Zelle Product Management Internship

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A segment that could use Zelle — but wasn't

Zelle is a peer-to-peer payment platform embedded in major U.S. banks. Teenagers can be legally allowed to use the platform  (depending on their bank) but largely weren't — either because they didn't know it was available to them, or because they defaulted to competitors. This represented a clear, unaddressed network expansion opportunity.

The challenge was twofold: the segment came with legal sensitivities that required careful navigation, and the company had never formally communicated eligibility to them. I was given ownership of this ambiguous problem from day one.

1  Market & competitive analysis

Sized the opportunity and benchmarked how competitors served this segment. Identified where Zelle had a structural advantage — and where competitors had already built trust.

2  User interviews & sentiment research

Conducted qualitative interviews with members of the target segment to understand their mental models around digital payments, trust barriers, and awareness gaps. Surface-level data wasn't enough — I needed to understand the "why" behind their behavior.

3  Legal restriction mapping

Worked to clearly define what was and wasn't legally permissible. Identified the specific regulatory boundaries — and crucially, confirmed the segment was fully allowed to use the platform. This became foundational to the entire strategy.

4  Design thinking & solution exploration

Applied design thinking to explore solutions. My first instinct was a technical integration — but after scoping it, I recognized that approach was out of reach within the constraints. I pivoted.

Key pivot

Instead of a technical solution, I reframed the strategy around marketing and communication — and reframed the message itself. The pitch couldn't be "here's how Zelle profits from this segment." It had to be "here's why this segment genuinely benefits from access to Zelle." That reframe changed everything about how the strategy was received.

I translated months of research into concrete deliverables that could actually move the company forward — not just a slide deck, but materials designed to enable action.

Executive board presentation

Synthesized research, legal findings, user insights, and strategic recommendations into a presentation that made it to the executive board — an outcome no one expected from an intern project.

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FAQ page update

Identified a critical gap: the platform had no public-facing information confirming this segment's eligibility. I wrote and launched updated FAQ content — a simple but high-impact fix that immediately improved discoverability.

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Phased implementation roadmap

Developed a multi-phase roadmap aligned to the segment's calendar, PR cycles, and marketing initiatives — designed to scale responsibly while staying within legal guardrails. Presented at the company's intern showcase at summer's end.

"You did an amazing job. Amazing. I never thought we'd end up with intern material in a board meeting! — brilliant. Happy to support your future however I can."

— Senior Product Manager, Early Warning Services

Board-level

Presentation reached the executive board — unexpected for an intern project at Early Warning

Live FAQ

Updated platform FAQ now clearly communicates segment eligibility — a gap that previously didn't exist

Ongoing work

The team continued building on this initiative after my internship ended, per my mentor

Constraints are part of the product. 

Recognizing early that a technical solution was out of scope — and pivoting to a marketing-led approach — was what made the project viable.

Framing changes everything. 

The strategy only landed because the message centered on user benefit, not business gain. That shift required understanding what stakeholders — and users — actually needed to hear.

Research needs to become action. User interviews and market analysis are only valuable when they're distilled into something decision-makers can act on. I learned to build materials that closed the gap between insight and execution.

Legal literacy is a PM skill. 

Mapping regulatory constraints wasn't something I expected to own — but understanding what was and wasn't allowed became the foundation that made everything else possible.