I was born bleeding orange. My mother graduated from Syracuse University in 1985, and I knew stepping on campus that Syracuse was going to be my alma mater. Going into my freshman year as an economics major in the College of Arts and Sciences, I quickly realized that the Martin J. Whitman School of Management is where I wanted to be. I transferred one semester later.
The day I walked into my first class in Whitman, I knew I was home. The professors’ and students’ passion for business was palpable. Whitman truly gives you all the tools you need to be successful. Fast forward three years…I still remember meeting my future boss at The Hershey Company’s booth at the Whitman Career Fair. I practiced mock interviews for hours with my career counselor at Whitman and I ultimately landed the job. The summer going into my senior year of college, I accepted a co-op with The Hershey Company with a sales territory of 20 food retailers in the Syracuse area. While also taking six management classes, I worked part-time 25 hours a week as a retail sales representative for Hershey in retail stores such as Tops, Wegmans and Walmart.
After completing my co-op and graduating in 2015, Hershey offered me a full-time retail sales position in the San Francisco Bay Area. I then packed up my bags and moved 3,000 miles to San Jose, California. A year later, I was recruited to work in online operations on the messaging team at Facebook.
I attribute much of my success to the education that I received at Whitman. The school gave me the ability to learn all the basics of all aspects of business, which ultimately connected me to my passion for entrepreneurship and technology. It seems that each day I am taking something I learned at Whitman and applying it to real-life scenarios. It is clear to me that I would not be where I am now without the incredible opportunities that Whitman provided me. The best advice I can give to any student is to always go above and beyond. I am so proud to call myself a Whitman alumna!
Go Orange!
- Alumni of the Week: Emily Callahan ’15 - September 29, 2016