Photo by: Ruz Productions
Date Published: June 27, 2018
Harley-Davidson announced where their eight interns reside with places including South Africa, Florida, California, Mississippi, North Carolina, China, England, and Wisconsin. More specifically, Kennan, Wisconsin.
Tessa Otto, who grew up in Kennan and graduated from Phillips High School, was introduced to Harley-Davidsons because her father, Greg, drove a Harley for all of her life. Like any child who has a great relationship with her father, Tessa admitted, “Who doesn’t want to be like their dad?!” From that, her love of Harleys grew.
Fast forward to Tessa, in her senior year at UW-Oshkosh where she is studying project management in the College of Business, hearing about the Harley-Davidson “Find Your Freedom” internship via an article on Facebook, plus her mother mentioned it to her.
Her application video, which can be found at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOVjTRpQtyA, was one of over 7,500 submitted. Although in a large pool of hopeful applicants, it caught the eyes of the people at Harley-Davidson who got to make the selection of four young women and four young men who would get the summer intern positions.
On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, which Tessa admits is “kind of last minute for a summer internship,” she was notified she had been selected. “I was so excited to tell my dad!....This is probably the coolest thing I'll ever do in my life. I'm peaking now at 20,” Tessa decided.
Within one week of being notified of her selection, she needed to be at corporate headquarters. “I think they were looking for people who could drop everything and go with it,” Tessa suggested.
Given the eight interns got to choose the bike they will ride for the internship, Tessa went through the Riding Academy, received the best score in the class, and then started test riding multiple bikes. “I rode tons of different models but selected the Street Glide Special because it would provide long-term touring comfort, as well as look beautiful.”
Tessa will attend various events across the United States, such as the Born Free Bike Show in California, which Tessa already attended in LA this past weekend, plus Summerfest in Milwaukee, X Games in Minneapolis, Sturgis in South Dakota, and many more. Tessa explained her duties. “I create content, pictures, and videos and recruit people into the sport.”
As for her future plans, Tessa has her eyes on the prize. “It would be ideal to extend this position long term....if I could be hired on as a Project Manager for Harley that would be great!”
In the meantime, Tessa says she would like to organize a Price County Ride this summer if there is interest. To contact Tessa about this possible event, contact her via Instagram at @tessa_otto.
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Photos by: Alejandro Garrido Cortes, Caroline Otto, & Ruz Productions