Victoria Wallace of Roswell created her own year-long study abroad program in Brazil

2015 Jan 20

What Victoria Wallace wants, Victoria Wallace gets. Last fall she decided to study abroad for a year but couldn't afford the price tag attached to University System of Georgia-affiliated programs. Bearing in mind the limitations of her budget, Wallace designed her own international program by applying directly to Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, a Brazilian higher education institution commonly referred to as FAAP, and mapping out the curriculum herself: one semester of intense Portuguese training followed by a semester of business courses taught solely in her newly learned language.

After contacting the office of Study Abroad Programs at Georgia State, Wallace received the Howard S. & Marie H. Starks and IEF Study Abroad scholarships, which funded a large portion of her trip. "I got more financial aid going abroad than I've ever gotten in my life," Wallace recalls. In order to finance the rest of her excursion, Wallace sold tickets to private wine, cheese, and chocolate parties at the Melting Pot, the fondue restaurant where she worked at night and on the weekends.

Wallace flew to Sao Paulo without a place to live arranged, but found a host family within three days of her arrival. "It's hard to work things out prior to being there," Wallace says. "Brazilians are very relational."

Luckily, Wallace is no stranger to the value of building positive relationships. Prior to her departure Wallace met Monica Scarborough, a senior director of development at the Robinson College of Business. Scarborough put her in touch with William Bogner, Robinson's assistant dean for undergraduate programs, whose upcoming business trip to Sao Paulo would coincide with Wallace's sojourn in Brazil. While there Bogner introduced Wallace to Jose Madeira, who is the Georgia Department of Economic Development's representative in Brazil as well as the founder of BusinessBrazil, a company that provides marketing and consulting support to small- and medium-sized companies aiming to enter the Brazilian market. Long story short, Madeira offered Wallace a paid six-month internship, during which she put together a business plan and wrote Web copy in English. Wallace cites Scarborough's advocacy as deeply impacting her success, as did her interactions with people like Bogner and Madeira. "I learned how to act among diverse groups of people no matter their status," Wallace explains. "Because of the confidence I gained, I feel like I can do anything and talk to anyone."

Emboldened by this new sense of fearlessness, Wallace embraced every opportunity to connect with key business players in her free time. For example, she sought out Hala Moddelmog, CEO and president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, who spoke at a seminar in Sao Paulo geared toward Brazilian franchisees interested in business opportunities in the United States.

Wallace also volunteered to join a delegation of Atlanta-area educators dedicated to fostering business, education, and other ties between the governments of Fulton County and the Brazilian state of Bahia - including John Eaves, the chairman of Fulton County. Wallace met the group in Salvador, Bahia, and participated in a visit to an engineering school as well as meetings with the Governor of Bahia and a local organization that promotes education in Latin populations. "I turned into a student voice for the delegation and gave them ideas on encouraging more students to study abroad in Brazil," Wallace says.

Wallace is back at Georgia State and will finish the coursework for her BBA in Managerial Sciences in December. However, she plans to spend an extra semester completing a research project on the economic, business, and individual benefits of intercultural exchange. "I want to get an MBA but don't plan on paying for it, and a lot of national scholarships ask, 'What kind of research have you done?'," Wallace says. "I haven't done any, so I thought it would be beneficial."

Although Wallace has accumulated an impressive portfolio of experience throughout her academic career, she worries about the future. "School is very different from working somewhere in a full-time capacity," Wallace says. "I've been in this academic bubble all my life."

Wallace's bubble burst open a long time ago: when she boarded that plane to Brazil.