Stella Vardanega

The longest Stella has ever lived in one place is seven years, in Milan. Other than that, she’s moved about every three years. At Questrom in Boston, she felt right at home.

“I think the biggest lesson I took from relocating so often was being able to more easily and quickly adapt to new environments and cultures,” she says. “I also believe that this experience allows me to better appreciate differences between people and places and see how diversity in the workplace, school, or university can be an incredible advantage.”

With a bachelor’s degree in international business administration from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Stella arrived at Questrom with an interest in coding and data analysis, but little or no real experience. In fact, the only course she ever took in the subject was Introduction to Python at DataCamp. Thanks to the curriculum sequence and strong support system of Questrom’s MS in Business Analytics, Stella quickly caught up.

“The program is structured in a way that allows all students to reach similar levels before they start the most difficult courses, like machine learning,” she says. “What helped me most at the beginning was making sure I never fell behind. I always did my assignments early to give myself as much time as possible to process and understand the material. My biggest piece of advice is to follow the code when professors show it in class and to try not to fall behind. Also, whenever you need help just ask.”

“The MSBA program is quite intensive,” she adds, “but I came out of it with a completely new set of skills at a level advanced enough to allow me to take on the technical role I accepted upon graduation.” With her new degree in hand, Stella landed a position at Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, a healthcare technology firm. As an AI/data scientist, her work involves developing and learning new technologies and techniques to apply data and AI to business-facing problems, applying machine learning and natural language processing skills to the healthcare industry.

Stella’s new job is located in Hoboken, New Jersey, a new city for her, and one she’ll most likely live in for more than three years.

“I think the biggest lesson I took from relocating so often was being able to more easily and quickly adapt to new environments and cultures.”

– Stella Vardanega