the interns are taking over.

Hi Playmakers!

If your career started anything like mine, you probably handled a lot of coffee orders and organized a lot of papers. It was the summer of my junior year in business school and I was an intern for a private equity firm in Toronto.

I remember it clear as day, because that summer was the first time that I’d ever worked in an office or purchased a pair of dress pants. It was the summer I learned how to use Microsoft Excel, how to book out a conference room, and how to show good elevator etiquette (I didn’t even realize that was a thing until then).

Funnily enough, I had little interest in private equity or investing at the time. In fact, my career took a few random turns, but I did end up becoming a venture capitalist after all. Perhaps that summer internship embedded in me deeper than I thought.

For other leaders, however, internships can become a pivotal foot in the door to an iconic journey to CEO.

Adena Friedman, now the President & CEO of Nasdaq, started her journey as an unpaid intern in 1993. Decades later, she became the first woman to lead a global exchange.

Elliott Hill walked into Nike in 1988 as an intern. He stayed, built a career spanning three decades, and today he sits in the CEO seat of one of the most iconic brands on earth.

Ursula Burns began her path to becoming the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company the very same way, in 1980 as a summer intern at Xerox.

And Target’s future CEO, Michael Fiddelke, started out in 2003 as an intern. In 2026, he will take the helm of the entire company.

It is tempting to think that success comes from knowing the right people or being handed the perfect opportunity. But these stories remind me that the path forward can be built from the bottom up. Sometimes, the work does not feel glamorous, or even fair.

As we live in a society that increasingly showcases unrealistic career paths to younger generations, I feel thankful that my millennial grind taught me what it means to work hard, prove myself, and, well, eat sh*t sometimes.

So, I want to hear from you:

Have you ever had a job, internship, or task that felt insignificant at the time but ended up being pivotal in your journey?

Drop me a reply or share your story.

Here’s to the power of the unsexy start.

Jenny

She grew up the daughter of Indian immigrants who dreamed of her becoming a leader in business.

Then, a chance encounter in business school changed everything — when Anushka Salinas decided to throw away her job offers and join a rag-tag startup as an unpaid intern.

A $1.7 billion IPO later, the rest is history.

Read how Anushka Salinas went from unpaid intern to CEO.

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Anushka Salinas didn’t walk into a corner office on day one — she started as an unpaid intern packing boxes. What set her apart wasn’t glamour or shortcuts. It was her willingness to do the hard work, step by step, until she built the credibility to lead.

We all want the big win. But the truth is, the foundation for leadership is built in the small, unglamorous moments when nobody is watching.

This week’s challenge: embrace the “warehouse work.”

Find one task you’ve been avoiding because it feels beneath you, tedious, or unimportant—and do it with full effort. These moments aren’t wasted. They’re training for the bigger roles you want to step into.

Call to Action:

1️⃣ Pick one “unseen” task you normally delegate or put off, and handle it yourself.

2️⃣ Report back and let me know what you learned! Drop a comment or share your post below. The best responses may be featured next week.

Every week, I spotlight somebody from the community who is making a big play in their career or industry. This week’s play comes from Travis Kelce.

Congrats to that guy for making the best play of his career this week.

Want to be featured next?

Make sure to tag @Jenny Stojkovic on your post for a chance to be featured.

The Wednesday Play isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a community. I’ll be announcing much more in coming weeks and months! For now, let’s connect across social.

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