Who knew that tailgating at a USC football game could change your life?
Before the Trojans took the field on a fall day in 2022, Ryan Phong struck up a conversation with John Keisler, the CEO of investment and consultancy firm Sunstone Management. Phong, then a graduate student at the USC Price School of Public Policy, had just switched careers from law enforcement to finance – and was hunting for an internship. Keisler, an alum of the USC Price School, told Phong that Sunstone had an opening for a fellowship.
That tailgate chat led to Phong landing the fellowship and, eventually, a full-time job at the firm, which advises local governments on economic development, among other services. Phong is now an Associate Project Manager, overseeing Sunstone’s consulting contracts with local governments.
“John just saw a lot of potential in me,” Phong recalled.
Now, Phong pays it forward to today’s Trojans. Phong helped develop the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge, an annual competition that tasks USC Price School students with helping local governments create jobs in their communities.
During last year’s contest, Phong saw the potential in Giselle Melendez-Cruz, a Master of Public Administration (MPA) student who was on the winning team for advising San Bernardino on supporting startups. Like Keisler before him, Phong told Melendez-Cruz about the Sunstone fellowship.
Melendez-Cruz took the fellowship, becoming the fifth person at Sunstone who studied at the USC Price School.
“Seeing Giselle win the competition and seeing how much potential she had, I reached out to her to see if she was interested in being a fellow,” Phong said. “It’s nice to see this full-circle of someone participating in the competition, and now they work for Sunstone.”
A Trojan Family Affair
Now in its third year, the Sunstone Challenge is part of a growing connection between Sunstone and the USC Price School. More than 100 students have worked with 13 cities to develop economic development plans. The team that develops the best plan wins a $5,000 cash prize.
Keisler, who has a 20-year career in municipal service, came up with the idea for the challenge after noticing that the top need for most cities is jobs for their residents.
“To get jobs you have to have economic development. That requires a plan,” Keisler said. “The Challenge gives graduate students hands-on experience in economic development planning with professionals at cities around the Southland. It prepares the next generation of municipal leaders while providing fresh eyes to those looking for economic development now. That’s good for everyone.”
In winning the contest last year, Melendez-Cruz and her colleagues advised San Bernardino on how to foster a vibrant startup ecosystem. They proposed strategies such as establishing a business academy to train entrepreneurs and using marketing to lure new businesses and promote existing ones.
For Melendez Cruz, a first-generation college student, the contest opened her eyes to a career path that would let her work closely with cities, but from the private sector. Now a fellow at Sunstone, she enjoys the wide range of projects she gets to work on at a firm that provides consulting to governments.
“I learn something new every week,” Melendez-Cruz said. “One week, I’ll be learning about public infrastructure financing, then the next week, I’ll be doing policy research for a government consulting project. The flexibility is something I enjoy a lot about the position.”
The Sunstone experience also validates a big reason why Melendez-Cruz chose USC Price: the Trojan Family network of alumni.
“Nowadays, it’s really who you know,” she said of finding jobs. “I knew that USC alumni were very open to connecting with students, maybe mentoring them, even providing an opportunity.”
Like the opportunities that Keisler and Phong provided.
“If I know someone else from USC, we treat each other like we are family, even though we don’t even know each other,” Phong said. “We help each other out.”
