Building A Diverse Workforce: Advisors Excel & Top City Interns
Sarah Lundry, culture specialist for Advisors Excel, assists with the insurance marketing company’s internship program for each of its four divisions—wealth management, life insurance, Medicare supplements and creative services (radio, television and graphic design). AE interns typically come through Kansas State University’s Department of Personal Financial Planning and Washburn University’s Mass Media Department. Lundry said the company hires about 20 to 25 interns each year and participates in the summer Top City interns program.
“Most of our interns are from Kansas and Missouri, and familiar with the Midwest, but perhaps not with Topeka,” said Lundry, who serves on the Top City Interns Committee. “Our founders all went to Washburn University and are passionate about Topeka, so exposing interns to what both the company and the community have to offer them is extremely important to us.”
Through the Top City interns program, interns from multiple companies participate in social events at fun venues like the Topeka Zoo and Evergy Plaza, and benefit from professional development opportunities featuring influential business leaders.
“Networking is a huge part of what we facilitate through the program because college students want things to do,” said Lundry. “By connecting them to each other and the community, they can make friends and see themselves as future contributors to the culture of our participating companies and our city.”
Lundry, a Topeka native and Kansas State University graduate, said that Topeka’s evolving efforts to create entertainment venues has made her job easier “since every possible pocket or niche you might want to explore” is available locally. Choose Topeka’s incentives for moving and relocation costs have also enhanced the capital city’s appeal, as have activities available through the Forge young professionals’ organization to help acclimate new hires.
Lundry, a Topeka native, returned home after college for what she perceived would be a temporary time but soon discovered “there was no other place I wanted to be. I feel blessed to be part of the growth of my company and my community.”
