In their pre-Amway days, Co-Founders Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos embarked on a sailing trip to the Caribbean. They didn’t let the fact that neither of them knew how to sail stop them from their wanderlust.

Well, the boat sank in the waters off Cuba, but one of the things salvaged was the boat’s bell, which Amway Chairman Steve Van Andel will talk about in his May 2 speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C.

“It’s something I keep right outside my office at Amway’s headquarters as a constant reminder of Dad and Rich’s sense of adventure and willingness to take on new challenges,” Steve says. “These were two guys not easily deterred by hard work or rejection.”

Steve will highlight the importance of that adventurous spirit when he visits the Chamber. It will be a familiar venue for him. He has served on the Chamber board since 1996, is a past chairman and currently serves as treasurer.

Our guest blogger is social media consultant Cami Reister.

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

When we were little, we dreamed about what we would be when we grew up. Most of us are still dreaming up anything from being a rocket scientist to president of the United States, but we interns are facing the reality of having to join the real world in the near future.  I have done a couple of internships before, both of them a bit unusual, but I have dubbed my time at Amway as my first “big girl” job.  I graduate in a year, which means I am at that crucial point in my life where I am reaching a crossroads whose outcome will set the tone for the rest of my life.  I feel like a summer placement at Amway is the perfect opportunity to help me sort myself out.

The College Talent Acquisition Program at Amway provides so many opportunities outside of the internship itself that really give college students a good look into corporate life and the professional world.  From events like the Executive Breakfasts to the informational lectures of the Passport Series, they try to provide us with as many opportunities to learn as possible.  Amway staff are very accessible and will gladly take time out of their busy schedules to discuss career choices, professional development and higher education.  This program is an invaluable chance to really make the most out of an internship opportunity and prepare for our future careers.

Some people view this time of choice as a scary period of uncertainty and a time when all fun and childhood curiosity end.  I, however, see it as a time of opportunity and experience, both professional and personal.  The possibilities for the future are endless and Amway does a wonderful job of showing us what we can achieve through the opportunities of the intern program.  This is the time to dream big like we did when we were kids, except now we can make these dreams come true.

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

The beginning of the summer has represented an opportunity to pursue my dreams and it is the clearest example that I have succeeded in completing one of the goals that I set for myself when I arrived in Business School.

Two years ago when I applied to Kellogg School of Management, I described in my essays (and in my Business Week blog) how I wanted to become a brand manager at a cosmetics company to create holistic well-being in direct sales to use my talents in favor of improving the world.

The way I arrived at Amway was somehow unusual. As part of my plan B recruiting I continued to look at beauty companies, but searched for operations jobs to at least secure a change in geography and industry. A change of industry, function and geography seemed like a very complex challenge, because most companies would not trust a Chemical Engineer with 5 years of work experience in operations to become a world class marketer.

After a wonderful experience in Ada and an interview that seemed like a friendly talk with the Vice President, Director and Manager of Supply Chain, I received an offer from the center of excellence that I was uncertain to take. I had really liked the company, but I was uncertain of how taking that path brought me closer to my long term career goal: to become a General Manager who can eventually have more impact in the world.

Not willing to give up, I decided to seek advice from MBA’s who were in my dream job in the industry to see if an eventual transition would be possible or if I should stick to my plan to career change during the summer, even if it was in a startup company or scarifying the geography. That determination caused for me to cold call my current manager, an MBA from Duke University to ask her for advice. That advice request converted into an internship opportunity of what I, now call: my dream job.

Two weeks ago, I moved from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan where Amway’s head quarters are located to become a brand manager MBA intern in the color cosmetics business.

My summer project involves working in a very interesting challenge that requires implementing strategic and tactical measures. Using creative, leadership, strategic thinking and analytical skills mixed with marketing, finance, accounting, design, and operations knowledge to solve it. This seems like the perfect opportunity to put to work every course I have taken in both of the programs that I am pursuing, my MBA and MEM.

To gain a rounded experience, it is as important as the internship challenge and project relevance to me, having fun during the summer and getting to know better the company’s culture and employees. For that, HR has made an excellent effort to bring together my fellow intern class. We have been involved in activities ranging from Intern Olympics and baseball games, to lunch and learns where we get to experience a department and other interns projects.

Additionally, HR did a great job in putting together an intern class which is quite diverse, we range between 19 and 28 years old, we hold different school majors from public communications to mechanical engineering, and are pursuing different disciplines in our internships and current graduate studies to solve different projects that contribute to the company transformation. We come from several parts of the world- did I mention that I was born and raised in Mexico? But I have lived in 7 countries in the past 10 years-  one of the most amazing things at Amway is that despite of this diversity, all of us have one goal in common which is succeed at our internship.

My experience at Amway has been one with many first times, something unusual for somebody who had spent over 5 years in the work force. This is the first time in my career that I received flowers in my desk on my first working day and that I was welcomed with a lunch by my entire department, when my team who is in New York attended via videoconference.  I believe, that explains why most of Amway’s employees have been with the company for double digit years.

