Summer Internship Spotlight: Brigitte Webb (B’25), Summer Analyst at Blackstone

Each year, Georgetown McDonough students spend their summers in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world working in corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations.

Over the past few months, students involved in the Steers Center for Global Real Estate interned at top real estate and investing companies such as Blackstone, JPMorganChase, the U.S. House of Representatives, Boston Consulting Group, Walker & Dunlop, Amazon, and Invesco, among others. 

Meet Brigitte Webb (B’25), who interned at Blackstone in the company’s Real Estate Acquisition Group. Now, she returns to McDonough for her final year as an undergraduate student where she will continue to prepare for her career in the real estate industry through coursework and experiential learning opportunities.

Tell us about your summer internship.

This summer, I interned with Blackstone in their Real Estate Acquisitions Group. During the internship, I had the opportunity to work alongside analysts on a variety of different projects related to the underwriting and deal approval processes. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the other members of the team during my time with the firm and was able to learn so much from them both about real estate and about starting out in one’s career.

How did your internship relate to your professional or personal interests?

Since taking Professor Matthew Cypher’s class during my freshman year, I knew I was interested in pursuing real estate as a career. Blackstone’s Real Estate Acquisitions team provided me the perfect opportunity to learn more about the industry and look at a variety of deal types and sizes, ranging from individual assets to entire companies.

How did you find your internship?

I found my internship primarily through alumni connections. Through networking with alumni, I noticed that I really enjoyed my conversations with those who were working at Blackstone, and they in turn recommended Blackstone’s sophomore programs and internship opportunities to me.

What’s the most interesting or impactful thing you worked on during your internship?

I had the opportunity to work on multiple live deals this summer, one of which went to committee and was approved during my internship. Getting to see my work being used in the decision process and participating in discussions with senior leaders was a very rewarding experience, and I felt as though my inputs were truly valued as an intern.

What did a typical day look like?

I would typically start my day by making sure I was caught up on emails and attending a meeting or two, depending on the day. I would then start on deal work, whether that be pulling data, working on a model, or building out a presentation. At lunchtime, I would often go to grab a quick bite with some of the other interns, or occasionally, with more senior members of the team. After lunch, I would continue with deal work until it was time for another meeting or a coffee chat with someone on the team. Blackstone has a big coffee chat culture, and I really enjoyed getting to know members of the team on a more personal level during these chats. I would then continue with deal work until dinner, with more casual meetings to discuss work streams with my deal teams sprinkled throughout the afternoon. For dinner, the other interns and I would often grab food and bring it back to the office to eat together in the kitchen. After dinner, more senior professionals would start to filter out of the office and I was able to finish up deal work for the day and work on any longer-term projects.

What advice do you have for other students when it comes to internships?

Start networking early! Networking is a way for people at firms you’re interested in to get to know you, and it is also a way for you to get to know people at the firms you’re considering. With the stress of recruiting, people often forget that recruiting is a two-way interview process — firms are interviewing you, but you are also interviewing them. 

At the end of the day, you’ll be spending more time with the people you work with than anyone else, so finding people that you will enjoy being around is incredibly important to both your happiness and your performance in an internship. If you start the process early, you will have more time to meet and form connections with people from various firms and figure out which place is the best fit for you.