I often reflect on what my life was like before my days of running for flights, living out of a suitcase, and filling my passport book up with as many stamps and visas as I can.

As I reflect on my past, I recall a young girl of 8 sitting in the living room, scanning through the limited cable TV options. Suddenly, I stumbled upon two channels that would shape my future: The Travel Channel and the History Channel. As I watched researchers explore hidden tombs in Egypt and unpack the history of bizarre treasures in the show Mysteries at the Museum, I knew in my gut that traveling and exploring is what I wanted to do with my life.

From that point on, I worked countless hours so I could get into a good business school and sign up for a study abroad program in Madrid, Spain. However, weeks before I was set to visit Spain, I got a call that the program had been canceled due to COVID-19 safety precautions. As I packed up my college dorm room and decided to finish my undergraduate business degree by taking online classes from home for the next 2 years, I remember being so terrified at the time that my dreams of traveling abroad would be over.

Rather than give up on my dream, I decided to turn this setback into an opportunity and work as hard as I could to gain virtual international experience and save so that when the time comes for me to get the chance to study abroad I will be ready.

During this time, I started to do nonprofit volunteer work, marketing internships, diversity case competitions, and virtual international consulting work to learn more about the world and how I can use my unique skillset to make a difference. Working virtually with businesses spanning North America, Africa, and Europe all from my laptop in my bedroom fueled me to pursue a career in international business.

Then the perfect opportunity came when I interviewed and got accepted into an MBA program located in Italy in December of 2021. I was so excited because I knew that this was my chance to test all of the information I had learned and acquire firsthand international business skills all while fulfilling my two passions of helping people and traveling.

Today as I look over at my shiny, new MBA diploma and the carry-on suitcase filled with stickers from all over Europe, I am proud to say that I fulfilled my dreams of helping people and traveling while I was in Italy. During my Italy experience, I provided consulting work for a global automation company headquartered in the Veneto region that wanted to develop a replicable strategy to improve the company’s DEI culture and reach its 2025 Sustainability Report goals. This was a key learning experience for me because it helped me understand how consulting work can be used to help people reach a common goal of ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background, feels supported at work.

In my free time, I would travel and seek out my professors who were industry experts in their fields to soak up as much advice as I could. By the end of my year in Italy I had visited 20 new countries and created a global network of friends that I know will last a lifetime.

I am proud of how far my hard work, passions, and travels have taken me but I recognize that this is only the beginning. My year of European travels and working in Italy is an experience I know I will be reflecting on years from now. I can’t wait to see where my future adventure will take me next!

Always Learning,

Jaiden G