Hunter Suits: My Summer with Meyer Lucas Companies

Hey, My name is Hunter Suits and I am part of the Summer Associate Program. When it comes to the idea of the modern “Summer Internship” as a whole, it seems as though it is intended to provide a glimpse into what day to day looks like and provide a learning experience into what could be a future career. What used to be for those looking to get ahead professionally feels like a stringent requirement for those looking to land a job with post-grad with a declining job market for college graduates (especially males). There is a very tangible level of stress, especially in my major of finance, about securing a “good” internship with most recruiting cycles starting over a year before your internship start date. Those securing these top level internships, your Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, are mostly from your target schools (ie. Harvard, UPenn, Stanford….) and if you aren’t, you have to be pick of the litter from quite literally every other college (and this doesn't even account for foreign applicants).  I’ve prioritized experiences during my tenure at the University of Tennessee rather than grinding books for better or for worse, I have heard and understand arguments for either side.

I do sometimes wonder if I spent less time traveling to friends' schools and joining clubs and committees at school, what my current life would look like, but I try not to dwell too much on the things that I can't change. What I do know, is that my choices have not made my life any easier breaking into the competitive world of finance, if that is even what I truly want to do. So with that being said I went roughly 0/30 on your traditional finance internships when I received a call from my good friend Bobby asking if I would want to accompany him in Jupiter for the summer. At that moment I realized this would be one of the last times for a while that I may be able to move to a new city just because for a couple months, and in that split moment I simply said “If this is actually happening, I would love to." All the months of applications, interviews, and stressing about a job that could maybe set me up to make a living wage out of college flew out the window, and although a new set of challenges sat in front of me, I felt drenched in relief. I had spent so much time plotting and planning moving forward my next move that I didn’t realize I had stopped taking steps. 

The question of where I was going to be was solved, but the question of what I was going to do was up in the air. Thankful for a well placed connection I was set up with the Meyer Lucas Real Estate team. I hopped on a Zoom call with Hallie Rosenthal where it was very evident that getting stuff done was her MO. After quick introductions it became clear, I was late to the party and Hallie was unsure if there was going to be enough work for me to do. I said that I’m happy doing the gritty work that no one else wanted to do. When I ended up making it down to Jupiter I was stunned at just how many things were going on in a single office. With six different businesses operating under one roof it became evident that this office and those inside were moving at a mile a minute. In the very first minute I arrived I went straight to working the Meyer Lucas mailers, a very important leg of the marketing process here. Starting off hot, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but the rest of the intern team welcomed me with open arms.

Ben, Sara, Kathleen, Olivia, Jason, and later on Ava really contributing to making my experience a positive one, all having different backgrounds came together to make our intern table a regular comedy show while completing tasks and making deadlines. Most of my role over the summer amounted to stuff needing to be done and wether I knew how to do it or not I would simply figure it out. The sheer amount of output from this office is daunting with Holly and all the hats she wears, her mind moves at roughly 3x that of anyone I know, making it a fun challenge to keep up. The combination of Holly and Hallie really provided great insight into a full spectrum look at every aspect that goes into starting, running, and growing a successful business. This internship really took me out of my comfort zone and forced me complete tasks that provide value for the company in a handful of ways. Thank you for the team around me this summer as it’s something I will not be soon to forget!