Meet the Interns: July 2019

by Zuora interns: Cami Steppe, Employee Communications, and Sarah Shaffer, Employer Brand Marketing

Summer is in full swing and 65 interns have filled our office spaces around the globe! So far, their days have been spent learning about Zuora through our onboarding program, getting to know their teams, delving into their role specific work and engaging in team bonding activities. 

With a diverse, intelligent group of individuals, from the Bay Area to London to Beijing, we wanted to sit down and hear from the interns themselves. It’s time we get down to the nitty gritty, from their favorite snack in the Zuora kitchen to why the Zuora internship program stands out from the rest. 

Learn about Zuora’s Summer 2019 Interns directly from the source:

  • 65 interns
  • 32 schools represented
  • 16 majors
  • 52% women
  • 29% outside the Americas

JUDGE WASHER

Meet ZEO, Judge Washer, an incoming third-year at Santa Clara University, originally from Long Beach, California.  At university, Judge is not only working toward a degree in Finance, but also spends a copious amount of time playing D1 water polo for Santa Clara. Despite his gruelling schedule, Judge continues to commute from campus to the San Francisco office each day as a contributing member of the Sales Development Team. 

Judge has already begun learning the ins and outs of Zuora’s products and the intricate sales process. Using Salesforce Chatter, he is currently working on routing leads to become opportunities and later, distributes them to the proper leaders on the Sales Team. He has had the opportunity to immerse himself in sales meetings, gain insight from some of the most knowledgeable individuals in the industry, and will soon be able to lead his own sales calls. Judge is excited to learn how to nail a perfect sales pitch (who will be the judge of that?). 

To Judge, Zuora stood out from the rest for more reasons than one. 

“The unique and easy going company atmosphere, the structured but also malleable roles, and, of course, the helpful and respectful people that make up Zuora.” 

He truly felt that when he walked into Zuora for his interview, he felt a sense of community and camaraderie that “almost mimics the family feel of being on a sports team.” Judge is ready for whatever comes his way! 

Fast facts about Judge: 

  • Writes left-handed, but throws right-handed 
  • Named after his great-grandfather who was indeed, a judge 
  • Pranked his parents and teachers by switching places with his twin brother 
  • Favorite snack in the Zuora kitchen? The peanut-butter filled pretzels, of course.

 

SINEAD HALEY

Meet ZEO, Sinead Haley, an incoming third-year at Boston College studying Psychology, originally from Palo Alto, CA. Sinead has taken on the Content Marketing Intern role and explores all things content, PR, media analytics, social management, and journalism at our San Francisco office. As one of our first interns leading the pack having started in the beginning of June, Sinead has fully immersed herself in her role and has already connected with ZEOs across the company.  To Sinead, Zuora is a company built on a strong vision and puts its people first. 

“I was impressed by the benefits Zuora gives their employees and their presence through different social platforms because it showed Zuora truly cares about their employees and reiterated the fact that people really do love working at Zuora.” 

Sinead is in the midst of valuable projects in the realm of market research, content building, and PR. In her first few weeks, Sinead composed a blog focusing on the Zuora Community from an Intern Point of View which you can read here. If you peek over Sinead’s shoulder today, you will probably find her researching the rise of gaming subscriptions in order to assist the PR team in understanding the current state of the gaming industry to connect the industry’s needs with Zuora’s capabilities. The end result? A well-crafted research-based piece that can be found soon on Zuora’s website!

On the side, she also spends her time working away on long term projects, including collecting timely industry news and auditing the Zuora blog to find evergreen content for Zuora Academy. Despite being only mid way through her time at Zuora, Sinead has not only provided knowledge, creativity, and meaningful work to Zuora, but has learned an incredible amount doing so. Sinead truly believes that “the Zuora internship program is unique in how impactful it is and how much freedom it gives to its interns. [She has] been able to tell her managers what [she] wants to learn and [she] can tell they really want [her] to learn as much as possible.” Sinead is diligently working away through the Summer!

Fast facts about Sinead:

  • Studying abroad in San Sebastian, Spain next Spring 
  • Favorite snack in the Zuora kitchen? Justin’s peanut butter packs 
  • Sinead is an Irish citizen, Sláinte

CHUNQIU (VINCENT) XIA

Meet ZEO, Chunqiu (Vincent) Xia, a rising second-year in the midst of graduate school at Santa Clara University, studying Computer Science. Chunqiu originally hails from Shanghai, where he worked as an electrical engineer. As an electrical engineer, he saw that there were limits within hardware and began to seek greater challenges and experiences for growth. He believed there to be greater opportunities in the realm of software engineering throughout the US and because he is passionate about trying new things and taking big risks, he decided to make the transition while he was young and made the big move to Santa Clara, CA to attend graduate school. This Summer, he joined Zuora’s Software Engineering Team. 

“I was drawn immediately to Zuora because I was treated with respect throughout the interview process and that made me feel valued. My managers have already given me great critical advice, challenged me, and given me very valuable and tangible projects that are meaningful to my learning.” 

He believes that each ZEO creates a space that makes it easy to interact, exchange knowledge, and collaborate. Chunqiu is excited to dive deep this Summer and further evolve as an individual.

Fast Facts about Chunqiu:

  • Plays the guitar and hopes to learn to compose music 
  • Favorite snack in the Zuora kitchen? The Toasted Coconut Stroopwafel 

 

Interested in learning more about Zuora’s career opportunities? Visit our career page to learn more! 

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