Hi all, my name is Diana James and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Global Management, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management, and pursuing a Certificate in Sustainability. Despite having three business majors, I surprisingly never thought I would be a business major in a million years until I discovered CBA. During my college search, the only thing I knew I wanted to do was something international, and it was the international programs that I have the opportunity to participate in right now that sealed the deal for me attending the University of Pittsburgh. I toured Pitt on a non-cloudy day in July and sat in on an information session with Dietrich with no intention of interacting with the business school. It wasn’t until my accountant of a father dragged me into Sennott Square that I knew that’s exactly where I had to be. I met a girl named Nora Kraus that day in Sennott, who offered to give me a personal tour and tell me everything I wanted to hear. For those of you that know Nora, this story will make sense, but to this day I have said that if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. A while down the road, I ran into Nora at CBA orientation where she convinced me to go out for Phi Beta Lambda, a professional business organization, and it wasn’t long after that conversation that I got into PBL, the organization that I am now Vice President of Service for. So, that should about sum up my academic background thus far – thank you to my dad and Nora.
I was born and raised in the heat of greater Philadelphia suburbia in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. I went to North Penn High School and graduated in a class of 1,100, I have two talented older sisters, and before coming to college, I played competitive soccer for my whole life. All these things considered, it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve felt like a little fish trying to stick out in a big pond for most of my life. However, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of not letting that stop me from being myself and doing the things I like. Most of my hobbies can be summarized by calling myself an outdoors enthusiast. Skiing has been my favorite thing in the world since the day I turned three, as I was once the president of the high school ski club and am now the Vice President of the PIST, one of Pitt’s ski clubs. Hiking is another love of mine as it is my favorite form of stress relief and has kept my sanity throughout the pandemic. I could get a lot more into my personal interests but I’ll stick with the short version.
Lastly is who I am professionally. My professional background isn’t very extensive since I have a ways to go in my career. I haven’t had an internship yet, but I have been searching very hard for one this summer. Additionally, I have gained an immense amount of professional experience just from being in Phi Beta Lambda. Especially being on the Leadership team this year, I have been able to practice many professional skills like leadership, communication, and being a flexible and fast learner. However, I do have a unique professional story from the summer of Covid. Everyone had some plans changed on them due to the pandemic, so for me, I was supposed to go to Costa Rica for Plus3 and then find an office job for the summer. Instead, I somehow ended up working as a full time landscaper for a senior living community. I am aware that this is bizarre, and people have no problem reminding me of that, but it was still a telling and meaningful experience for me. I didn’t just get a great tan and summer-long poison ivy, but I proved to myself that I case rise to any challenge, be comfortable in a strange work environment, and not just do any job but do it well. The moral of my professional story is that I have a long road ahead of me, but I have some big dreams and confidence in my foundation.
Now that I’ve sufficiently told you about me, I get to explain why I am here participating in a virtual international consulting project. I chose to apply for and am excited for this project for a number of reasons. First of all, I am incredibly eager to study abroad so I am going to take what I can get and make the most of it. I wanted something that would challenge me and keep me on my toes when it’s rather difficult to stay motivated in a virtual world. I wanted to get a real and meaningful experience working in a professional environment and explore the world of consulting. Lastly, I wanted to get my foot in the door of working internationally because you have to start somewhere. All that being said, I am happy to be here and am excited to capitalize on the opportunity to develop in many different areas. My hope is that I will come out of this project a lot smarter, to put it bluntly. I want to learn all that I can about consulting, the country I am working with, and what it takes to succeed in a professional setting. I want to better my teamwork skills and ability to take initiative, and to be disciplined over the course of the project. I look forward to gaining real experiences and competencies that I can carry with me after the program concludes.
For the next 12 weeks I will be working with Caras con Causa, a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico. In English, Caras con Causa stands for “faces with a cause”, but quite literally, they stand for developing the community through education, the environment, and economically. Caras has so many different programs and community partners because they have big commitments and even bigger passions. My team and I, however, will be working specifically to help them promote and sort through some of the finances of their community laboratory that was designed to educate local students while working to preserve the local environment. I am so eager and thankful to be able to make a difference in a place with such a rich culture and history and to be able to humble myself by serving this wonderful organization.