Three Interns Making Waves at GM Financial

By Jessica Llanes

September 11 2024

Meet three rising stars from our Summer Internship Program who are all graduating within the next two years. They sat down to chat with us about the real-world experience they’ve gained working at GM Financial, the colleagues who inspired them, how they brought their whole selves to work and what the future holds after graduation.


Chamari Minnieweather

Prairie View A&M

Corporate Treasury Intern in Finance (Cash Management)

From SLIP to success

Chamari recently completed her second internship with us. She first joined the Sophomore Leadership Internship Program (SLIP) last summer and credits the partnership between GM Financial and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with making opportunities like this possible.

“As a SLIP intern, you learn about the company as a whole,” Chamari explained. “I knew GM Financial was a place I felt welcomed and could grow and develop as a person.  That experience encouraged me to return for another internship as a junior.”


Over the summer, she spent her time learning corporate strategy and processes in Treasury, including how to build a more centralized accounting reconciliation system. Chamari was also able to test her self-taught Structured Query Language (SQL) skills with a real-world assignment, thanks to a colleague who saw her abilities and challenged her to expand her knowledge.

“I had the opportunity to shadow a credit risk analyst to see what the position would be like,” she said.

“As a college student, you can go a lot of different directions with your major, so this experience has helped me focus on what I want to do after graduation.”

When asked what she enjoyed most about her internship experience, Chamari didn’t hesitate to bring up the culture and our holistic approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI): “My opinions matter, and my voice can be heard.”

Gaining a competitive edge

As a self-proclaimed “auto enthusiast,” Basil jumped at the chance to intern at GM Financial. Even though he’s an IT Systems major, Basil grew up working in his family’s auto dealership and was curious to learn more about the auto finance side of the business.


During his internship, Basil had the opportunity to develop workflows that improve automation for teams across the organization as part of a SharePoint cloud migration.


“I’ve been able to push workflows I’ve created into production and see firsthand how the teams benefit from the efficiencies in their workday,” said Basil, who also appreciated that his mentor was always there if he felt stuck on a problem. “It’s different than a university setting. You really are learning how to learn.”


Interning in a hybrid environment proved to be an advantage for Basil as well: “It’s the best of both worlds. You get to meet in person with the team but also have the flexibility for real-life obligations.”


Basil Ahmed

UT Dallas

IT Services Intern in Corporate Services (SharePoint)

For Basil, the internship had benefits that will last his entire career. He was inspired by the fact that everyone he interacted with at GM Financial, from start to finish, seemed to enjoy the company and what they do for the organization.


“Diversity is an advantage for you here,” Basil explained. “GM Financial understands that everyone is different, that we have our own strengths and we should embrace them.”


Anushrutha (Anu) Boyapati

UT Dallas

Marketing Software Engineering Intern in Digital Marketing

Learning outside the classroom

Anu felt some trepidation before applying to our Summer Internship Program since she had never applied for a job before.


“It was my first in-person interview [read tips on interviewing at GM Financial] but the recruiter went out of their way to make me feel comfortable,” Anu explained. “Since it’s my first-ever job, I’ve had the chance to learn office etiquette and what to wear and how to function in an office environment."


As a computer science major, Anu enjoyed completing her capstone project with the Digital Marketing team, learning Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) software she hadn’t been exposed to in her degree program.


“My biggest challenge has been getting comfortable asking questions and talking to others on my team,” she explains but credits a robust mentoring program for helping her ask the right questions and expand her network.

“My mentor checked in with me regularly, helped me understand the graphic design aspect and how I could play an integral role in optimizing the work.”

Anu looks forward to taking her new tech knowledge back to school and into future roles but is most grateful for the opportunity she had to practice communicating with people around the organization. She said, “I’ve been able to build my soft skills, not just my technical skills, in an understanding company that embraces diversity.”

 

Read more about our internships and early career opportunities.