Employee Spotlight - Riley Osborn

Since joining MacKay Shields, how have you grown professionally? How has working at MacKay Shields helped advance your professional development? 

I started at MacKay Shields as an intern in the summer of 2020. Covid had just hit, the world went into lockdown, and people were just learning how to work and study from home. The easy thing to do in this situation would be to cancel the internship entirely. Instead, the team banded together to help me learn, constantly checked in to make sure that I understood what was being discussed, helped me with assignments, and let me into their thought processes. That summer really set the tone - I quickly became comfortable calling or messaging anyone on the team with any question. When I started full time in the summer of 2021, that precedent carried over to being in-person. I’m very comfortable popping over to anyone’s desk or office to ask questions, ask for help, or even just share an interesting tidbit. Being able to openly ask questions and participate in conversations has been incredibly important for my professional development and learning.

What are some of your favorite MacKay Shields community events that you’ve participated in so far?  What events would you like to get more involved in? 
I really enjoyed participating in the Bloomberg Last Mile Relay and the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge over the summer. It was one of the first big out-of-office events that MacKay Shields had done since the pandemic started, and it was great to see runners from our team and from other companies come together after a few years off. 

Can you tell us about an accomplishment at MacKay Shields that you are proud of?
This past summer, I was the manager for our team’s summer intern. It was really great to be able to synthesize everything that I’ve learned since I started working at MacKay Shields, turn it into a High Yield crash-course, and to be the one answering the questions rather than just asking them. It’s super gratifying to be able to look back and see everything that I’ve learned since I started. 

What are your hobbies or interests outside of work?
I recently bought an old Polaroid Automatic 250 land camera and I’ve been trying to teach myself how to use it. This thing is crazy - it’s was made in 1967 and is such a cool piece of technology. There’s all these knobs and hinges and buttons that are used to set up the camera, and every time I set it up, I’m so impressed at the engineering and thought that went into building it. The film and batteries for this specific camera are no longer easily available. However, there are a few people online who have managed to get it working by using different kinds of film, so I’m trying to follow those steps to get it working again.