Making It Happen [A Former Intern's EPIC Adventure]

When you join the EPIC family, you know it’s for life.

Before becoming an honorary family member at One EPIC Place, Sindhu Motepalli had multiple experiences that people dream of having.

Prior to arriving in the United States to further her education, Sindhu received her Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communications Engineering in India. With plans to achieve her Master’s in Science at SUNY New Paltz, she instead found herself on a different route.

Reaching out to the Dean of the School of Business, she hoped to gain insight into different classes within her Science program that would help her in the future. Instead, she found herself sitting proudly in a seat in the MBA program. “I always wanted to get my MBA” said Sindhu, but never did she think this would actually happen. “I was 20 years old, without any business experience,” she says. “I love it because it gave me an opportunity to check an item off of my bucket list!”

With new possibilities on her horizon, Sindhu was ready to seize every opportunity she could. She knew that an internship would provide her with a glimpse into the real world. Her first step was attending the Networking Fair for Jobs and Internships with her resume in hand, not knowing exactly what she was looking for. Looking back now, Sindhu recalls, “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted…I knew that I didn’t want to go to the city due to the commute, but that was really it.” After handing out her credentials and interacting with multiple companies, she anxiously awaited their responses. Sindhu was excited to find out she had received offers from a handful of companies. After careful deliberation, taking into account both the experience she would gain and the different work environments, she knew that One EPIC Place was the place for her.

Stepping into EPIC, Sindhu knew that this internship would provide her with skills she couldn’t learn in a classroom. During her time at EPIC, Sindhu was the head of the Accounting department. When Sindhu first stepped in, she found that, while everything was well-organized and well-documented, EPIC was still a fairly young company and hadn’t implemented an automated accounting system yet. She knew that in today’s tech-oriented world, there was a much more efficient way of keeping records. She then took initiative to lead the transition to using an advanced accounting software. Along with all of this, she also worked on EPIC’s financial reporting and managerial accounting. She found herself applying everything she had learned in class to a real-life setting, which is exactly what she was looking for in an internship.

Sindhu’s time at One EPIC Place was different from any place she had worked at before, and she soon found herself as part of the family there. The atmosphere, the people, and the passion for excellence of everyone there was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Sindhu accredits most of her accomplishments at EPIC greatly to Nicole and Julie. “They are always there for you. They will always be there supporting you and are willing to help you out in any way!”

EPIC established a good framework for what Sindhu hoped to achieve in the future. “I would say that my internship was a great foundation for the real-world work that I am doing now. It prepared me well enough to get a job in the world, but then again, the world keeps evolving and everything changes very rapidly.”

Her only complaint about EPIC…“Everybody at One EPIC Place is very, very nice…once you get to the real world…NOPE…not that nice. The outside workforce is very brutal and can be a little bit cruel!”

Sindhu, after her time at EPIC, found herself on a wild journey throughout many professional spheres. After attaining a government position, moving on to two consecutive franchise positions, and finding herself back in another government position, Sindhu has quite the experience under her belt. Currently working with a construction company as a project accountant in British Columbia, Canada, Sindhu loves her job. Sindhu has a variety of different responsibilities. These include contacting banks to get money to provide the accounting department, so that they can distribute that money throughout the company where it’s needed, making recommendations to CEOs/CFOs and operation directors, and speaking with other project managers to handle budgets. Needless to say, Sindhu stays busy.

Sindhu has lived an EPIC life. The evolution of her journey and successes follows a science student in India, who became a business student in New Paltz, and is now an accountant in Canada. Her passion and drive for her work is unmatched. She radiates positivity and happiness. Not to mention, she went skydiving on a whim (much to her mother’s dismay). I mean, come on! How cool is that?! I think we can all learn a lesson from Sindhu… check some things off your bucket list, do what makes you happy, and be EPIC!