Employee spotlight: Co-ops share their learning experiences at Risepoint

The Risepoint cooperative education (co-op) program provides college students with opportunities to gain work experience and build relationships with colleagues who are currently in the fields that they’re studying. The goal is for students to complete their co-op experience with a stronger understanding of how to apply their school studies to the workforce and with mentors who can support them through the rest of their professional journey. For Risepoint, co-op participants provide a fresh perspective on our day-to-day processes and contribute meaningfully to projects and teams.  

Last year, co-op students worked across the Marketing Operations and People teams. Two students are returning to Risepoint as full-time colleagues, a testament to the positive impact that these students experience while learning at Risepoint. 

Frances Fu, Vice President of Marketing Operations and Strategy, shared the following sentiments about the Risepoint co-op program:  

We’re excited to share these students’ stories and are grateful for their time and energy while working with us!  

Meet the Risepoint co-op students  

Learning through experience and mentorship 

Read as the Risepoint co-ops share how their experiences helped them to gain important skills, build lifelong relationships, and inspire the next steps in their careers.  

What are some key learnings or skills that you gained from your projects at Risepoint? 

Charlie Adams: Something that’s been great at Risepoint is the ability to work on a myriad of things that I’m actually interested in. Early on, my point of contacts, Ziad Hassan and Suraj Chablani, asked me which skills I wanted to improve, and they’ve been doing their best to give me projects and put me in spaces where I can improve those things. There are different technical and soft skills that I’ve gained that I’ll be able to utilize in my classes and other professional endeavors. 

Ian Simmonds: We did a project early on involving remote workforce research and some best practices and tools for success in a remote environment. That was right up my alley, and I was excited to explore these areas. I also supported Nia Stokes-Hicks with coordinating volunteer opportunities for the REACH Community Service Week. Both of these projects helped me feel a lot more connected and engaged – they offered chances for me to ask questions and learn from so many different people. In terms of hard skills, the market research involved with the remote workforce project was really great and will be especially helpful during my consulting program in South Korea. 

Maeghan Sulham, the Senior Vice President of Talent and hiring manager of People Team co-op student, Ian, had this to say about him:

Juliana Castro: I’m studying Industrial Engineering, so a little bit different from the business side, but I wanted to get more exposure into strategy and consulting. This internship solidified what I wanted to pursue in my career, which is consulting. I worked at Risepoint during the merger of Academic Partnerships and Wiley – that brought an interest to me, and now my next co-op is going to be in consulting working with private equities. 

During the merger, I was able to work with [Fernando] Lau. It was great to work closely with leadership and have them know my name and reach out. It made me feel seen and I learned a lot from their leadership. Seeing how they led and managed projects was great, and I’ve been able to apply those learnings to my time as team leader of my thesis project.

This internship solidified what I wanted to pursue in my career…

Juliana Castro

Maysam Hassan: I got well‑rounded exposure to multiple projects. I was able to strengthen my project management chops by leading the AiDEN summarization tool rollout from start to finish. I sharpened my problem‑solving when I had to pivot on the fly during our UX audit to fix deep‑link issues. I also had the chance to level up my communication skills by presenting to leadership and preparing town halls. On the data side, digging into our baseline vs. post‑launch surveys taught me how to turn raw numbers into clear, actionable insights. I would also say one of my biggest learnings was diving into technology in education and really understanding how AI can be used to optimize learning experiences and streamline the student journey.  

Rishin Patel: One of the main things I was responsible for was a budget dashboard. It was very challenging. I’ve never really had a project with that level of ownership before, so that made the project very fun and rewarding. 

How was your experience working remotely? How did your team prioritize bonding and relationship building without the benefit of being in a physical office?  

Ian Simmonds: I was a little nervous about a completely virtual experience. There are a lot of skills that you need to succeed in a remote environment, like good time management. But coming into the People function, I immediately found that so many people wanted to connect with me and invest in my growth and development. They scheduled meet and greets and kept the connection going even beyond those initial meet and greets. That helped me feel supported and engaged at Risepoint, and now that I’m at the end of my program, I have no qualms whatsoever with working for a remote company. 

Juliana Castro: I loved being virtual! I had a whole routine and wasn’t stressed in the morning, which I appreciated. To be completely honest, I never felt like I wasn’t a part of the team… I lived in Brazil for a part of my life, and I speak Portuguese, so I think I bonded with Adriana Bokel Herde and [Fernando] Lau over that. We’d use Portuguese phrases every once in a while, and it made me feel seen! I’ve already finished my Risepoint co-op but I’m still in contact with my team since I left.  

