Going the Extra Mile: Isabella Herrera’s Journey into Business Intelligence

Isabella Herrera, a computer science and finance major, spent her summer as a business intelligence intern at Franklin Electric. In her role, she retrieved data from databases, built and connected formulas, and generated visual reports. These allowed the company to monitor warranties, scraps, reworks, gross sales, and more. In short, she describes her work as “answering business questions with data.”

Herrera enjoyed this internship because there was never a moment of boredom. Her work was meaningful and quickly implemented; the projects she contributed to are now being used worldwide, as Franklin Electric has locations in Brazil, Europe, China, India, and Colombia — Isabella’s home country.

If Herrera were to advise a student looking for an internship, it would be to work harder than the people around you.

“If you study an hour or two more than other people, you’re going to be on the top,” Herrera said. “If you really want to stand out, you need to spend time studying. And if you’re good at something, don’t waste it.”

This internship didn’t just fall into her lap — she worked hard for it. One of the requirements for this position was proficiency in Power BI, a business analytics tool. Herrera wasn’t aware that this software existed before she heard of the internship, but she was willing to work for it. Before her interview, she started a course to learn the program, and showed them her progress. After the interview, she connected with them on LinkedIn, and when her course finished, she published her certification. This caught the attention of her interviewers, and no doubt helped her secure the internship.

In addition to this extra effort, Herrera reached out to people she knew who might have connections within the company. By the time she walked into her interview, she already had three references supporting her. She emphasized the importance of networking and its impact on future opportunities, alongside hard work and dedication.

“So even if you have to work a little bit more one day, that will help you to get the job that you want,” Herrera said. “It will get you where you want to be. Managers are not managers because they work only eight hours a day.”

If there’s anything to take away from Herrera’s story, it’s this: go the extra mile. It pays off.