Meet Bianca Herlory BA’20
Can you tell us something about your background?
I am Franco-American, born in the United States but with French family. When I was young, my family moved to Brazil where I lived for almost six years and learned Portuguese. Both my family background and upbringing have strongly shaped my sense of identity and also contributed to my worldview and course of studies. I believe that cultural understanding and exchange greatly improves cooperation between people, sense of shared humanity, and motivation to resolve conflicts.
What did you like best about studying European studies?
What I most enjoyed about studying European studies, is the interdisciplinary curriculum that is common among all universities. European studies is not a static discipline, but one that is constantly changing and adapting to the shifting world events. For that reason, studying Europe requires learning history, culture, society, economics, and even philosophy, in order to understand Europe and the European Union today, and what it can teach others.
What also drew me to European studies is that European history is one of overcoming and even enabling differences to empower cooperation. I have always enjoyed working with people different than me who bring in their own opinions, perspectives, and experiences. The European Union embodies just that on a daily basis. I think it offers many lessons for politics but also for interpersonal interactions.
What role does learning new (European) languages and cultures play for you?
Learning new languages has opened up my understanding of different countries and peoples which has been instrumental in my travels and studies. Knowing more languages opens up the amount of information you can read and understand, and better arrive at the core meaning of what is being said. Now, my six languages have proven to be a great asset in finding new jobs and even during research for my masters’ thesis.
What are you planning to do/did you do after graduating from Vanderbilt and what are you currently doing professionally?
After Vanderbilt, which was cut short during the pandemic, I moved to Washington D.C. in July ahead to spend some time working and living in the city before starting my masters at Georgetown School of Foreign Service in German and European studies. Because finding a new job during the pandemic was so difficult, I worked at a Squash Sports Club at the front desk where I played squash almost every day. It was in fact at this sports club that I met my future CEO and friend who asked me to send my CV. After some interviews, I was hired as a business analyst for his defense contracting company called Expression Networks, where I worked at the intersection of technology and defense. My first year of graduate studies, I was working as the director of North American chapters for the policy incubator European Horizons, working at the Sports Club front desk, and as a business analyst for Expression Networks. After eight months, I was promoted to project analyst and scrum master in a different project with the Army to develop, implement, and govern the National Emergency TeleCritical Care Network, a government funded telemedicine program to respond to national health emergencies (created for covid response). I spent one year and ten months with Expression Networks before being recruited by a different company.
Now, I am starting a new job at Booz Allen Hamilton as a senior consultant in their Global Defense Sector focusing on IT strategy for the Department of Defense. Since I do not start until June 21st, I have little to inform about this job, but happy to provide more details and information as they come along!
In what way does/did European studies help you to pursue your career goals?
Since European studies requires such broad coursework and interdisciplinary studies, I learned how to quickly adapt to and learn different subject matters while still tying them to the broader area of European studies. The variety of cultures and languages within European studies also taught me to be a better communicator by learning to always understand my audience in order to deliver the appropriate message in the appropriate manner. I have learned how to write and communicate much more clearly and effectively. These are both skills that are highly transferable and versatile. The skills that I have learned by studying European studies are easily translated to any industry. So, while I am going into a more cybersecurity/tech focused area, it is a subset and tool of international relations where communication and the ability to adapt to different subject matters are critical.
Please add any additional thought you might have when recommending an EUS major/minor to students.
European studies teaches more than simply history, culture, economics, and new knowledge, as it also gives students a different mindset as well. European studies is not simply about gathering more information to operate in today’s world, but also a mindset of cooperation, understanding, and adaptability. That is why I highly value both my European studies degrees, because I was able to form a very broad knowledge-base, spanning several subject matters, but I also learned a different way to think about and perceive current global problems. Though European studies is a more specialized course of study, it has actually motivated me to broaden my interests and expanded my academic and professional curiosity. The kind of cooperative and problem-solving mindset that was so important in creating the European Union, is one that I try to use when analyzing any other part of the world and its conflicts.