My Experience in Ferragamo’s Internship Program

Pashence Glover recounts her experience as an intern at Italian luxury goods company Salvatore Ferragamo at their New York City office. Glover is majoring in interdisciplinary studies, with concentrations in business, computer science, and mathematics/physics.

This spring, I completed my first internship at Salvatore Ferragamo in the information technology (IT) department, where I learned about Microsoft’s Active Directory, a database and set of services that connect users with the network services they need to get their work done. I also learned how to create utility scripts (code) and run them on devices. The utility script I used was created to obtain information for company laptops so that we could log inventory. I also worked on company iPhones, configuring, onboarding, and shipping them out to their relative stores. There are two types of iPhones within the company: those for corporate employees and retail managers, and iPhones for sales associates, which are used to input client information and make sales.

At Ferragamo, interns are exposed to all aspects of the company’s departments, allowing them to learn about the organization’s different divisions. The company does this through its lunch and learn program. Twice a week for the span of the internship cohort, the interns gathered in the conference room to listen to a presentation given by the senior team member of each department, who would go into detail about who they are, who is on their team, and what their department does.

Lunch and learns were a way for us to explore interests other than the fields we were assigned. They were beneficial for many reasons. Joining a company, especially if it is your first time, can be intimidating. Having lunch and learns weekly gave us the opportunity to not only have access to senior team members that we typically wouldn’t interact with but also provided a space where we could bond with other interns.

Interning at Ferragamo was an awesome experience. All the senior members were extremely welcoming and eager to share their knowledge with us, and they treated us like real employees by including us in projects. It was incredible to see many of our projects completed and come to life. It shows that we were effective, and our work paid off.

This is an experience I will never forget. First and foremost because they took a chance on me. When I met with human resources, I explained that I didn’t know much about IT but wanted to work hard and learn a lot. I was nervous and excited after being accepted, but the warm welcome I received from the company, including the chief executive officer, made me feel very secure. Ferragamo stays true to their mission of “Offering young people…opportunities of professional growth and training in line with values and principles…on which Salvatore Ferragamo based his work: passion for craftsmanship, technological innovation, creativity, bond with the local culture.”

Ferragamo invests in their people, they invested in me, and for that, I am very grateful.