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Hayley Stoddard ’24 discovered her calling at Rollins, where she majored in international business and double-minored in data analytics and French. She always had a passion for international business, but it was a friend's recommendation that put Rollins on her radar. One campus tour and a deep dive into the College’s standout international business program later, and she knew it was the right fit—a decision that proved life-changing.

Stoddard sharpened her skills abroad, exploring analytics and coding during an internship in Ireland and improving her language skills in France. Back in Orlando, the heart of theme park entertainment, she secured a coveted internship at Universal Orlando as a travel industry sales intern and is now working as a digital analyst with Travel + Leisure Co., blending her passions for data analysis and hospitality into an exciting career.

“I had so many opportunities through the connections that Rollins offers,” says Stoddard. “Being able to apply what I learned outside the classroom was extremely beneficial and has set me up for great success.”

Enduring Lessons

“Fundamentally, I think Dr. [Emmanuel] Kodzi taught me the most at Rollins about character and being an outstanding student. His classes are unique—they really make you think about subjects differently and about how they’re relevant to the workforce. Dr. Kodzi is definitely a big part of the leader and person I am today.”

Empowered by Opportunity

“Without the help of financial aid, I wouldn’t have had the full experience that I had at Rollins, which allowed me to get my current position. Being able to apply the skills I learned and pick up new skills outside the classroom helped me become a more well-rounded person who’s able to think quickly on my toes, be in uncomfortable situations, and most of all, have trust in myself.”

Behind the Scenes

“I loved my time with Universal Orlando as a travel industry sales intern because I was a part of one of the biggest conferences they were hosting for Universal’s preferred partners. Creating a program for all these travel agencies that contribute millions in revenue for Universal was a monumental task to give an intern. I was in charge of doing a lot of back-end stuff, and it was a very ad hoc internship that touched on a wide variety of my skills. The Universal team was really impressed with my performance, and I attribute my success to what I learned at Rollins. The experience was so formative that it helped me stay within the hospitality sector in Orlando.”

Complementary Concepts

“Business professor Serina Haddad helped me realize how much I love statistics, which is a huge part of what I'm doing now at Travel + Leisure. I even did my RFLA [Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts] project on bias in AI. Those experiences and her guidance pushed me to add on a data analytics minor.”

Designing Success

“In Ireland, I worked for an up-and-coming fintech company called OnlineApplication, where I first dipped my toes into wireframing. A lot of what I do now is analytics, building dashboards for stakeholders, and doing a lot of back-end coding. This internship experience abroad built a good foundation for me, helping me learn how to be adaptable and to understand the next steps I needed to take on my career path.”

Fluent in Confidence

“I chose France because I wanted to dive deeper into my French speaking skills, but I gained so much more from the experience. I think the hardest part about being abroad is the language barrier. You have to challenge yourself to be OK with not knowing everything. It was gratifying to see the work I had done at Rollins really pay off when I started applying it to real-world situations that I couldn’t control.”

Prepared to Lead

“At Travel + Leisure, I’m in charge of a majority of our web analysis for prospecting. Day to day, that involves pulling analytics on the prospecting side to identify leads and make inferences about where the company should go. Business professors make you present often and think quickly when you’re presenting, and that experience helps me greatly when I present to big stakeholders within our company about such important metrics. I also build dashboard analytics, which ties back to what I was doing in Ireland with wireframing. Rollins prepared me to be confident in the material that I know and the research that I do.”

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• International Business