Recapping the Endeavor Retirement Intern Experience – Summer 2025
Let us introduce you to Kabya Pyakuryal and Paige Unruh. Kabya is an incoming junior at the University of Kansas School of Business, pursuing a degree in finance. Paige is in high school and interested in pursuing a legal career.
What Kabya and Paige Hoped to Gain from the Experience
Kabya was excited to gain exposure and a comprehensive understanding of the retirement planning industry, having little background. She was also excited to learn about business operations and finance, and develop collaborative and communication skills.
With her interest in pursuing a legal career, Paige hoped to gain additional exposure to the various careers available with a law degree. She hoped to explore legal career paths beyond traditional courtroom roles, understand how to apply a law degree to a career, gain exposure to professionals working in different areas of the law, and learn the ins and outs of day-to-day legal work.
What Kabya and Paige Learned While at Endeavor Retirement
Kabya noted in her presentation that she gained everything she hoped to from the internship experience, and more. She also learned:
- How to effectively build and expand her network. And most importantly, she learned that networking can actually be fun, not a chore. Kabya learned the importance of building a relationship – not just completing a transaction.
- The importance of following up with people to make an impact. Kabya stressed that she learned how important it is to ensure no relationship is a “dead end,” whether it’s a client, mentor, or colleague.
- First impressions are everything. Especially in a closely connected industry like the retirement industry, your first impression matters.
- There is value in marketing and presenting yourself.
These skills will not only benefit Kabya as she enters the next school year but will also help her in her future career. Kabya is looking forward to a future in a client-facing role, where she can help people meet their financial goals.
Paige was able to gain more in-depth knowledge about the law and pursuing a legal career during her time with us Some of Paige’s takeaways:
- There is no one path into law. People come to a law career in many different ways, all of which are valid.
- Thinking like a lawyer is a transferable skill that can be used in many different aspects of life.
- Adaptability matters. It’s important to be able to think on your feet.
- Skills such as writing are underrated, but critical.
- Success requires purpose and balance, balancing work and life, and finding your passion and pursuing it.
Paige will take many of the skills she learned with her into her next steps. She is ready to apply her new critical thinking skills to other areas of work and remains open to non-traditional legal careers, recognizing that the possibilities are nearly endless. Like Kabya, Paige learned the importance of building relationships and is excited to continue to explore the law.
Both Paige and Kabya loved the teamwork and collaboration among the team. Kabya’s favorite project was working with Judd and Christine to develop a marketing strategy for Endeavor Retirement’s Navigator platform. Paige enjoyed networking and learning from established lawyers, but also learned that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.
What We Can Learn from Kabya and Paige
We are so glad that Kabya and Paige had a great internship experience and learned so much. But the lessons they learned are also lessons that those of us further along in careers often forget, and their experiences serve as an excellent reminder for all of us to build relationships, network, and always look for opportunities to learn and grow.
Thank you, Paige and Kabya, for your incredible work! We can’t wait to see what you do next.