Miss Ecuador Andrea Jacome working towards Vanderbilt MBA in 2008

Leadership in Global Business Association, Latin Business Association

Interned at Dollar General

"I already have a life here"

Andrea Jacome, MBA '08 candidate at Vanderbilt's Owen School of Business and former Miss Ecuador, describes her transition to U.S. study in the Fall 2007 issue of Vanderbilt Business (on pages 16-17 and page 62). Since coming to Owen, Jacome has been a member of the Latin Business Association, was elected a student government representative and also executive president of the Global Business Association, interned in the Strategic Operations Department of Dollar General, and partnered with Kalamata's to open a student-run café.

Some excerpts of the Vanderbilt Business article:

I came to Owen ready for a new chapter in my life. I knew it was going to be challenging, given the cultural and language differences. Just reading cases and developing write-ups in a language that was not my first took hours.

After the first three months I started to feel better. I was elected a first-year students’ representative for the Owen Student Government Association; I invited some peers to participate in the Innovation Challenge and we did very well; as a member of the Latin Business Association, I took the initiative in bringing Latin guest speakers to school, including Eduardo Castro-Wright, CEO of WalMart U.S. Stores; and right now I am helping the CMC Pillar of the Owen Student Government on the design of a special program for international students.

I focused my efforts on finding a summer internship program where I could gain experience, one that would allow me to stay in Nashville after graduation. By the end of Mod III, I accepted a job offer from Dollar General, turning down a couple others. I think I have found what I wanted, where I wanted it.

When I returned from Ecuador to Nashville after December’s break, I had a weird feeling. Somehow I felt that I was coming back home. I already have a life here, filled with school activities and the time I share with my fiance. Still, during the first three Mods, I flew back to Ecuador five times. And when I wake up in the morning here in Nashville, before picking up the Wall Street Journal I read the Ecuadorian newspapers on the Web.

Photo by Daniel Dubois for Vanderbilt Business. Used with permission.