Scholarship Successes

Women's Bond Club Bio - Jen Chen
Mentee - Juan (Jen) Chen
Mentor - Katrin Bruschi, JPMorgan
Hiring Manager - Giulia Fitzpatrick, Merrill Lynch

Mentee Comments

Jen applied to the WBC scholarship to help take financial pressure off her shoulders while she was pursuing higher education. While she was expecting to have access to networking opportunities and the mentoring program, she did not realize just how much impact these aspects of the program would have on her development.
Jen's mentor, Katrin, came from a similar educational background and understood the type of opportunities Jen was seeking. Katrin guided Jen by introducing her to successful women in various business areas and helping her answer questions about possible career paths. Jen was able to learn about multiple career opportunities through networking with her mentor and other women.
In the summer of 2005, Jen was a project manager intern at Merrill Lynch in their Contingency & Recovery Services Team. She worked with the development team to manage the implementation process for a web application to be used by the team. Through this and other projects she developed time management, communication and teamwork skills as well as an appreciation for the importance of being held accountable for one's work. Jen's internship enabled her to come to a decision about continuing in the IT field on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch. On the other hand, Jen's strong work ethic led to Merrill Lynch extending her an offer for a permanent position in their Global Infrastructure Technology division in Market Data Engineering.
Through the mentoring and internship process, Jen has built self confidence and has a better perspective on what she wishes to accomplish in life. Her mentor has influenced her short and long term career goals as well as instilled the idea that she can do anything regardless of cultural background or gender.