Southern Miss Business

Immersion in the Field: Internships, Leadership Programs and Full-Time Positions
frito-lay
Two Southern Miss Business students participated
in 2019 summer internships with Frito-Lay.
Tyler Barnett (Healthcare Marketing) served as a
sales management intern in Cleveland, Ohio. While
there, Barnett was assigned the task of learning all
he could about the district sales lead position while
working on the project of creating a presentation
addressing how to solve issues with sales
representative turnover. Following the internship,
Barnett accepted a full-time position with Frito-Lay
as a district sales lead upon graduation.
“One of my goals when I began at Southern Miss
was to land a job with a Fortune 50 company,
and the College of Business and Economic
Development provided me with the skills I needed
to qualify for the roles I was interested in. This
internship experience gave me great insight into
how a company of that caliber operates and the
opportunity to witness real-world sales functions.”
– Tyler Barnett
Cortlandt McCullough (Marketing) participated in the
sales internship at the Jackson, Miss., location. He
was assigned the goal of growing sales and resetting
the store layout of 23 small grocery locations in the
Jackson area. Cortlandt graduated with his bachelor’s
degree in May 2020 and is now pursuing his MBA at
Southern Miss.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
Xavier Hawkins (Marketing) represented Southern
Miss well in Washington, D.C., during the summer of
2019 while serving as a Congressional Black Caucus
Foundation intern. Hawkins was also selected to
attend the Forbes Under 30 Scholars Program in
Detroit. Forbes invites select undergraduate and
graduate students under the age of 30 from all over
the world to the annual event. Attendees received
the opportunity to network with corporations,
startups, peers and professionals during engaging
seminars, demonstrations, socials and contests.
“To be in a program that facilitates the personal
and political interests of young African American
students in public service and policy assisted me in
fostering a sense of professionalism. I was inspired
by the many stories, personalities and motivations
of the students within my cohort.” – Xavier Hawkins
on being an intern for the Congressional Black
Caucus Foundation
26
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT