Licensing

J. Kozaki, Union Bank intern extraordinaire - Southern California

Who are you?
Jarred Kozaki. I’m from a yonsei from Torrance, California—born and raised there. I graduated recently from UCLA with a degree in political science. I grew up playing Asian league basketball but didn’t really understand the significance of community until the NCI program.

Where are you interning this summer?
I’m interning at Union Bank in downtown LA, Bunker Hill.

Who is your supervisor?
Nancy Okubo.

How do you like working at Union Bank with Nancy?
I love it. Nancy’s been a great supervisor. She’s always including me in a wide array of meetings. She’s also introduced me to a lot of different people who work in various capacities at Union Bank, so it’s been fun getting to meet new people.

What do you do at Union Bank?
Well, there’s a lot of different aspects to Union Bank.

Union Bank is a big sponsor of a lot of different community programs and events, so part of my internship this summer has involved volunteering at the various programs and events that receive Union Bank sponsorship.

Since Nancy sits on the board of directors for Kizuna, I’ve also been working with Kizuna’s Youth CAN program—with the Track 1 high school students specifically. Basically I help conceptualize and facilitate some of the workshops and activities for high school students who are learning about what community and identity means to them. It’s exciting. I love it because it gives me the opportunity to work with high school youth and help them come into an understanding of how important community is, especially in the JA community.

Any embarrassing moments during this internship?
Just one.

Please. Continue.
So we had just had a half intern day, at which we were all casually dressed, but I brought a change of clothes so that I could go back to work at Union Bank afterward. The only problem was, I forgot dress shoes. So I showed up to work in a shirt and tie, and dress pants, and bright blue Vans. Nancy thought it was funny. I just tried not to leave my cubicle for the rest of the day. Or bump into any senior-level management.

Any advice for next year’s NCI interns?
Don’t make Nancy mad.