Chiara Rodrigues
My name is Chiara Rodrigues. I was born in Brazil, although I’ve moved quite a few times throughout the years, living in multiple places in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. I’m currently in my second year of the Bachelor in Communication & Digital Media in Segovia, and I’ll be moving to Madrid next year. I enjoy walking in Segovia and meeting friends around the city, and being a keen cook, I frequently organize dinners with my classmates. I also love traveling, singing and theater, and I’m pursuing those interests at IE University.
"When I came across IE University’s Bachelor in Communication & Digital Media program, I totally fell in love with it. It was the perfect mixture of the disciplines I enjoy."
Finding her feet, finding her path
Given Chiara’s extensive experience of moving around the world, it’s not really a surprise that she should end up in yet another new country. Having completed her International Baccalaureate Diploma in Japan, she was keen to continue her studies in a diverse environment. As Spain already interested Chiara for its culture and the opportunity to add another language to her repertoire, IE University seemed like the perfect fit.
That hadn’t been the case with other programs Chiara had considered when she was looking for the right degree for her. Having considered marketing, journalism and design, she says that when she discovered our Bachelor in Communication and Digital Media, she “totally fell in love with it.”
It is, she says, “the perfect mixture of the disciplines I enjoy.” The program suits her passion for creativity and content creation, and its hands-on nature is exactly what she was looking for. Chiara particularly singles out the classes related to the marketing behind communication and the “amazing” facilities available for recording and editing videos as highlights so far.
Segovia has suited her well, too. Having spent the first two years of the program in the beautiful but quaint city, Chiara has had the chance to get to know everyone, get accustomed to the university lifestyle, and adapt to Spain’s culture in a more relaxed environment. With those two years under her belt, she’s now really looking forward to being at the state-of-the-art IE Tower in Madrid starting next year.
Chiara has certainly filled up her schedule during those first two years, joining multiple clubs, being a part of the cheerleading team and playing an active role at The Stork, the student newspaper, as an Instagram content creator. That’s had to take a bit of a back seat lately, however, as she has focused her efforts on a communication internship.
The broad range of extracurricular activities on offer to students is part of an ecosystem that encourages personal and professional development, and Chiara says that happens from the very first day. She points to being assigned a career adviser and a career development program, as well as the help she received to build her CV, all in the first year.
As for the programs themselves, Chiara feels that IE University students get a good insight into the real world of business from early on in their degree. She is also greatly enjoying the huge diversity of our community, learning from them and growing personally every day. Inside and outside the classroom, she’s enjoying the IE University experience.
She’s not sure what she wants to do in the future yet, so she’s exploring a number of different paths. A member of the Communication Lab in her first year, she’s now doing a part-time internship as a digital marketing intern for a Madrid-based company. As a learning experience in the corporate communication industry, this aligns nicely with the career path she thinks she’ll most likely end up taking.
If not, Chiara won’t let it worry her. Her motto is “forget the mistake, learn the lesson”—a sentiment that, as a learning institution, we at IE University wholeheartedly agree with!
