportunities as I could. At first, I was set on landing something in fashion, but when I was offered an internship as creative designer for a women’s outerwear company I accepted. The company specialized in women’s hunting, fishing, and snowmobile apparel—all sports I had never participated in. Safe to say it wasn’t exactly what I had imagined. The learning curve was steep as there was a lot to know about the different sports and how to design for complex technical garments. It didn’t help that I didn’t have the same passion for outerwear that I did for fashion, so decided to challenge myself to think differently about it. Read more>>

Ikeem Jones

I myself came up in dancing as my own boss but had some role models but after a while me being a 1st generation of the dance called Litefeet couple generations later I stumble to a kid name Jay wavy live down the block from me. This kid was persistently coming to my house my mother told me this kid looks up to you wanna learn teach him. Really a heavy set kid at the time I ain’t want him to be mediocre with the big guy dancer I told him do 5 push ups you can be under the wing. First day was a bust but he took that to heart and did 5 push ups then couple years later he became the greatest of his time very proud of him today. Read more>>

Phil Cantore

I am Italian American but I was abandoned by my biological family and raised by Chinese. My stepmother is Chinese. In my 20’s I became an apprentice to a wealthy Chinese American entrepreneur and worked in his Family Office which specializes in acquiring distressed Businesses & Commercial Real Estate through Bankruptcies, 363 Sales, REO, Defaulted Mezzanine/Fulcrums, Hostile Takeovers, etc This man immigrated to America in his early 20’s with $78 to his name, he is now worth high double digit millions. Most Valuable Lessons: My mentor trained me to look for PROBLEMS. This is where great opportunities are found. Not many people are willing to get their hands dirty and implement creative, unorthodox solutions. Read more>>