Staff Spotlight: Alba Guillen Baleta

Alba was born and raised in Barcelona and is very enthusiastic about Catalan culture since her family participates in many traditions and festivities like fire runs and human towers organizations. She studied political science in international relations and specialized in protocol and event management. She has spent 1 year earning her master's degree in communication in Amsterdam. She loves to travel and visit the beaches in Costa Brava with her friends.

When I finished high school, my aunt took me and my cousins to New York for 20 days. We visited every museum and landmark in the city and filled our days with taking photos and learning about New York. We also took a helicopter ride and saw the city from the air and attended a Mary Poppins on Broadway.

I can now multitask much better than before and I have learned many more phrases and words in professional English. I also and working as a manager in my position and in the past I have just been assisting a manager by focusing on executing actions and now I have grown to plan more long-term actions for a team of people.

One of my mentees who took classes and did an internship came to Barcelona last fall and decided she wanted to spend her free time traveling around Spain. She went to many large cities but also visited small towns and villages in Spain. When she returned to Barcelona she told us she better understood the diversity within Spain which was very important and useful for understanding the political situation in Barcelona.

I would do a Spring semester Hispanic Studies program at UPF. UPF is one of the top universities here and one of the main goals is study abroad is to understand the history, culture, people, and civilization so there is not a better way to do that than taking classes on those subjects. I also would want to be in classes with locals and this program gives the most local interaction.

We really focus on cultural immersion, of course, we offer housing and classes but we really try to focus on culture and language acquisition. Additionally, our mentor program is unique and makes a big impact on our students because they have a local guide and point person that can help them as they mature on this experience. I did not have that in my study abroad program, so this is very rewarding.

The biggest factor in a successful company is people and the staff. You can have a lot of money and a big office, but if the people don't understand the goals of the company and are not passionate about achieving them then nothing will get done. It is important to personalize the goals and make the company goals into team goals that are achievable.