During the summer of 2025, Sushmitha Lekkala (MBA '26) interned as an NYU Stern MBA Project Management and Compliance Fellow at the FLA. Read on to learn more about her time there:

Name: Sushmitha Lekkala

Grad Year: 2026

Specialization: Strategy, Corporate Finance, and Sustainable Business and Innovation

This summer I was part of the Supply Chain Innovation team at the Fair Labor Association (FLA), working as a Project Management and Compliance Intern. My work focused on building practical tools and frameworks that companies can use to embed sustainability into their supply chains. I prepared a KPI framework for a special project, refined internal data collection tools to improve accuracy, and developed Terms of Reference and Standard Operating Procedures for future initiatives.

A big part of my role involved working with a wide range of stakeholders, including NGOs, suppliers, and program managers, to make sure the solutions were both realistic and scalable. The experience deepened my commitment to building sustainable supply chain strategies and solutions. At Stern, I’ll bring back not just technical knowledge, but also a clearer sense of how to navigate cross-functional priorities when ESG and compliance meet commercial realities. This will make my coursework and team projects richer, and it will shape how I approach problems in future roles. Looking ahead, I’m especially motivated to focus on strategies that balance operational
efficiency with social and environmental impact.

What stood out most was seeing the ground realities of supply chains, particularly at the tier-3 and tier-4 levels. Data is often fragmented, unstructured, and difficult to capture consistently, making it a real challenge to build transparency or accountability across the chain. Working on tools and frameworks to streamline this process showed me how critical it is to design systems that reflect these complexities rather than assuming clean, top-down information flows. For me, the Fellowship underscored why sustainability and supply chains can’t be separated. Companies that take this seriously will not only protect human rights but also build more resilient operations. That’s the kind of work I’m excited to continue pursuing in my career