{"id":28801,"date":"2017-07-24T07:49:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T11:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=28801"},"modified":"2018-08-27T08:11:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T12:11:02","slug":"fiu-graduate-made-a-home-in-miami-then-amazon-came-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2017\/07\/fiu-graduate-made-a-home-in-miami-then-amazon-came-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"FIU graduate made a home in Miami. Then, Amazon came calling."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ina
Ina Thakur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Ina Thakur, moving from Shimla, India, to Miami to pursue her Master of Science in Information Systems<\/a> at FIU\u2019s College of Business meant leaving home and family. But she was ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to take a little risk,\u201d said Thakur, who, as she moved through the program and came to know the region, decided to make South Florida her new home. And now she has \u00a0grasped another opportunity: moving to Seattle to begin working as a business analyst for Amazon, who chose her from a select group of applicants for the position. Amazon will also sponsor her work visa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s a world-leading company in ecommerce,\u201d she said, noting that the amount and sophistication of its data and its enormous customer base were a tremendous draw.<\/p>\n

She credits FIU\u2019s Information Systems and Business Analytics Department<\/a> (ISBA) for preparing her for the opportunity. \u201cI found the faculty very warm and forthcoming, and very helpful from day one,\u201d Thakur said. What\u2019s more the program was well structured, she said, and helped students combine an understanding of business acumen with technology.<\/p>\n

A path to Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thakur studied biotechnology during her undergraduate days in India. Yet she was also drawn to technology and eventually added computer science studies to her curriculum. After graduation, she worked for four years in India in IT at Tata Consultancy Services, where she focused on business analysis. Meanwhile she was becoming intrigued by analytics. As she evaluated graduate programs, FIU stood out both for its rigor and because it could be completed within 16 months or less.<\/p>\n

She said Gladys Simpson, an instructor and faculty advisor in the ISBA department, stands out as a guide and mentor. \u201cMeeting her was one of the best opportunities of my life,\u201d Thakur said.<\/p>\n

Simpson, for whom Thakur was a graduate teaching assistant, has high praise for Thakur as well. \u201cShe consistently went above and beyond her required duties and was always willing to embrace new opportunities with enthusiasm and a commitment to excellence,\u201d said Simpson. \u201cI have had many teaching assistants over the course of my six years at FIU, and she stands out as one of the best because of her positive attitude, initiative and the way she could command the respect of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thakur made her own opportunities as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a lot of competitions, joined the AIS (Association for Information Systems student organization) club and had the opportunity to go beyond school,\u201d she said. That included being part of the team named the U.S. winner of the Santander NEO\u2019s Challenge, an international university data analysis competition that sent FIU students to Madrid for the finals.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Thakur secured an internship at Univision, which turned into a job as a business intelligence analyst. \u201cThey were the best people, the best team,\u201d she said, noting that her superiors encouraged her ambitions, even it if meant leaving the company and South Florida.<\/p>\n

And now, as she looks forward to a career beyond the Sunshine State, she takes with her cherished memories of FIU. \u201cThere has not been a single class I didn\u2019t enjoy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was absolutely fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Ina Thakur, moving from Shimla, India, to Miami to pursue her Master of Science in Information Systems at FIU\u2019s College of Business meant leaving home and family. But she was ready. \u201cI wanted to take a little risk,\u201d said Thakur, who, as she moved through the program and came to know the region, decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":28838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[3903,3959,1025,3969,3398,3400],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28801"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28881,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28801\/revisions\/28881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}