Alum of the Month
Kersti Niebruegge
November 2015
London Program
August 2004 Intake
What and where did you study before your Mountbatten internship?
BA Journalism, University of Wisconsin – Madison.
What made you apply for the Mountbatten programme?
I had studied abroad in London and wanted to return.
Describe your sponsor company and your role within it.
I worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Exchange Traded Derivatives department. I helped with margin calls, reconciling commission fees, the business continuity management plan, and lots of spreadsheets!
What was the highlight/most memorable moment of your working experience during this year?
I totally learned how to use spreadsheets at UBS and I still use that knowledge today (pivot tables!). Extra bonus: after a year working in ETD, I finally understood the ending to Trading Places.
What was the social highlight/most memorable moment during this year?
London winning the Olympics during the summer of 2005 was a pretty cool moment after having lived in the city during the “Back the Bid” campaign. The Red Arrows flew over UBS and everyone celebrated after work.
Please share a little wisdom/philosophy that you acquired during your internship.
Don’t worry about having a fancy degree or fancy experience—as long as you have the skills needed to do the job, you can learn how to do anything.
If you could change anything about your internship, what would it be?
I wouldn’t change anything. The internship was great because I lucked out with a fantastic team of co-workers at UBS who understood that Mountbatten was about personal development and not just professional development.
What happened after completing the year - what did you do next?
I spent four years at BBC Worldwide in New York as an archive footage researcher before I moved to Los Angeles and worked for Conan O’Brien’s new show, CONAN, on TBS.
Where are you now in your working life and what do you do?
I returned to New York in 2014 for the start of Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC. I am the only clip researcher, which means that I research, locate, and clear all of the footage in the show from promo clips for guests to news clips for political commentary.
I also write comedic novels. Mistake, Wisconsin, a satire of the Northwoods, was published last year. The Zonderling, a comedy about New York City, will be published on Nov. 23, 2015.
Do you have any future plans that you would like to realise & what are they (career & social)?
1) Travel to Australia and 2) A road trip with a total stranger named James Franco. These two could be combined, but I think it would be more entertaining to be in a car with Franco and drive through weird little American towns!
Is there any other information that you would like to be included?
My new book The Zonderling will be published on Nov. 23, 2015 and paperback and Kindle editions will be available on Amazon sites worldwide.
The Zonderling — Twenty-seven-year-old Heather Baumhauer moves from the Midwest to New York to follow her dreams. But when her apartment plans fall through, there is only one place she can afford—The Zonderling, an old-fashioned residential hotel that has been home to the fair young ladies of New York City (no men allowed!) since 1905.
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