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Leavey School of Business Santa Clara University

Profiles

2020-21 LSB Community Fellows
Kat Zhang
Jiayi "Kat" Zhang
2020-2021 Fellow
San Jose Office of Economic Development - Business Development Outreach Intern

Finance Major, Business Analytics Minor
Home Town:  Saratoga, California


What were your responsibilities at your internship with the San Jose Office of Economic Development?
This year, I worked as a Business Outreach Intern at San Jose Office of Economic Development. Unlike the normal job description, this year, I worked a lot with small businesses including making small business pulse surveys, having phone calls with small business owners in order to better support them during the pandemic. 

In what ways do you think you made positive contributions to the San Jose Office of Economic Development?
Even though this pandemic has raised many challenges to small business owners, it has also brought us closer. With my work at OED, I believe I had positive contributions in helping the organization better understand local small businesses’ climate with the charts and data analysis work I have done and taking initiative by sharing my ideas and thoughts on projects that I think I could implement.

What would you recommend to LSB students who want to make a difference in the community?
I would recommend LSB students to join the community fellows program because it has allowed me to devote my skills, learned from the business school, to make our community a better place. I would also say that sometimes it is hard to find the “difference” you have made while working for technical jobs. However, taking initiative in what you want to do and looking into the indirect impact of your work will help find the meaning of your work in the end.