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Ivanna Pilataxi wants to bring a global perspective back to her home city in Ecuador. Northeastern’s co-op program allowed her the chance to see how businesses operate globally.
When Ivanna Pilataxi arrived in Boston, she noticed the city was full of businesses that her home city of Quito, Ecuador, lacked. The fourth-year Northeastern University business administration major knew she wanted to change that.
To do so, she’d need to learn best practices through experiencing the different ways businesses are run across the globe. She was able to do just that through Northeastern’s co-op program, which allowed her to spend last semester working for a digital marketing platform in Barcelona, Spain.
Doing so granted her the opportunity to experience different business practices from not only Spain, but around the world.
“In Barcelona, there are a lot of internationals,” she said. “I had the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. … My closest friends there were from Portugal and Argentina. My roommate, she was from Ukraine. This made me more open-minded, to learn from other cultures and be respectful of them. This was not only a great opportunity to grow professionally, but also personally. “
Pilataxi spent her co-op at Frizbit, a startup that focuses on digital marketing. She worked in the sales and marketing department, creating content for the company’s website and helping manage its social media. She also was involved in market research and learned to use platforms to help with customer relations management.
Perhaps most notable of all though, Pilataxi’s co-op allowed her the chance to attend the Mobile World Congress, a conference held annually in Barcelona that gathers people who work in mobile communications. Pilataxi was able to attend this year’s conference, which focused on AI, and network with CEOs and marketing managers from around the globe.
“I got to see a lot of innovation, which was a great opportunity for me,” she said. “I would say that was the highlight of my co-op. … At first, I was not aware of the magnitude and importance of the event. But when I was invited by my company, I realized it’s a networking event where you … get to see all these great innovations working with AI. If you go to these events, you are lucky to see all the innovations coming to the market in the coming year.”
Working in Spain was a contrast to a previous co-op that she did in Boston for a nonprofit. There, she said she learned a lot under the wing of her team. But working for a newer company like the one she did in Spain allowed her to take on more responsibility in her role and see the impact of her work.
“They made me feel empowered,” she said. “I knew I was making a big impact in the company. At the end of the co-op, they told me I increased the website traffic by 20%. … (They said) ‘that’s a big deal and you have to feel proud about all the work you have done here this time.’ So I left feeling like I accomplished something.”
She found the work culture in Spain was more laid back. The workday started later and she had hour-long lunch breaks she was able to spend on the nearby beach.
Pilataxi said she even accumulated vacation time as a co-op. This allowed her to spend some weekends traveling in Europe.
“It really made me realize how different it is to work in different countries,” she said.
After experiencing the culture in two very different cities, Pilataxi said she wants to keep exploring different countries and cultures and how they operate in business. She eventually wants to return to Ecuador and bring back innovative business ideas to her hometown.
“The good thing about experiencing different countries is that you actually get to learn what you want for you and for your future,” she said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to not only work in the market or the industry you are working in, but see how people live in these countries. This has nourished my knowledge in how the world works and how I could share my experiences with people … in my hometown. Right now, I want to just keep exploring.”