Internship creates summer of growth
After transitioning from wealth management in New York to the Kellogg Two-Year MBA Program, Lucy Pink ’27 spent her summer interning with the Global Client Solutions Group (KCS) at KKR, a global team focused on supporting clients by understanding their investment needs and delivering KKR’s proprietary investment insights and solutions.
Pink fully immersed herself in the firm’s culture through nearly 60 coffee chats with colleagues across teams and functions to understand how KKR delivers value to clients around the world. Learn how this internship not only led to a full-time role after graduation but also helped Pink build meaningful connections and refine her long-term career goals.
What career goals were you hoping to clarify through an MBA, and why did Kellogg stand out as the right place to achieve them?
Pink: Coming from a background in wealth management, I had spent my career working closely with clients and their investments, but I wanted to understand the other side of that relationship and how private equity firms operate and raise capital. I was curious about the range of roles within the industry and where my client-facing background might translate.
Kellogg stood out to me because of how much of the learning happens through collaboration and experience. The team-oriented culture means that nearly every class involves group projects, bringing together people from different professional backgrounds. Working closely with classmates from other industries is giving me a more well-rounded view of business and expanding my network.
The school’s emphasis on experiential learning has allowed me to take on part-time projects and work with different companies — solving real-world problems and gaining hands-on exposure to other industries and functions.
The flexible curriculum has let me tailor my coursework to specific areas I want to grow in, both technical and interpersonal. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the culture stood out. The people-first environment at Kellogg was exactly the kind of place I wanted for my MBA.
Can you walk us through a day in the life of your summer internship?
Pink: The MBA internship is a ten-week rotational program across two groups. I spent my first five weeks on the Private Equity Product Strategies team and my second five weeks on the Strategic Accounts team within Global Wealth Sales. The dynamic and client-oriented nature of both teams meant that no two days looked exactly alike.
The Private Equity Product Strategies team works closely with the deal team to support investors, focusing on fundraising, marketing, structuring funds and maintaining investor relationships. I participated in team meetings, joined client calls, refreshed marketing materials and pulled together resources to answer specific client questions. At the end of my five-week rotation, I presented my analysis of KKR’s opportunity in APAC to the full team.
Two threads ran through the whole internship. Firstly, I spent time getting to know the firm. I had coffee chats with people to understand the culture, learn what different roles and teams look like across KCS and how groups collaborate cross-functionally.
Secondly, I dedicated efforts to my final presentation. Each day, I carved out time to develop my strategy, build materials and gather feedback from people across the group based on their experiences.
What moment comes to mind when you think about your summer internship that has stretched you beyond your comfort zone, and what did you learn from it?
Pink: In week nine the MBA interns gave a presentation responding to the prompt: ‘describe a new product, strategy, or untapped market for KKR and how it would benefit the firm or help it stay ahead of the competitive landscape’. The task was deliberately open-ended. It required creativity to come up with a feasible idea, a comprehensive understanding of the firm’s current business model and competitive landscape, and the ability to structure and deliver a compelling presentation to a panel of senior leaders and answer questions live.
With no defined problem to solve, I had to grapple with ambiguity, research the firm’s offerings alongside its competitors, and develop conviction in an opportunity. From there, the experience pushed me in other ways. I learned to socialize an idea, rather than develop it in isolation. I sought feedback from people across different groups as I built out the strategy, and I found that incorporating their input made the approach well-rounded.
The presentation itself taught me how to deliver a clear, well-structured concept over 15 minutes while telling a story and keeping the audience engaged. The Q&A pushed me to think on my feet while responding in real time. Upon completing the presentation, I felt more confident in my ability to find an opportunity and present a solution in a way that’s clear, compelling and demonstrates feasibility and payoff for the firm.
Which Kellogg experiences (course, projects, clubs, etc.) have been most helpful in preparing for your internship, and how have you applied them?
Pink: Executive Presentations coursework taught me how to structure and deliver a formal presentation, and how to stay composed while engaging audiences and answering questions. I drew on this class heavily in delivering my final presentation.
Accelerated Corporate Finance gave me the framework to understand what makes a sound investment decision and how those choices get made. That grounding helped me follow the conversations happening around me on the Private Equity Product Strategies team regarding portfolio and market dynamics.
Leadership in Organizations taught me the value of networking and how to seek out mentors, which were lessons I used immediately.
Through events and guest speakers in the PE Club, I learned what different roles in the PE space actually look like day-to-day, which helped me figure out where my own background and interests fit.
Finally, the Kellogg alumni network at KKR was invaluable. Alumni helped me throughout the interview process and continued to support me across the entire internship, offering advice on everything from navigating the firm to understanding its culture. It was a reminder that the Kellogg community extends well beyond graduation.
How has your internship positioned you for your next career step, and what future opportunities do you feel it has opened up for you?
Pink: My internship affirmed that private markets, and KKR specifically, is where I want to build my career, and I'm excited to have received a return offer to join KCS full time.
Beyond the offer itself, the experience positioned me for that next step in a few ways. Rotating across two teams gave me an understanding of both the product and sales sides of the investor solutions business. Coming from wealth management, I now understand the other end of the relationship I used to sit across from; how a firm like KKR operates, raises capital and serves the advisors and clients I once worked with.
Looking ahead, I'm excited by how much room there is to grow within KCS and the broader firm. I've seen firsthand how the group collaborates cross-functionally, and I'm looking forward to deepening my expertise and continuing to build the relationships and skills that made this summer so rewarding.
From someone considering Kellogg and a career in this space, what would you want them to know that they might not hear elsewhere?
Pink: Culture and network matter more than you might expect, and the two really go hand in hand. The Kellogg alumni at KKR helped me understand the job, guided me through recruiting, and supported me throughout the summer. This was a reflection of the culture I found in both places.
At Kellogg and KKR, there is a genuine emphasis on collaboration and the team over individual credit. There’s a saying at KKR that captures it well: “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.” That mindset creates an environment where people are willing to invest their time in one another.
Building a network within the private markets space is particularly important, because it is such a people-oriented business. Those relationships helped me understand how the firm really operates, gave me perspectives I couldn’t have developed on my own and supported me throughout my journey.
Culture can be difficult to assess from the outside, so my advice would be to build a network and talk to as many people as you can. Pay attention not just to what people at the firm say about the culture but to how they talk about their teams and describe working together.
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The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Kellogg School of Management or Northwestern University.