Completing the Citi internship marked a transformative milestone in my career journey. As a first-year community college student embarking on my professional path, I initially faced the all-too-common challenge of securing experience without having prior experience. This paradox often hinders those at the beginning of their careers, as internships require experience, yet experience is gained through internships. NexusEdge emerged as a beacon of hope, offering an equitable recruiting process—a rarity in today's job market. The opportunity to intern at Citi through this program laid a solid foundation for my future endeavors. Following my time at Citi, I was able to gain valuable experiences with Snap and PwC, which significantly bolstered my profile as a competitive applicant for transfer to Berkeley Haas.