In and Around the World: Rocio Sandoval '97

Rocio Sandoval '97 was born in Cuernavaca, a city near Mexico City in the state of Morelos. As one of five children, she "always counted on the support and guidance of my parents, who taught me key values." Sandoval studied at bilingual and private schools.

She studied at Marymount School, a Catholic women's school in Mexico that implements an
American teaching system. Sandoval says this is how she became aware of Saint Mary's College. As valedictorian of her high school class, Sandoval was the kind of student Saint Mary's looks for.Sandoval represented Saint Mary's on the Notre Dame/ Saint Mary's International Student Organization. She studied a semester through Saint Mary's Rome program. "It was one of the best experiences in my college years," she says. "I had the opportunity to practice my Italian and learn more on the wonderful Italian culture in terms of art, food, and even fashion!" Sandoval graduated magna cum laude from Saint Mary's in 1997.

These days, Sandoval is putting her Saint Mary's education to good use. Straight from Saint
Mary's she started her position as director of marketing for Mexico and Latin America for Procter & Gamble.

The new year holds exciting possibilities for the young business major. She will be moving
to Western Europe to the P&G headquarters in Geneva in February. Sandoval will be working in the Wella Professional Care business. "My role will be to understand the consumer and market of these brands to make better business decisions and achieve growth in this business," she says.

Sandoval believes she's well prepared for all that lies ahead. "Studying at Saint Mary's helped
me grow personally and intellectually. I learned so many things, such as a third language, how to present myself in public, and how to write for business purposes. All this learning has helped me in my professional career at Procter & Gamble, since multinational companies look for individuals with strong leadership and solutions skills."

Although Sandoval found it hard to adjust to the change of culture when she first came to the
College–it was her first time away from home–it was easy to make friends, she said, both from the U.S. and other Latin America countries. "It was also easy to adjust because I always felt the support of the College in terms of the faculty, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and student services. "