What's a typical workday like for Alyssa Carrizales '13, the first-ever intern at Wieden+Kennedy's Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE)?

It all depends on the day--and the current needs of the seven tech startups in this year's PIE cohort. Selected from a pool of more than 440 applicants, these companies receive three months of mentoring from Wieden+Kennedy and its extensive network, plus $20,000 in seed funding and nine months of free office space.

Earlier in the summer, Carrizales participated in "deep-dive" meetings in which the fledgling companies had the opportunity to determine their target markets, set up business models, and work out how they wanted to take advantage of the branding opportunities available through PIE's partnership with Wieden+Kennedy.

As the startups matured, Carrizales's duties evolved. These days she's more likely to be found at a branding meeting or helping connect the companies with mentors from PIE's far-reaching network of tech entrepreneurs.

"All these words that I learned as a business student, I'm seeing them applied in real life," said Carrizales, who double-majored in economics and business, with a concentration in marketing. "I think I got really lucky going down the PIE intern road because I'm getting to see businesses grown from the ground up."

As her time at PIE winds up, Carrizales feels well prepared for the future. "This internship has opened a lot of doors, and I'm excited about what's next, whether it's with Wieden+Kennedy, a PIE alum company, or somewhere else entirely," said Carrizales.