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Russell Sage College Interior + Spatial Design major Haley Borkowski ’27 has been selected for a 2026 corporate internship at beloved fragrance brand Bath & Body Works. The company’s internship program is highly competitive and attracts roughly 10,000 applicants a year for positions in design, merchandising, finance, IT, and other divisions.
Borkowski will join the brand’s Store Design and Construction team in Columbus, Ohio, for the 10-week program in summer 2026. She was thrilled to be one of 15 candidates selected for the first round of interviews and just four who made it to the second round.
“There was actually supposed to be a third interview,” she said, “but a couple hours after my second one, they told me that I got it!”
Much of her success stems from experiences in Sage’s BFA program. Over winter break, she drew on those experiences as she assembled a portfolio of her work and began applying for internships on Handshake, the national career-building platform for college students that Russell Sage uses.
“I was emailing with Professor Lynn Capirsello, and she was sending me so many different portfolios to look at,” said Borkowski. “She helped me a lot.”
A retail design assignment from her Sage coursework, completed with classmates, became a centerpiece of her portfolio and made a strong impression when she met with the Bath & Body Works hiring committee. Meanwhile, her resume highlighted leadership experiences like her work as an interior design tutor; her role as a student representative to the Albany board of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA); and a high school internship at an architecture firm in her hometown, Syracuse, New York.
“Having all of those things helped me get the first round interview, and then I think that my portfolio, and that specific retail project, is what got me the internship,” she said.
Borkowski has wanted to be an interior designer since middle school. “I liked looking at floor plans and imagining what they could become, but I didn’t know any interior designers, and I thought that residential was the only thing out there.”
Her high school internship introduced her to healthcare and education design, then she became interested in the intersection of branding and interior design through Russell Sage assignments, like an office based on Olipop soda and a retail project inspired by the Comfrt clothing brand, which helped her portfolio stand out.
Now, she’s eager to apply what she’s learned to real-life projects for Bath & Body Works.
“We might be making mock-ups of new branded store rollouts,” she said. “We’ll be working on the design of their new stores. That’ll be really fun.”
The internship program includes professional development, guest speakers, and community service.
“I’ve looked on LinkedIn, and I’ve seen posts about the different things they do together. That’s why I wanted to do it,” Borkowski said, then added gratitude to Russell Sage Interior + Spatial Design Professor Capirsello and Lecturers Anthony Cinque ’16 and Karen Conway ’08.
“Me getting this position is a reflection of their teaching.”