Hi everyone! My name is Oriana Estrada and I’m a third year Communication Science student at the UvA.
From February to July 2023, I had the opportunity to intern at The Kraft Heinz Company. The Kraft Heinz Company is an American multinational food company and one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. They are a globally trusted producer of high-quality, great tasting, and nutritious foods for over 150 years, with a portfolio of iconic brands like Heinz Tomato Ketchup in retail and foodservice channels.
As an intern, I was part of the Eastern Europe marketing team at their Amsterdam office. Since day one, I felt very motivated to give my best and learn about the marketing campaigns and success of such a famous brand worldwide. Everyone in the office was very welcoming and open to help me in any way they could, from my manager to the head of sales. I was guided from the beginning by my manager on how to have a smooth onboarding and to take everything step by step. Since it was my first time working in a multinational company, it was so much information at the beginning that I felt a bit overwhelmed. However, I was encouraged by other interns to ask questions every time I didn’t understand something or if any support was needed.
In the first months of my internship I had the time to take several trainings that the company offered. Kraft Heinz has its own “Ownerversity” site where employees can take trainings specific to their roles and to other areas that they could be interested in like finance or sales. I really took advantage of this benefit and I tried to learn something new each week. Moreover, I was also invited to join all important meetings of my team and this made me feel very comfortable as an intern.
One of the things that I really appreciated during my internship was the fact that the company encourages you to take ownership from day one. Each intern is assigned a project to work on during their time in the company; I was assigned a very challenging but exciting project with the purpose of improving the internal communication within the marketing team. My project was called “new innovation setup” for Eastern Europe and it consisted of doing an internal research in my team to find the root causes of project delays and miscommunication. My job was to reach out to project managers, and other stakeholders to better understand how to tackle this issue and make our routines and processes more efficient.
I feel very lucky to have worked in such a great company and with such great people. It is without any doubt my best professional experience so far and I’m sure I’ll be back very soon. And I would recommend every student who is looking for a great and exciting internship to apply to Kraft Heinz!