Gelila Aderaye ’21 always knew graduate school was in her future but didn’t know exactly what her plans were – that is, until she attended Maryland Smith. Initially starting her undergraduate career at Montgomery College, Aderaye came to Smith with a penchant for accounting.

As a criminology and criminal justice major at the University of Maryland, Eleanna Weissman dreams of having a career in federal law enforcement. Now, she’s taking classes at Maryland Smith to achieve that goal. In 2022, she will graduate with a combined bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Weissman says her aspirations of entering the law enforcement field developed gradually throughout high school and college.

As twins, Camila, ’21, and Valeria Arrieta Palacio, ’21, have lived their lives at each other’s side. Now, even as they graduate from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, that continues. They are taking their first steps into the workforce together, accepting positions at Freddie Mac as capital market analysts. It’s just another part of their journey. The pair immigrated from Colombia six years ago and, overcoming language barriers, enrolled at Maryland Smith as finance and marketing majors.

As she graduates from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business this spring, you can trust that Goodness Ihekweme will wear something special. She says she wouldn’t have it any other way. Ihekweme is graduating with a marketing major and technology entrepreneurship minor – and with an apparel e-commerce business she launched on her own, called GStyles.

Lakshmi Shyamakrishnan ’20 is looking forward to making big impacts for employees at top companies. The double Smith Terp, currently earning her master’s degree in marketing analytics, has her sights set on a role in human resources, eventually in a C-suite position. “Being a chief diversity officer is absolutely my dream job,” says Shyamakrishnan. “Diversity and inclusion is something that I’ve been passionate about for a while and something that I can speak to with my experiences, in terms of what we can do better and how we can become more inclusive.”

Blanka Thibaud was ready for a change. She’d been working as an economist, but had an eye on a career in commercial real estate development. In 2016, she enrolled in Maryland Smith’s Part-Time MBA program (now called the Flex MBA), loading her schedule with real estate courses that would give her in-depth knowledge of the development process. While a part time student, she worked for a real estate developer in Washington, D.C., and then was hired at Freddie Mac as a real estate asset manager.

Sahitya Angara took an analytical approach when selecting a master's program. We’d expect nothing less from her – Angara was, in fact, a data analyst prior to arriving in Maryland from her former job in Chennai, India. She’s always enjoyed “reading between the data points.”

Poulami Ghosh developed a love of computer programming at the end of high school. “It started in 11th grade. I was interested in computer programming. I started coding in C++ and then, from there, I went on to get an undergraduate degree in economics.” In college, Ghosh had her first brush with financial services and econometrics.

David Rosenstein chose the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business for its connections and its energy: two things he knows plenty about. “It’s a very happy place,” he says of Van Munching Hall. Now a senior marketing and management dual degree undergrad, New York native Rosenstein considers that building to be his home base in College Park. “Getting to walk up and down the business school hallways, and getting to say hi to upwards of a dozen people,” he says, reflecting, “I think there’s a real sense of community and a real sense of home.”

Moving to Shanghai was a big step for Harriet Peng ’19, who grew up in Liuzhou on the banks of the winding Liu River in Southwest China. Suddenly she had access to new opportunities in one of the world's largest cities, and she made the most of her time by volunteering at tennis, golf, skating, ballet and orchestra events.