Grace Parker

Class of 2019, Nordstrom

When looking back at my time at Notre Dame, I cannot deny the incredible impact SIBC has had on my college experience.

As a freshman, I came to Notre Dame with an intention of studying business, but I honestly didn’t know much about it and my future major/career path was up in the air. I attended SIBC’s All-Council Meeting that August and was excited to hear of all the interesting companies SIBC partnered with on projects. As someone with a love of fashion who thought I would have zero involvement with the industry while in South Bend, IN, I happily signed up for the Vera Bradley project. I loved every minute of working on this project with my peers and was elated to be selected for the travel team. I never thought as a naïve freshman I would have the opportunity to stand in Vera Bradley’s boardroom and present my research to Barbara Bradley (co-founder of Vera Bradley), herself!

After this first semester, my involvement with SIBC continued as a travel team member on the Ogilvy project, and then as a leader on both the Vera Bradley and Ogilvy projects my Sophomore year. Leading these projects was a real “full circle” moment for me. I started my SIBC experience as a young freshman absolutely terrified of public speaking. To see myself a year later as a project leader with much greater confidence was truly rewarding.

As my junior year came around, I knew I was ready to take the next step with the council. In 2018, I served as one of the Co-Chief Marketing Officers and Co-Directors of the Marketing Division. Being a member of the Board of Directors of SIBC will always be one of the highlights of my time at Notre Dame. Each week, I got to work with a team of amazing ambitious students to better serve the SIBC community and I felt incredibly fulfilled by this role.

I am so thankful to SIBC for enabling me to improve my public speaking and leadership skills, all the while helping me discover my passions and identify a future career path. Thanks to my work with Vera Bradley, I learned of the boundless opportunities for business-minded people in the fashion retail industry. Next year, I’ll be working at Nordstrom’s corporate headquarters as a Merchandise Analyst and I could not be more excited. Work is so much more fun when you are doing something you love and I thank SIBC for helping me find that passion.