We hope you have enjoyed reading and learning past career interviews with our alumni who have graduated from the GLOCAL program and are highly accomplished in various fields. Unlike previous Career articles, this time, we will focus on GLOCAL Cohort VI students who are just starting to actually create a new blueprint for their new colorful GLOCAL experience. Here you will not only learn their academic and professional background before joining GLOCAL; what are their unusual and interesting personal hobbies, the reason they joined GLOCAL — perhaps they have the same longings and aspirations as you do right now for such a program that combines Global Markets with Local Creatives — and their expectations about for the future after graduation.
On November 18th, 2022, we held a student networking session, which was initiated and organized by the student representatives of each study track, to allow us to share our past study and work experiences. This would enable us to get more information and resources from each other, know each other better, to become friends with people who have similar interests as ourselves, and also to have the opportunity to learn from people with different backgrounds.
GLOCAL students’ previous academic and professional backgrounds are always very enriching. Some of the students either graduated or specialized in International Relations Development in their Bachelor degree while others concentrated in Business Engineering Finance, Social Science & Humanities, Finance, Economics, Philosophy, and also Communication & Journalism. Meanwhile, students’ professional backgrounds also vary. There are people who took an internship at educational non-profit startup and national corporative agency Migration department during University while others have been working in both Business Strategies and world-developed team for a total of eight years. Some assisted with European Central Bank application development and monitoring, while others took the role of being the Program Coordinator of local government agencies. Some worked for two years collecting and investigating political information in Chile and Cuba, and later joined local private consultancy advising private business, while others have been working for major technology companies in China for years responsible for Advertising and Marketing. More than that, many GLOCAL students are keen on non-government organizations (NGO), either local NGO empowering women in business while aiming for overseas business expansion and collaboration, or student NGO in planning and organizing academic events and contents, or working on collaborative projects with Spanish NGO on behalf of Cuba.
Regarding what to expect after graduation or in the future, some of them expressed their great interest toward inclusion and sustainability, also assisting with the emotional caring of elderlies living overseas; others are hoping to back to their family business or keep working on international relation programs & public serving; still others aim to concentrate on creative cities and research on public policies that can impact municipal and cities together with the economic and historical background GLOCAL will bestow us with.
Next, let’s hear what the GLOCAL students themselves have to say!
Lourence
I specialized in international relations development. I started my early career working in US-funded public policy projects, private financial digitalization as well as social protection fields. I am currently working on climate-change policy development, focusing on renewable energy and disaster protection. Also, I have been running a U-flat nonprofit since 2018, working with marginalized communities in foreign developing countries while we aim to get more people under age 35 into elective public offices. In the meantime, I am also involved in some leadership development projects in North America and Europe.
Lizeth
I used to work in the public sector and academic disciplines. However, it was difficult to do research on the project you are interested in Columbia, for instance, cultural heritage. Later, I received a Master’s scholarship to study in journalism and that changed my career. Afterwards, I worked in public TV, responsible for watching and considering the way to promote national and international documentaries. At the same time, there I also got a chance to work with many professions like videographers, artists, and illustrators, etc. Nevertheless, I was the only woman on the team while being the youngest. I later found a job at a travel agency where I obtained a chance to travel around Columbia and explore many interesting places. The pandemic makes it difficult to operate a travel business and I decided to fund a non-profit organization with travel agencies. Now, while we always aim to get more travelers to visit Colombia with different projects planning and promotion, I also aspire to expand my business globally as a real entrepreneur!
Deepika
I did my Bachelor in Finance and Business while I was working at an accounting firm for three years. Throughout my work, I saw many opportunities for entrepreneurship as a lot of small and medium businesses and investors came to Nepal. Realizing that, I decided to understand the entrepreneur landscape of Nepal better and I joined a private equity investment company as an investment officer to help small businesses who have social impact and also those led by women to access the capital, increase their market reach, secure their capital through monitoring, evaluating , and budgeting things, further helping them growth. At the same time, coming to GLOCAL gives me new insights on how people around the world are doing businesses, including the involvement of technology. And those make me want to go back to my original working environment, but with a totally different perspective.
Penny
I did my Bachelor in Communication and Journalism, and we did a series of projects, including broadcasting, public marketing, business plan development, stage planning, lighting, making movies and documentaries about Taiwanese native people, etc. I am very interested in what the local elements of Taiwan are and how to merge globalization with local characteristics. I am now preparing to become a diplomat in Taiwan so that I can let more people around the world know about Taiwan; for instance, we are also involved in global warming!