Ashley Renwick B’25 may have been sidelined from playing Cardinal tennis due to an injury — but it’s because she didn’t stay on those sidelines, instead choosing to play an active role throughout her time at Saint Mary’s, that she landed a great career.
During a tennis match her sophomore year, Renwick was at the net, returning a ball hit with great speed, when she heard a popping noise. That noise was the sound of multiple ligaments tearing in her wrist. Her injury resulted in two surgeries, one her junior year and one in January 2025, and sadly she wasn’t able to play for the Cardinals again.
But she isn’t the type of student to let that keep her down — or to stay on the sidelines. “I stayed on the team and was happy and grateful to support my teammates,” she said, adding she served as captain of the team her senior year.
Renwick also served as an admission ambassador, and as a Business intelligence and analytics and finance double major, she participated in nearly every event Saint Mary’s Career Services offered to help her network, connect with potential employers, and gain interview and internship experience — all with the hope of landing that first dream job.
She participated in Cardinal Career Prep, the Career and Internship Fairs, networking events, and completed an internship with Wipfli (an accounting and business consulting firm in Minneapolis) as a tech consultant last summer.
Then, late last fall, while calling out directions and sitting in the bleachers at the Winona Tennis Center, she ran into a vaguely familiar face, someone who frequently came into the tennis center, who also turned out to be an executive at Fastenal. It wasn’t until Renwick attended the Career and Internship Fairs that she discovered Fastenal is the largest fastener distributor in North America.
“When I went to the career fairs at Saint Mary’s, Fastenal was there all the time. It seemed like an amazing company, but I’m from the Twin Cities area, and I love being around my family, so even though I love Winona and have loved my time there, with it being two hours away, working for Fastenal wasn’t something I thought I would do for my future, knowing Fastenal was in located in Winona.
“But he said hello and introduced himself and asked what my majors were, and when I told him I was interested in data analytics, he said Fastenal had openings in data analytics. And when I told him I would love to be nearer to the Cities, he told me they had offices in the Cities. It was such a great interaction. I looked on their website to see what openings they had. He also connected me with their Eagan office, where I am currently. Over winter break, I was able to go to the Eagan office to meet some of the people on the team. I applied and in early April, I got the job offer for a business intelligence analyst.”
Renwick thinks how her job came about is a unique story, one that was destined. “I’ve always wanted to work with data and math. It’s been one of my strong suits since middle school and hearing they had openings in that area and an office in the Twin Cities was amazing.”
She credits Career Services for helping her land the job in many ways. “It helped me so much,” she said. “I would go to the mock interviews as well. That played a huge part, when I was going through the interview process, in knowing how to answer questions in a certain way. Even just being at the career fairs and networking with people there and also connecting through Handshake as well.”
Renwick also credits her courses at Saint Mary’s, particularly the work in Excel, as well as the finance and analytics courses, and data visualization work, which have all been helpful in her current role, which began May 15.
“I’m learning so much,” she said. “Right now we are analyzing parts to make sure we are pricing Fastenal parts at the right price for customers and still staying profitable.” Although not customer facing, Renwick and a team of analysts pull information and reports for those who are, always making sure they have the information they need to serve clients to the best of their ability.
“I am forever lucky that I got this opportunity and it’s been absolutely amazing. Everyone has been so nice,” she said. “I would say my goal is to stay, and they are big on growing within the company, and that’s a goal of mine too, to grow within. I love it so far.”
She advises new students to get involved in as many things as they can and to use the available resources at Saint Mary’s. “Meet as many people as you can; it will affect the outcome of your future in such a positive way,” she said.
