Biography
Prior to joining the One-Year MBA program at Goizueta, Maria Fernanda Genie worked at her family’s business in Honduras selling and manufacturing pharmaceuticals. While working in the marketing department overseeing the selling of the pharmaceuticals, Maria was looking for something more.
“I was very focused on marketing, and I wanted to get a little away from that,” Maria says. “I wanted to expand my knowledge into other areas such as operation strategy and overall general management.”
The One-Year program’s concise and fast-paced environment appealed to Maria as she was looking to achieve her goals quickly. “I wanted to challenge myself, and I wanted to immerse completely in a One-Year experience,” she says.
Not only did Maria immerse herself in the classroom, but she also wanted to get to know her cohort. She was elected to the vice president of student activities, helping her gain valuable leadership experience all while building her personal community.
“This has been an incredible experience to help me gain those leadership skills, as well as meet my classmates in a different setting that is not in the classroom,” Maria says.
While Goizueta is known for having small class sizes, the One-Year program is unique in that it’s one of the smallest programs in the school. “Class sizes are extremely small, which is super special because you get to hear everybody's opinion and different perspective in the classroom, as well as professors knowing your background and what you want to do after,” Maria says. “They tailor the content to what you want to get out of it, which was really useful and something really special about this school.”
One class in particular that Maria enjoyed was IMPACT, where she met with real clients to craft a solution to real-world problems. “It was super cool because you get to apply frameworks that you learn in a classroom in a real-life setting with a real client,” she says.
After graduation, Maria will be returning to her family’s company in Honduras but transitioning into more of a strategic role.
“I can't wait to apply all the skills and the data-driven frameworks I've learned at Goizueta to help the company grow,” Maria says. “I feel that when you're working, you can get pigeonholed into your function, but what surprised me about the MBA program is that I like a variety of things. I've discovered that I like every subject in general business.”