I am really excited for the challenges of this summer, because now I have a new set of goals to accomplish for myself and a commitment to reciprocate the trust that my manager invested on me.

Is there any time when you dared to challenge the status quo to follow your dreams?

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

It’s another beautiful day in West Michigan!  Well I’m considering it beautiful because it isn’t raining…it’s still cloudy but I came to terms with the cloudy skies a long time ago.  I’m starting my fifth week as an intern with Amway, if you read my first blog you already know that I love working in the lab and that I can’t get enough of this place.

So let’s cut to the chase, I am finally able to work in the lab!  I finished all of the training I had to go through on the computer and am in the thick of various qualifications.  Qualifications, it makes me feel so official….. I mean just think of the dinner table conversation: “So how was work today? Do anything fun?” as I respond “Oh you know, just got qualified on the High Performance Liquid Chromatography instrument and the Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography instrument….no big deal.”  No big deal?!  Inside I’m like a kid in a candy store every time I go into the lab.  I’m jumping up and down on the inside at the thought of finally being able to work on the different instruments!

I may or may not have said this in my first blog but I have a low thrill threshold coupled with being easily amused.  When you put the two of these together you can imagine I get excited about the simple things in life.  For example, last week when I was observing another analyst weigh out a sample (part of the training) she needed 1.2000 grams of the sample but there is a bit of a cushion so you don’t need to get exactly 1.2000 grams.  So she starts weighing it out and ends up at 1.2001 grams…. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I got just as excited about this as when the United States tied up their World Cup game this past weekend.  Things like that happen every day at work and outside of work.  Some may say that I am still a kid inside…but I’m okay with that, I have no plans of growing out of my child like curiosity and excitement for the “every day” things.  It makes life more enjoyable!

A little while ago I also ordered two pieces of equipment called columns, one is 150 mm long and the other is 250 mm long.  When they came in, I again was very excited…to the point that I feel like I should give them names.  Leave it to guys to name inanimate objects like cars, boats, etc….so why not a piece of analytical equipment, right?  I was kind of leaning towards Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss as possible names…but I am open to suggestions.

Quick recap since I bounced all over the place this time around, I still love it here as a matter of fact I like it more and more every day.  The lab is amazing and so are the people that work in it.  This week we have West Michigan Intern Olympics and a Whitecaps game with our mentors.  I have high hopes of bringing home a trophy for Amway to be completely honest but I suppose the real goal is to just have fun right?  Well I am a bit competitive so let’s do our best and hopefully bring home the gold!

Until next time, thanks for reading and I have a bit of a challenge for you:

Can you find your inner child, that unexplainable curiosity and enjoy the simple things in life, if even just for a day this week?

Editor’s Note:  This post was originally published on the Interns Expose Amway blog.

Last week I attended an intern bi-weekly meeting and we had the pleasure of having Doug DeVos, President of Amway, speak to us about the company.  I was really pumped for this event because there are not many opportunities to have an hour and a half (it was only scheduled for an hour, but he was nice enough to stay longer than planned!) of his time to listen to his perspective of the company and ask questions. Also, I think it speaks volumes about the value of Amway’s internship program because people with high positions are taking time out of their day to help make your experience at Amway the best one possible. In fact, Candace Matthews, Amway Chief Marketing Officer, came out to talk to us at our last bi-weekly meeting. You really get the sense that employees here want you to succeed and do well in your professional development.

During Doug’s speech, he touched on three main points about the business. The first one he discussed was unleashing innovation. In order for us to grow as a company, we cannot keep doing the some of the same things, especially if it is not as effective anymore.  Instead, we need to challenge ourselves and think outside of the box. We always need to be thinking about the next step by setting goals and targets. In addition, everyone is responsible for innovation and that we need to continue creating an environment where this can happen.

The second point was the emphasis to focus on consumers. Amway needs to be competitive in the marketplace, but hold on to its foundation and heritage at the same time. To do this, we always need to look at things from a global perspective as well as understand other people’s culture, background, and language. Basically we cannot operate in a vacuum, which can be difficult for many companies. Amway will continue to embrace the challenges that come its way.

Lastly, Amway is performance driven. Everything that we do needs to generate results so we can measure and evaluate. This way we can see what is working and what is not. A good attitude must be present because a person may not receive the results they were expecting. Therefore, a person is challenged to come up with new innovative ideas that will achieve the desired results.

As you can probably tell, the key word throughout Doug’s speech is “challenge”. I believe that this is probably one of the best ways to learn because it forces you to think differently. I know I would not be the person I am today if I just took the easy ways out and kept doing what I was comfortable with.  Have you experience any challenges that changed you personally or professionally that you would like to share?

I hope to hear back from you!

P.S. One of his favorite Amway products is Double X. I couldn’t help myself, I had to ask