We were thrilled to welcome the Ktunaxa Nation’s Miles Wingo, an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia, to our team as an intern in May and June. Miles made invaluable contributions to our Finance and Real Estate and Development teams during his time with us.
Here’s what he had to say about the experience:
“During my internship at Nch’ḵay̓, I worked closely with senior team members in finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, information technology, and real estate. Over seven weeks, I helped develop Nch’ḵay̓’s forecast model for predicting cash flow on current and future real estate developments and acquisitions, helped the IT team implement a new and improved human resources system, and more.
As an incoming third-year student at UBC, this experience—my first internship—has been crucial to my professional development. Working at Nch’ḵay̓ has proved to be one of the best experiences of my career thus far. Growing up in California, I felt detached from my Indigenous identity. But when I came to study at UBC, I knew that needed to change. I became involved in the UBC First Nations Longhouse community in my first year and started working there in my second year. Through my role at the longhouse, I was motivated to learn as much as I could about Indigenous history and my role as a citizen of the Ktunaxa First Nation in southeastern British Columbia.
Through networking at career fairs and reaching out to industry professionals, I was fortunate enough to encounter the team at Nch’ḵay̓. Nch’ḵay̓ blended together my interests in business, finance, and economic reconciliation. Not long after meeting the HR team, I landed a two-month position on the Finance team.
Upon my arrival, everyone at Nch’ḵay̓ was welcoming and more than willing to guide me through my new daily tasks. I am incredibly proud of the work I did with the organization, as it directly contributes to economic growth for the Squamish Nation.
In the future, I plan on finishing my degree at UBC and exploring career paths in high finance and real estate development. I am extremely proud of my contributions to Nch’ḵay̓ and hope to be able to stay in contact with the team.”Got questions about what it’s like to intern at Nch’ḵay̓? Miles is happy to answer them. Reach out to him anytime via his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mileswingo2004/
