A program, run by the Carlson School’s Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, puts an entrepreneurial spin on the classic internship.
The Deluxe E-ternship matches undergraduate students with paid, part-time internships at early-stage companies in the Twin Cities. The Holmes Center subsidizes a portion of the costs, allowing companies to hire emerging talent and students to earn a fair wage. Working at smaller companies, students can play a more active role than in a traditional internship.
Through the Deluxe E-ternship program, students get hands-on experience while working with Twin Cities entrepreneurs, like Houston White.
“Super hands-on, you're able to identify the gaps that you want to fill, and then you can see the change happen,” says Savannah Guiang, a senior triple majoring in Marketing, Entrepreneurial Management, and Economics. “Being able to sit in team meetings, see how decisions are made, and be pulled in on projects that you wouldn't be pulled in as an intern at a big corporation has been a really good experience.”
For the past year, Guiang has worked as a marketing intern for Houston White, a company eponymously named after its CEO, Minneapolis entrepreneur Houston White. It encompasses a wide-ranging portfolio of enterprises, including real estate, fashion apparel, coffee, and a haircare line. White headquarters his operations at a complex in the Camdentown neighborhood that houses his cafe, The Get Down Coffee Co., and barbershop, FRESH by Houston White. White says the location embodies the company's ethos of prioritizing community and culture.
“Our ambition is to be the first Black-owned billion-dollar company from the state of Minnesota,” said White. “So there's some big ambition in this town, and students can plug directly into it.”
As an intern, Guiang led the launch of the first Houston White Ventures company-wide newsletter. She also tracks cultural key performance indicators such as social media posts of people wearing Houston's clothing and drinking his coffee brand. White says Guiang has provided an invaluable perspective as his company grows.
“These kids want to work on real-world stuff, and then our enterprise is either getting our eye on people that we might want to hire and that we're learning from, too,” said White. “So it's been a really important and meaningful relationship for us.”
Guiang encourages other students to get involved in the start-up community through a Deluxe E-ternship.
“This takes you outside of the school setting and puts you in a real experience that not only will give you tangible experience to put on a resume, but you will learn so much by working in small teams and be able to apply it to whatever you do in the future,” Guiang said.
The Deluxe E-ternship program is open for all undergraduate students on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus to apply. For more information, visit the program website.
