Alejandra Solares de la Campa

When Alejandra Solares de la Campa, ’16, moved to the United States from Mexico her senior year of high school, she knew it would be a challenge – but it was one that she welcomed. She wanted to work internationally, and she knew that attending school in the U.S. would be an important step toward reaching that goal.

Four years later, it’s clear that Alejandra’s intentional approach to her college experience has prepared her well for the career she envisions.

As a first-year student, Alejandra contacted a local chamber of commerce and asked if she could volunteer a few hours a week. That position evolved into a multi-year internship that allowed her to acquire professional experience as well as network with area business leaders at chapter events.

“Being in that environment, in such an event-oriented organization, gave me lots of opportunities to network. At first it was challenging – I didn’t know what to say to professionals with years of experience. But eventually it taught me how to connect with people and gave me a lot of confidence. That professional experience really gave me a solid foundation to put into place what I was learning at Meredith.”

Alejandra added to her resume by interning at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, developing a social media plan for a downtown restaurant, working as a Spanish translator for a law firm, and holding an HR job for a manufacturing company in Mexico one summer. A business administration major and Broyhill Fellow, she also served as president of Meredith’s student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and competed in a SHRM Case competition (her team came in second out of 17 schools).

A personal education was one of the primary reasons Alejandra came to Meredith. As she had hoped, she found a mentor – a professor with extensive international business experience who provided valuable feedback and input when Alejandra made important decisions.

In job interviews her senior year, she found it easy to talk about what she would bring to an organization by focusing on the key strengths that she had identified, and built on, through StrongPoints®. The result? She graduated with a job offer in hand, in the marketing field. For this strong student, achieving her goals always starts with making a plan.

Learn more about studying business administration at Meredith

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