Barbara Carioca

 I chose HEC because the school’s values reflect my own wishes: being an innovative and socially responsible leader 

My name is Barbara and I am a Brazilian agri-food engineer. I graduated from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP - Brazil), with two academic exchanges, firstly at the French institution AgroParistech and secondly at the University of La Verne (USA), where I enriched my studies in international marketing and strategy.

Building on your Strengths

I have two years’ experience as a research intern at Shell, in a partnership with UNICAMP in the biofuel area. Moreover, I did a six-month internship in Paris as a strategic marketing analyst at Degrémont (Suez group). In light of what I learnt from those experiences, I found out exactly what I wanted to do: the connection between the product development group, the finance department and the client, in a global understanding of the market and of the company’s position. To achieve this goal I was convinced that I needed a deeper knowledge in project and people management, accounting and finance, and that is why I decided to do a Master in Management. I chose HEC because the school’s values reflect my own wishes: being an innovative and socially responsible leader.

Gaining Confidence

The most valuable skill that I took from this first year at HEC is to be as daring as I can. In the MiM I took classes on corporate law, financial markets and many other useful, but completely new subjects which took me out of my comfort zone. Being in a new country, surrounded by the best students of the world and having great professors made me do things that I had never known that I could do.

Unrivaled Support

All the networking events on campus helped me to connect with the main existing companies. In addition, I participated in many events organized by the Alumni and Career centers and they were very useful. They can provide all kinds of advice that a professional needs to achieve success, from the student to the executive level. I know that I can count on their support during my entire career path. I deeply recommend the 1-to-1 Coach Program, which helped me to understand my behaviors besides giving me advice for facing the French professional environment. About HEC Alumni, the website was recently updated and its agenda is full of meetings with top managers and of very useful workshops. With all those supports, I am not afraid to launch myself into an ambitious career. In this way, I plan to start as a Product Manager, where I can work on products from designing to selling. I find it fascinating to link artistic skills, technical knowledge and observations about the trends in consumers’ behavior. Then I wish to evolve to a position that allows me to improve the company’s standing all around the world and to develop a strong brand strategy.