Maysam Hassan: Working remotely actually felt more connected than I expected. Every morning, we would kick off with quick check‑ins, we often scheduled problem‑solving sessions or casual catch‑ups, so it never felt like I was just staring at my laptop all day. The real highlight was the bi‑weekly analyst calls, where we would share life updates and non‑work banter, and the virtual coffee breaks I would set up with other analysts (and even some senior leaders), which helped me learn more about everyone and feel part of the team. On top of that, my manager’s weekly one‑on‑ones, checking in on how I was doing both at work and outside, which really made me feel seen and supported. 

Rishin Patel: I grew comfortable doing schoolwork remotely during COVID-19, so it wasn’t a difficult transition to work remotely. I spent most of my time working in my apartment in Boston, but I worked from [my parent’s] home for a month around Thanksgiving, which was really nice. I think it was cool to meet people from different parts of the world—half my team was from Brazil, and I had some teammates in Canada. That was an experience that you wouldn’t get while working in person. 

I think it was cool to meet people from different parts of the world—half my team was from Brazil, and I had some teammates in Canada. That was an experience that you wouldn’t get while working in person.

Rishi Patel

Mentorship is an important part of co-op and internship programs. Did you experience that at Risepoint, and if so, how have these relationships shaped your personal development?  

Charlie Adams: I feel like there is a lot of trust, visibility and transparency amongst everybody here and they want to see your personal growth. Every person I’ve been exposed to while working has been so willing and capable to help and it’s awesome. 

Juliana Castro: I love talking to people and build personal relationships alongside professional relationships. My two main points of contact were Suraj Chablani and Ziad Hassan, and they both went to Northeastern University. It was great having people that had already gone through the co-op process. Ziad also studied Industrial Engineering, so we had a lot of similarities and were able to bond over that. They were both great mentors and opened a world of business and consulting that I wasn’t educated in because I’m so technical with my major. This experience helped me grow a lot and I’m really thankful for the opportunity. 

Maysam Hassan: I was fortunate enough to be here for both the co‑op and a summer internship. During the co‑op, I worked closely with Jonathan Almeida, the Director of Marketing Operations and Strategy, and Frances Fu, the Vice President of Marketing Operations and Strategy—which was amazing. Their levels of trust and visibility gave me real autonomy to own projects and make decisions. Then, in my summer internship, I worked closely with Suraj Chablani and Sade Dugbo, who walked me through the nitty‑gritty details and supported me on even the smallest of tasks. I’ve grown so much from their honest feedback and guidance, and our chats about tech and AI kept things interesting and taught me lessons that I use every day.  

Rishin Patel: The main people I worked with were Jonathan Almeida and Dani Siqueira. They were both great at mentoring me by providing encouragement and offering advice, even for my life outside of Risepoint. I was really appreciative because they didn’t have to do that. 

What is your “risepoint” — a single moment that changed the trajectory of your life?

Charlie Adams: A risepoint moment for me was the opportunity to raise money and run the Boston Marathon for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the spring of 2025. Cancer is a cause deeply personal to my family, and being part of something bigger than myself, rallying support, fundraising, and running alongside an inspiring community left a lasting impact. It taught me the power of collective action, and how purpose-driven goals can bring people together in remarkable ways. This experience will always be a risepoint for me, one that continues to shape how I think about giving back and leading. 

Ian Simmonds: My biggest risepoint was meeting my high school Marketing teacher. It was one of the first times that one of my teachers took a great personal interest in my overall growth and development, and he pushed me to explore business as a future career path. This led me to apply to Northeastern and helped me discover my major in International Business. Without him, the past four years of my life would be completely different.

Juliana Castro: A pivotal risepoint in my life was moving to Boston to pursue my university education. As a first-generation student who immigrated to the U.S. at an early age, this transition represented far more than academic advancement; it embodied years of perseverance, sacrifice, and unwavering aspiration. My parents and I navigated a complex journey uprooting our lives in pursuit of opportunity. Arriving in a new city, adapting to an unfamiliar academic environment, and carrying the weight of our collective dreams was both daunting and transformative. That moment crystallized not only my resilience but also my deep gratitude for the path forged before me and the future I was determined to build. It remains a defining chapter in my personal and intellectual growth. 

Maysam Hassan: A risepoint for me was when I saw firsthand the power of women empowering women. Coming from a background where opportunities for women entrepreneurs felt scarce, I threw myself into leading our Women’s Entrepreneurship Club conference—recruiting speakers, managing the budget, and adding hands‑on workshops. It really hit me a year later when Sarah Jun, a Tufts student but also a friend of mine, told me that the club is now reaching over 1,000 students. That moment made me realize this is exactly what I want to keep doing: creating access, building networks, and lifting more women entrepreneurs as I move forward. 

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We’re grateful that our co-op students walked away from the experience with new knowledge and feeling like they made a lasting impact—because they certainly did. We look forward to hosting these students each year and are proud of how much the Risepoint co-op program has grown.