May 2019 was a big month for Jennifer Giles. Not only did the Howard County, Md., native bring home a Maryland Smith diploma with a degree in marketing, she also helped take home the NCAA national championship trophy as a midfielder on the Terps women’s lacrosse team.  Giles, Maryland’s leading scorer with 59 goals and 23 assists in the championship season, was named “Big Ten Midfielder of the Year.” As a team leader, she helped balance everyone’s personalities to make sure they were always on the same page, leading to an undefeated season.

By Meredith Cobb Jennifer Lopes ’19 is passionate about learning. She just graduated with an undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and already she is neck-deep in studying for her Certified Public Accounting license. “There are four parts, and I’m starting with the hardest to get it out of the way,” she says with a laugh. “The studying never ends.”

By Meredith Cobb Anthony “A.J.” Woodard Jr. ’20 loves music, leadership and math. He combines the first two passions in his side gig as a DJ. “In high school we really didn’t do anything on the weekends,” he says. “So I saw an opportunity to do something for my friends. I picked up DJ-ing, kept it up as a hobby and turned it into a side gig.” His other passion led him to a dual degree program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, where he is pursuing a full-time MBA and Master of Finance.

By Meredith Cobb Gabrielle Bianchi ’18, MS ’19, is a firm believer in seizing opportunities. Within three years at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, she finished a double major in accounting and information systems, got involved in Greek life and club activities, and earned citations in the College Park Scholars and QUEST honors programs.

Zoha Tariq ’19 is the kind of person who has always had a clear vision of her goals and aspirations. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was enamored with the idea of being an independent woman working in the financial world,” Tariq says. “When I moved to Maryland from Chicago four years ago, I knew a well-applied accounting degree would work as my roadmap to success.”

Entrepreneur Jasmine Snead, MBA ’21, has been skating since she was 5. But as a woman of color, she struggled to find tights that matched her skin tone. “I was forced to wear tights, mesh and other paraphernalia in the wrong skin tones because my shade was not readily available,” Snead says. “The lack of color variety posesd a drawback because it's not aesthetically appealing to the eye and it’s frustrating to practice your passion while feeling like you’re in someone else’s skin.”

A passion for finance started with a 1980s television series for Marwin Glenn ’17, MS ’19. “I used to watch Family Ties with Michael J. Fox,” says Glenn, a Master of Finance candidate with an undergraduate degree in international business. “He was always focused on his end goal, being successful.” Glenn liked the mindset, so he started investing when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2005. “I bought in securities just to get a little experience,” he says.

As a systems engineer, math major, nuclear reactor operator and mother of two small children, there isn’t much that Kenyetta Barnes fears. Except, she laughs, quantitative subjects, like accounting and finance, despite her strong math background. “Accounting and math are completely different,” she says. “I always had this fear of those types of classes.”

By Shadee Nowrouzi Completing the Ironman is hard enough as is. Now imagine taking on the challenge with Type 1 diabetes. Lauren Dahlin, a PhD student in information systems at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, completed her first full Ironman triathlon on Sept. 28, 2018, in Cambridge, Md. The race, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run, is considered one of the most challenging sporting events in the world.

Marriott International executive Falisha Alie knew she wanted to work in the hospitality industry when she started college in the 1990s. “It seemed quite glamorous,” she says.  Even before she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, she landed her first position at Marriott. “Working in hospitality is so fun, and the people at Marriott are great,” she says.