After graduating from Missouri State in 2015, I moved abroad to Northeast China to teach at the university’s campus in Dalian, China. From there, I moved to Beijing, where I worked for the European Union Chamber of Commerce before returning to the United States In 2018. I now live in New York City, where I work for the strategic communications firm Brunswick Group. While I’m currently situated in the heart of finance, most of my client work is global—tackling a range of issues that lie at the intersection of business and society.

In my role as an executive, my days can consist of responding to a cybersecurity crisis affecting government stakeholders to strategizing climate solutions for international companies looking to green their products. Given my background, I often work on projects that span the globe, hopping on calls with teammates from London, Beijing, Brussels, etc. Collaborating with brilliant people in different offices across the firm has been essential to my work.

In each of these roles, my education at Missouri State helped ensure I was well prepared to work on these fast-moving issues in an international environment. The papers I wrote, the research I did for my classes, even the competitions I attended for Model UN helped lay a strong foundation for my future career.

I’m expected to get up to speed and quickly become an expert on an issue, requiring me to do extensive research and prepare documents for clients, which they will put into action. I often had to do the same for my classes as I prepared for a test in International Political Economics or argued the best solution for de-nuclearizing the Korean peninsula. I can genuinely say that graduating from Missouri State has prepared me not only for my current job but my career overall.