Internship Spotlight: Sara Paredes Echeverri ’25, Bloodworks Northwest
A summer internship at a nonprofit blood bank that supplies hospitals across the Pacific Northwest helped Sara Parades Echeverri clarify her career goals.
We asked rising second-year MBA students to check in from their summer internships, where they applied the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM.
Internship: Bloodworks Northwest, Seattle
Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Go-to work lunch: I meal-prep (almost) everyday and eat at a garden terrace at the office.
After-work routine: I work out in the morning, so when I get home I like to unwind by having dinner and watching a movie with my roommate.
Favorite thing about internship city: Seattle-ites love being outdoors and going on hikes! Visiting Olympic Park was a great weekend activity, and I love going to Discovery Park or the Japanese Garden near the Arboretum when I am in the city.
As a physician, I’ve always been passionate about health. I trained as a doctor in Colombia and then worked in medical research in Boston. I decided to pursue an MBA to acquire the business acumen necessary to help companies deliver better treatments to patients.
When I learned about Bloodworks Northwest, which creates positive change in the community by providing a safe blood supply to area hospitals, I was instantly drawn to the company. Bloodworks’ CEO is SOM alum Curt Bailey ’99, and I learned from my classmate Amanda Quenard ’24, who interned there last year, that the company is a great place to work and learn—making the decision to apply an easy one.
During the internship, I’m working with Curt and my classmate Parth Thacker ’25 on a growth strategy project that aims to determine Bloodworks’ new value proposition and a production plan to support its continued growth. One thing that makes this project special is working directly with the CEO and the C-suite! Working with Bloodworks’ fantastic leadership has been an incredible opportunity and has helped us learn how leaders think.
The company leaders have also made clear that they take our insights seriously and will implement our recommendations after the summer ends. So Parth and I have tried to make the most of this opportunity and deliver as much as we can before the end of the internship. I’m so curious to see what happens after we leave.
SOM classes prepared me to succeed at this internship, especially because faculty and mentors have drilled into me the importance of connecting with and gaining insight from others as much as I can. When I have felt stuck in my project and reached out to colleagues at Bloodworks, I’ve always been pleasantly surprised by their ability to provide a new perspective on my work. Furthermore, SOM taught me to consider all the stakeholders involved in each business and the effects that any decision has on them. In my current work, I am constantly exploring how different stakeholders will view the project insights and striving to stay aware of potential disagreements.
While applying lessons from my first year at SOM, I’ve also learned about the kind of work I’d like to pursue after graduation. This internship is my first experience working on corporate strategy in a healthcare setting, and my time at Bloodworks has shown me that I want to continue in this field after graduation.
I feel very lucky to have landed at Bloodworks. I am using tools from my SOM education to work with an incredible team on an exciting and important project that will ultimately improve patient experiences. My experience has been the embodiment of working for business and society. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
