Journey From College Athletics To Rocket Companies®

My professional journey and my internship have embodied my experience in college athletics. Rocket Companies emulates a family who supports you in your professional and personal goals, just like my college team.  

Prior to joining Rocket Companies, I was a college gymnast at the University of Arizona. Due to injuries, I decided to hang up my grips and close this chapter of my life. Retiring after 18 years was challenging as I was discovering my new identity outside of college athletics.

At the time, I was feeling lost and found little to no light at the end of the tunnel. When I made the decision to take ownership of my future, I was more determined than ever to find my new purpose and what made me passionate in my professional career. What drew me to Rocket was the personal investment in finding everyone’s “why”.

I remember walking into my first day of Roadmap, Rocket Companies orientation for new team members. It felt like the first day of a new chapter and I was eager to begin my summer in the city. I had a similar feeling when I walked into my first day of practice. I was electric and eager to contribute what I could to a larger purpose.

I learned from day one that college gymnastics is both an individual and team sport. My individual performance affected the larger team’s outcome. Whether we triumphed or fell short, we did it together as one team.

I transferred this into my professional career by leaning on my team for support and found where my individual work fit into the team’s long-term goals. Rocket’s culture emulated my time as a college athlete because it’s all about understanding the bigger picture.

Driving towards a greater goal every day and getting to see it through to fruition gave me purpose. After feeling lost since my retirement from sports, joining the Marketing team at Rocket Central gave me a new sense of purpose and I redefined my “why” this summer.

I had the opportunity to work with different business areas toward the same goal of enhancing the new client moments through a few projects this summer and it was very fulfilling. I realized my new passion through the valuable connections I had made with team members. The Financial Life team was extremely welcoming and treated me as more than an intern.

I was given responsibility from the get-go, and I truly felt I was a part of the team. My mentor, Stephanie Rebenock, was a beam of light. Stephanie frequently invested in both my personal and professional development this summer. She encouraged me to connect with team members that had roles I found interesting and went out of her way to check in with me daily and offered guidance on my various intern projects.

The Marketing team embraces the “We are the ‘they’” ISM and I will continue to foster the relationships I made beyond this internship. It was refreshing to see team member’s actions speak for the company’s culture. The positive and passionate culture created by the team members enhanced my experience at Rocket Companies.

During a Rocket Platform panel, a panelist was giving advice to interns about the future that resonated with me. Passion and grit are the best currency. Since I began my internship, I dove headfirst into understanding the big picture and took advantage of 1:1’s with team members in different business areas. This allowed me to become immersed in Rocket’s vision and the future of Rocket Companies.

You get what you put into it and if you apply yourself, it will pay off in the long run. Take initiative and make time to make meaningful connections because you never know the opportunities that will come from stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Diving deeper with senior leadership on connecting clients’ financial goals this summer helped me narrow down my future career path that I will be pursuing after graduation.