Former interns: Where are they now?
Our last blog story featured former Walgreens interns sharing tips to prepare for an internship. Although they all started their careers as interns, each had a different career path to get to where they are today as full-time Walgreens team members.
Diana Ashbery began her internship in the summer of 2002 on the retail team in southern California. After leaving Walgreens for a couple years to open and manage a different company’s retail store, Ashbery reconnected with the company to return as a Walgreens store manager in Southern California. Several years later, she transitioned into human resources and is now a regional human resources manager. When asked about the values that have motivated her to build her career with Walgreens, Ashbery says, “Building teams, fostering inclusion, developing talent and mentoring others.”
Beginning his internship just one year after Ashbery, Beau Tiger kickstarted his Walgreens career as a retail management intern in 2003 in Ohio. Today he serves as a director of pharmacy and retail operations and cites Walgreens culture of career advancement and internal promotions for his opportunity to grow into new roles rapidly. In his current role, Tiger interacts with both team members and patients every day building connections and helping to ensure their experience with Walgreens is positive. “Engagement with people is the reason I love my job,” Tiger says.
Photo: Diana Ashbery, Beau Tiger.
In the summer of 2022, Betsy Riley began her career with Walgreens as a merchandising intern. Before her internship, Riley was a proud Walgreens customer and admired the company. “The culture is what drew me to work full-time for Walgreens, and the amazing work we are able to accomplish every day and deliver to our customers is so unique and gives me pride in what I do,” says Riley. After graduating college, she joined our merchandising rotational program, a full-time position in which recent graduates rotate every six months in a different department within the merchandising division. This opportunity led her to her current role as an associate owned brand category manager, where she is responsible for Walgreens product packaging and assisting the seasonal merchandising team in buying efforts for the holidays.
Similar to Riley, Peter Atsaves interned at Walgreens during the summer of 2022. During his internship on the tech team, Atsaves worked on a project creating a call data forecast to determine volume of calls and potential subjects of the calls in advance on a given day. When a full-time position opened on the same team, Atsaves was excited for the opportunity to work with his previous colleagues in a familiar environment. Atsaves still uses the data collected during his internship today in his role as an AI analyst.
Photo: Peter Atsaves' and Betsy Riley's summer intern group in 2022.
There are many different paths to grow your career at Walgreens, such as beginning with an internship. Walgreens 10-week internship program offers an immersive experience providing students with hands-on learning, mentorships and valuable networking opportunities. Over the course of 10 weeks, interns will gain experience that can potentially help them land a full-time career with Walgreens in the future. The company hosts students in a variety of settings including retail management, pharmacy and corporate. Applications for our summer 2026 internship program will open this fall. If you’re interested in joining our team or learning more about beginning your career at Walgreens, visit jobs.walgreens.com/students.