Until a couple of years ago, Mattia Fosco (BBA ’24) couldn’t have imagined working in Europe.

Thanks to the Bachelor of Business Administration International Double Degree Co-op program offered by Brock’s Goodman School of Business, Fosco is launching his human resources career in Italy.

He graduated with his Brock degree and his management degree from NEOMA Business School in Reims, France, on June 10 during Brock’s 115th Convocation, earning two degrees in about the same amount of time it usually takes to earn one undergraduate degree.

While at NEOMA, Fosco completed a co-op term in Paris at the headquarters of LVMH, a French multinational with 76 global luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Dior and Veuve Clicquot.

Fosco made enough of an impression that his supervisors wanted to keep him in the company. He will be working at Acqua di Parma, a perfume subsidiary of LVMH based in Milan.

“The program helped me by allowing myself to get out of my comfort zone,” said Fosco, who has childhood memories of spraying himself with his grandfather’s bottle of Acqua di Parma cologne. “Any opportunities that do come my way now, I wouldn’t be as reticent to take them. If a company in Europe asked me two and a half years ago to work for them, I’d really have to think about it.”

Staying in Europe long term after his co-op experience was an easy decision for the Ottawa native, who aims to work at LVMH’s head office in Paris in the future.

“You do get to build a life here, and it’s something I can see myself continuing to do,” he said.

Living in France was something Garima Marwah (BBA ’24) saw herself doing after going to Paris through an exchange program in her early teens.

“I told myself when I was 13 that I was going to live there one day,” said Marwah, who also graduated from the double degree program on June 10. “I looked for opportunities to do that. When I saw that Brock offered this program, it was incredible.”

Marwah travelled to 10 other countries while studying supply chain management and international relations at NEOMA in France. She also completed a co-op term in Belgium.

She and Fosco worked with students from many more countries at NEOMA, giving them insights into different cultures and work styles that has helped prepare them for their careers.

Goodman School of Business graduate Garima Marwah (BBA ’24) completed the School’s double degree program that saw her earn an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Brock and a Diplôme du Centre d’Etudes Supérieures Européennes de Management from Neoma Business School in Reims, France.

“You get to see how people think, how they see the world and see how they do things,” said Marwah, who hails from Waterloo, Ont. “There’s a saying that you’re an amalgamation of everyone you meet in life. Everyone who’s part of the double degree, we become a little bit Italian, a little bit Indian, a little bit Japanese. We become who we are coming out of the program because of the people we met while we were there.”

That global experience has put her on the path to success as a multicultural customer development manager for PepsiCo in Canada. Covering a territory between Milton and Oshawa, Ont., Marwah builds client relationships primarily with South Asian store owners.

The unique role was created after Marwah met with a company representative at a networking event during her last term at Brock and shared the international experience she gained during Goodman’s double degree program.

“My cultural sensitivity and the knowledge I have from all around the world is helping me be successful in my job,” she said. “It’s really neat to have this responsibility right out of school.”