Sep 24, 2026

What a Summer at General Mills Taught Ana Galizia T’27 About Brand Management

By Tuck Communications

This summer, Ana Galizia T’27 spent 10 weeks in Minneapolis as an associate brand manager intern at General Mills, working in the company’s Pet Business Unit. We caught up with Galizia about balancing data and creativity in brand management, seeing her work make an impact, and finding a strong Tuck community in Minneapolis.

Where did you intern this summer, and what were you working on?
This summer, I spent 10 weeks in Minneapolis as an Associate Brand Manager intern at General Mills. I worked in the Pet Business Unit, where I focused on dog treats. As a devoted pet parent, I was especially excited to work in a category that is personally meaningful to me and connected to Blue Buffalo’s mission: “Love them like family. Feed them like family.”

Although I cannot share the specific details, the work required me to balance rigorous data analysis with creative thinking. I conducted store walks, explored the unique dynamics of pet specialty retailers, and used Nielsen data to understand the category and competitive landscape. By the end of the summer, I had developed deep expertise in my specific business challenge and strengthened my ability to turn complex data into a clear and compelling story.

What’s one experience, project, or moment from your internship that stands out to you?
Two experiences stand out because they capture both the professional growth and the sense of community that defined my summer.
The first was my final presentation. I had been entrusted with a challenging project, and presenting my findings and recommendations to my team was the culmination of 10 weeks of research, analysis, creativity, and collaboration. Afterward, my Business Unit Director pulled me aside to share how impressed she was with my work and explain that my recommendations would help shape the business. I was overjoyed. Hearing that my work would have a meaningful impact made the long hours worthwhile and showed me how much I had grown in a short period. In just two months, I had become a subject-matter expert on the specific challenge I was solving and had earned the confidence to offer a valuable perspective.

I could not have reached that point without the people who supported me. I had a wonderful mentor at General Mills who guided me throughout the internship. I was also fortunate to have Tuckies—Megan M., Tatum B., and Danielle K.—nearby. They became a trusted support system and gave me a safe space to ask the questions that sometimes felt too silly to ask elsewhere.

The second experience was hosting a Tuck Tails in Minneapolis. We brought together 20 Tuckies, from current students to alumni dating back to the Class of 1996. It was wonderful to connect with classmates who were also in Minneapolis and hear alumni share stories about the similarities and differences between their experiences and ours. The gathering highlighted the strength of the Tuck community, even in a place I had not expected to find so many Tuck connections.

What did you learn this summer that you’ll bring back with you to Tuck?
General Mills showed me that brand management can look very different from one organization to another. Its robust brand management program challenged me in ways I had not expected and pushed me to grow as both an analytical and creative thinker. I learned how much strong brand management depends on balancing data with intuition, translating insights into a compelling strategy, and collaborating across functions to move an idea forward.

More personally, I learned the importance of being intentional about relationships. The strongest ideas rarely come from one person working alone, and the support I received from my mentor, colleagues, fellow interns, and Tuckies made my experience richer. They reminded me that building meaningful relationships requires taking initiative, asking questions, and creating opportunities for people to connect.

I want to bring that same intentionality back to Tuck during my second year. Now that many of us live off campus, maintaining our close-knit community requires more effort. I want to be purposeful about meeting members of the T’28 class while deepening my existing relationships with fellow T’27s. Whether through dinner parties, game nights, or other fun gatherings, I hope to create welcoming spaces where people can connect, feel supported, and build the kinds of relationships that made my summer so meaningful.