The DIRECTV Summer 2026 Intern cohort gathered in El Segundo for the annual Intern Summit, a three-day experience designed to help interns connect with leaders, explore the business and build relationships beyond their day-to-day roles.
Throughout the summit, interns attended panels and networking events at DIRECTV headquarters in El Segundo, toured the Los Angeles Broadcast Center and volunteered with Ronald McDonald House Los Angeles.
For many interns, the summit offered a chance to see how their individual roles fit into a much larger business. For the leaders who help guide the internship experience, it was also an opportunity to see early career talent engage with DIRECTV’s culture, teams and future in real time.
Learning from Leaders Across DIRECTV
Yosmar Jaime, Lead Product Marketing Manager and Marketing leader for the internship program, said he enjoys working with interns because it gives both interns and employees a broader view of the company.
“I think the summit is probably one of my favorite parts because even though I work for DIRECTV, there’s just so many different teams that I don’t work with,” Jaime explained. “It’s an opportunity even for us as employees to really learn more about the organization.”
Noor Bajes brought a unique perspective to the experience. A former DIRECTV intern, Bajes now serves as an Employee Experience Specialist and supports interns as the IT leader for the internship program.
For Bajes, returning to the summit in a leadership role made her journey feel full circle.
“It’s honestly so special getting to see all of the amazing, bright-minded interns who have onboarded this time around,” she said. “It’s great to be able to give back in a way.”
Now, she’s helping support interns who are in the same position she once was.
“Mentorship has been a big part of my journey, and being able to mentor the next generation of interns has been a blessing,” Bajes said.
That support was reflected throughout the summit, where interns heard from speakers and panelists across the business. Sessions gave interns the opportunity to learn about different areas of DIRECTV, ask questions, and better understand the company beyond their assigned teams.
Peter Antonette, a Marketing Intern on the Merchandising and E-commerce team, said hearing from different parts of the company helped expand his understanding of DIRECTV.
“It was really cool to hear perspectives from HR, IT and other parts of the company,” Antonette said. “I have a much better understanding of DIRECTV as a whole.”
For IT Intern Aidan Shahmaram, the AI panel stood out as particularly compelling.
“The most interesting part was probably the AI panel,” Shahmaram said. “It was really cool to see the company’s approach and strategy on AI, what they envisioned for the company, what their plan was and what they were trying to avoid.”
The conversation around AI was also a highlight for Jaime.
“Hearing different ideas and different perspectives on AI really opened my eyes,” Jaime said. “It gave me ideas I could share with our executive team and our leaders.”
Seeing the Business in Action
The summit also gave interns the opportunity to see parts of the business they may not interact with in their day-to-day roles, including a tour of the Los Angeles Broadcast Center.
The tour helped connect what interns hear about DIRECTV with how the business operates behind the scenes. For interns working across departments, seeing more of the company in action helped connect their work to the bigger picture.
Antonette said speaking with interns from other teams helped him see the massive scope of DIRECTV operations, “I learned just how complex this business is,” Antonette said. “It was really neat to hear what other interns are doing in different departments and see how everything works together.”
Shahmaram said those conversations also gave him a better sense of what was happening outside his own team.
“It gives you good insight into what else is going on and an overall view of what the company is doing,” Shahmaram said.
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Building Connections Beyond the Agenda
Beyond panels and tours, the summit created space for interns to connect with one another and with leaders in person. The Business Unit Dinner gave interns a more personal setting to continue conversations, ask questions and build relationships outside of formal programming.
For interns working remotely, those in-person moments were especially meaningful.
“When you’re working remotely and you haven’t met anybody, you still feel isolated,” Shahmaram said. “Even if you’re in meetings with people digitally, meeting them in person makes a big difference. It made working remote a lot easier.”
Antonette mirrored the sentiments about the benefits of team engagement.
“Part of an internship, the biggest part is connections,” Antonette said. “You want to get a work experience, but you also want to just meet people and make good connections.”
That sense of connection continued throughout the summit, from structured events to informal conversations with other interns and leaders.
For Antonette, that leadership interaction made a big impact.“It was really awesome to see how much people care about us. We’re only here for two months, but so many people really cared,” she said.
A Lasting Takeaway
The summit highlighted the value interns bring to DIRECTV through the work they complete during the summer and the ideas, energy and perspectives they contribute across the company.
Bajes reflected on the importance of interns’ input, “Bringing in new interns who can provide new perspectives and fresh ideas is so important and crucial to the success of a business.”
For Jaime, that impact extends beyond the internship itself. As interns learn more about DIRECTV, they also become people who can speak to the company’s work, culture and future.
“I will forever say that interns are ambassadors of our brand,” Jaime said.
From leadership panels and business tours to volunteer work and peer connections, the DIRECTV Summer 2026 Intern Summit gave interns a closer look at the company and a stronger sense of the people behind it. For the cohort, the experience was a chance to see where their work fits, who they can learn from, and how they can continue to grow at DIRECTV.
