San Antonio is blessed to have a young, dedicated collection of hard workers, who jump at the chance when opportunity presents itself. Your Chamber is fortunate to share the company of a few of these individuals who are our 2019 summer interns. Here’s the lowdown on a few of them:
David Sanchez
David will start his senior year at the University of the Incarnate word in the fall. He is a history major, whose focus is on Texas borderlands, and he is pursuing a double minor in political science and government. David, who is a 2004 graduate of Douglas MacArthur High School here in San Antonio, is also an Army Combat Veteran of the Global War on Terror in the theaters of both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as an Infantryman. After his honorable discharge in June of 2009, David found himself in restaurant management for six years in the New Braunfels area before joining the U.I.W community. As one who has a passion for history, David understands how the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce has propelled the city’s success over the past 125 years and looks forward to being a part of that legacy and help in whatever ways he can. After school, David hopes to work in a capacity where he can help guide policies at the city or state levels that help to protect the historical sites and structures of our communities. During his time at the Chamber, David helped in the offices of Military & Veteran Affairs as well as Cybersecurity.
Christian Lezama
Christian Lezama is a communications intern. He has worked alongside our communications team in helping the Chamber grow our online presence. As an entrepreneur, Christian coaches realtors on ways to generate leads that convert to sales online. He is committed to helping San Antonio’s economy grow by securing the financial wellbeing for the business owners with whom he works.
Christian was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. His first experience with business was at the age of 12, with something known as arbitrage. He would go out on weekends to garage sales, thrift stores, and sometimes even meet with people off craigslist to purchase items. He would then go on other apps to and upsell his new wares.
At the age of 17, he discovered graphic design and learned all he could on his own time. With his new skill he reached out to small businesses and launched a new venture in logo and website design. Christian quickly learned the value of leveraging social media to generate revenue. Through further study, he built a strong base of knowledge about expanding business through platforms like Facebook and Instagram. He is now helping realtors and agents generate 30+ leads and close 4-7 deals more a month. He plans on integrating his experience at the Chamber to start working with investors and mortgage companies. His ambitious future plans include investing in various housing complexes and properties to ensure that San Antonio’s real estate and development is driven by locals.
Christian is a graduate of William Howard Taft High School.
Alfonso Zenteno
Alfonso Zenteno is at the Chamber for a second internship, first joining the team in summer 2018. Alfonso was born in Philadelphia and lived in Mexico and San Diego before finishing up his last three years of high school at Keystone here in San Antonio. Alfonso is attending Boston University and is double majoring in Economics and International Relations with a concentration in Economics and Europe.
Alfonso returned to the Chamber to work with the Economic Development and Education and Workforce Development departments on the Chamber’s special initiative with the City of San Antonio, the Gateways for Growth Challenge – Envisioning a Welcoming Plan for San Antonio. The goal of this project is to work with a wide cross-section of community stakeholders to develop an actionable plan to make San Antonio a more welcoming city for immigrants with pathways to integrate and fully contribute to our community. Alfonso played a key role in executing the initiative’s first community-wide input session in which more than 70 individuals representing diverse sectors provided input on what they believe San Antonio can do to become a more welcoming city for newcomers.
Alfonso will be starting his senior year at Boston University this fall and is planning on graduating a semester early. His long-term plans include returning to San Antonio.
Isaiah Guzman
Isaiah is currently a junior at Columbia University majoring in English with the goal of eventually becoming a full-time professor here in San Antonio. He is working with the Economic Development and Education & Workforce Development departments on a variety of projects including drafting a timeline of the Chamber’s involvement with international trade, researching local impact of federal and state policies on transportation and infrastructure development, facilitating community-input sessions for the Chamber’s Gateway for Growth Challenge, and developing and disseminating surveys.
As a first-generation student from a low-income background, it is his mission to ensure future generations from his community have access to higher education without being impeded by cultural or financial barriers. Having been withheld from many opportunities due to his financial status growing up, Isaiah understands how challenging it can be to want to do better for yourself and your family, but not have the means to do so. That is why before he goes off in search of a professor position, Isaiah plans to spend time working for education-related non-profits and helping others to best of his ability.
In his free time you can probably find Isaiah scouring the Internet looking for any horror movie he has not yet seen or scaling the sides of buildings as part of his favorite pastime known as parkour. Less frequently, though more enjoyably, Isaiah spends time working through his massive reading list or engaging in his second favorite pastime, urban exploration, or urbex for short.
Before coming to intern at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Isaiah interned at Haven for Hope, which he fondly remembers as one of the most fulfilling experiences of his life. Isaiah attended Travis Early College High School, where he earned his diploma and an Associate’s degree. Prior to that, Isaiah spent many years bouncing around Florida, the place he used to call home before falling in love with San Antonio. He now happily lives here with his mother, older brother, and two pugs, Buster and Bartholomew.
