Fabienne Brookman-Amissah, '10
"I've always wanted to study business and to be in this world," said Fabienne Brookman-Amissah, '10. Four years after graduation, she is a market intelligence analyst for McKinsey & Co.'s public sector practice.
Looking back Brookman-Amissah shared, “It wasn't until I visited the University of Richmond that I realized it was a good fit. I came for Richmond Scholars interviews and was hosted by two students who really welcomed me and made me feel part of the Richmond community. They were also business students and had a lot to say about the program. I’d never envisioned myself at a small school like Richmond until then, but the trip made me see that what I needed out of my undergraduate experience was a community of students and faculty alike that wanted me to thrive.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing and accounting from the Robins School of Business, Brookman-Amissah began her career as a competitive intelligence analyst at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Just over a year ago she was recruited to work for McKinsey. “The firm was looking to expand their public sector footprint and needed a team of experienced business development professionals to help them better navigate the federal market space. As part of this new go-to-market team, I help educate consultants about clients, competitors and opportunities.”
Brookman-Amissah reflected on her Robins School experience. “I credit a big part of my experience to my amazing professors. Then there is Professor Dana Lascu, with whom I had never even taken a class, but I somehow found myself at her office hours asking about research opportunities.”
She expanded on the research she conducted alongside Lascu, professor of marketing. “Our research centered around marketing practices employed by various food companies in France, Spain and the U.S. specifically looking at online marketing directed at younger audiences. Online marketing is very different from the three-minute commercials we used to watch as children, and yet we don't know enough about the effects of these differences.” Their article “Online Marketing of Food to Children: An Investigation in High-Income Countries” was published in Young Consumers in 2013.
Brookman-Amissah looks fondly toward the future as she advances in her career. “I've gotten my feet wet in international business development over the years, and I hope to do a lot more of that. In the short-term, I hope to pursue an M.B.A. to better position myself to do more work in emerging markets. This could be in the form of working in the marketing and strategy arm of a multi-national company looking to expand into Africa, but there is also a lot that needs to be done around assessing gaps in a given country's infrastructure and the resultant barriers to economic inclusion. Thus in the long-term, I’m more interested in advising governments on how to better facilitate and sustain business growth.”
Outside of her day job, she is also involved in the D.C. food scene. “My love for food has grown into a broader interest in the restaurant industry. As a result I'm now working with a local business incubator that is focused on D.C.’s food economy. I’m reassessing the local food business incubator landscape and helping to author a white paper on D.C.’s underdeveloped neighborhoods and the economic impact of government support for local food entrepreneurship.”
She concluded, “At McKinsey, a director once said, ‘If possible, we need to try and create something out of whole cloth.’ Richmond and the Robins School taught me to create my own opportunities, and I've been all the better for it.”