This week’s guest on the Conversations with Goodman podcast is recent graduate Heather Bernie (BBA ’16), who reflects on her involvement with Brock University as a student leader.

Host Susan LeBlanc talks to Bernie about her role as vice president of external affairs and marketing in her final year as a student with the Goodman Business Students’ Association (BSA), the umbrella organization for seven other Goodman student clubs.

In this role, Bernie had the opportunity to contribute to a rebranding initiative for all of the Goodman student clubs, an initiative that was in response to the naming of the Goodman School of Business in 2012. Along with her team, and in collaboration with the Goodman School of Business, Bernie led the clubs to develop a fresh, consistent and unified suite of logos and marketing materials.

During her time at Goodman, Bernie completed co-op work terms at Cargill and Carlsberg and became a champion for co-curricular activities at the University after getting involved with Goodman JDCC, a team of students that competes with 13 other business schools at JDC Central.

After participating in an international exchange program at Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland, one of Goodman’s many exchange partners, this experience outshines the rest and stands out as Bernie’s favourite memory of her university career.

“You just meet these people that you don’t normally have the opportunity to meet and you’re all in the same area and they teach you all about their culture. It’s such a different experience but it’s quite rewarding,” she said.

“It’s something that I think everyone should experience once in their life.”

She went on to land a job at Broadgrain Commodities as a direct result of attending the Networking Breakfast, an annual networking event hosted by the Goodman Career Development Office that brings employer partners and students together.

Bernie’s role with Broadgrain is in their graduate rotational program, which will see her working for a few months in each of five different areas of the business, including finance and supply chain management.

Her advice for students is to get involved when they feel ready and comfortable, and she credits her well-rounded experience at Goodman as the thing that prepared her for her new role.

“During my interview they loved the amount of things that I got involved with,” said Bernie.

This podcast is the latest in the Conversations with Goodman series which is produced by the Goodman Marketing, Communications and Alumni Relations team and features guests from the Goodman community.