Work experience of a life-time with American Express in the Big Apple!

View from the Empire State Building

When I landed in a freezing, wintry, New York on the night of Thanksgiving, even the long hours of travel, harrowing connections and stale airplane food could not contain my excitement on finally reaching the Big Apple!

My brief was to job shadow Mr. James Ferguson, Vice President Corporate Cards at American Express New York.  I have only ever been to New York as a tourist before, and to be there again, getting a flavour of what it would be like to live and work in the city that never sleeps, promised to be an experience of a lifetime.

James Ferguson, Vice President Corporate Cards at American Express New York

American Express NY is located at 3 World Financial Centre in Lower Manhattan. In fact, the walk to the office took me right past the Ground Zero memorial site, where the Freedom Tower is now being built. I was moreover told that the American Express building had also been severely damaged in the 9/11 attacks, requiring extensive repair for a period of one year. Therefore, it felt very poignant to have the opportunity to work in a place that was so much a part of New York’s history.

My first couple of days at AMEX, were spent getting an overview of the Company and how Global Commercial Services (i.e. the GCS Division-of which James was a key executive) fit into the global structure. James also introduced me to various teams such as investment prioritisation, sales, treasury, financial reporting etc. and I was able to get first hand details of how the various departments functioned.

Myself and Valerie from the Customer Card business

The rest of my time was spent sitting in on the Global Corporate Services planning meetings, where all the divisions within the Corporate Cards business came together to set deadlines for their Quarterly Reporting. These meetings provided me with some insight into the complexities involved in reporting, much like various jigsaw pieces that had to be assembled to create a picture at the corporate level. 

And of course, no trip to New York is complete without the touristy traditions of a visit to the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not to mention Macy’s on it’s infamous Black Friday Sales. In fact, New York at this time of the year is truly at its festive best with Christmas carollers outside all major department stores, dazzling Christmas lights lining all the trees on 5^th Avenue, not to mention the giant Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree.

Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree

Overall, my NY experience surpassed all my expectations and has certainly created a lot of special memories.

Shreya Viswanathan: Current Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Sydney Business School and 2013 winner of the prestigious Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia 'Mission Exceptional' competition.  Shreya’s prize included a trip to New York in December to job shadow a Chartered Accountant at American Express and a scholarship to the Chartered Accountants Program.

Jewels in the social entrepreneurship crown

I've recently completed a one-month social entrepreneurship project in Bangalore, India, working with other students to empower women from a rural village community by training them to produce 'Roka' jewellery.

Made from bi-products of local village quarries, the ultimate aim of this jewellery is to allow these women to make an income and bring about real changes in their lives. Our role was to design both the pieces and the production process, then engage with and teach them to run the enterprise for themselves. The project is set to play an important social and educational role, with profits from jewellery sales going towards funding after-school tuition centres that my peers and I also volunteered in. 

There were a few challenges along the way, with a few students becoming ill and finding it difficult to adjust to the local foods and environment. But for the most part, everyone enjoyed excellent health and really embraced the village way of life. There were plenty of highlights, such as going into the cities to source materials, even though we didn't speak the local language (Kannada). It pushed us all out of our comfort zones and forced us to fall back on our cross-cultural interaction training.

Networking with the locals was also a fantastic learning experience. As social entrepreneurs, we started from the bottom and worked our way up, making strong headway in spite of limited internet access and zero business contacts in the initial stages. Volunteering in the after-school tuition centres was also so much fun. The enthusiasm of the kids and the genuine passion they had for learning English was so inspiring, especially given their difficult life circumstances.

This entire project was an amazing opportunity to not only apply what we’d learned through our university studies, but also to help make a real difference to the lives of people who need it most.

Find out more about entrepreneurship opportunities at 40rtyK.

Christine Ma: Current Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Sydney Business School.