Where Are They Now? Fernanda Sapiña
If you don't know the name Fernanda Sapiña, then you probably haven't been hanging out at AUP that long. She graduated in 2019 with a Global Communications major. In her time at AUP, she was the editor in chief of the Peacock Plume, an incredible advisor, involved in many clubs, and pretty much friends with everyone. You could always find her at the AMEX mentoring someone, laughing, or talking about life while smoking a cigarette. She guided many first-year students through their first days of the scary new city of Paris and the experience of living abroad.
Image credit: Fernanda Sapiña
She was permanently engaged with AUP and everyone that was close to her knew that she had a bright future. You might not know what happened to her, but she is still involved with AUP in many ways and she wants to remain involved in the future. I sat down with her almost two years after her graduation and talked about her life after AUP, her dreams, and how COVID-19 has impacted her plans.
After graduating with an incredible set of skills from AUP, Fernanda started working at the OECD; she got offered a consultancy, which the career office at AUP helped her with. She learned a lot while she worked there. "The Digital Toolkit class I took in the first semester definitely helped me in this job. I used a bit of coding, so I was grateful for that," she said, a bit nostalgic. Unfortunately, when the pandemic hit, she could not keep working there anymore and her plans, as almost everyone's around the world, had to change radically.
Fernanda has always been engaged in political conversation, so it came as no surprise when she applied for a Strategic Communications MA at the War Studies Department of King’s College London. It was no wonder when she got it. So even though a pandemic had gripped the world, she moved to London in September and started a new challenge. She moved to a new city leaving her friends and family behind and started a new life.
For her, AUP played a big part in her ability to move around the world and learning how to be a citizen of the world. "AUP helped me see a home as a nuanced concept and see the new as an opportunity," she says. According to Fernanda, her time at the AUP taught her about different nationalities, cultures, and ways of thinking, which helped shape her professional and working life. She became comfortable with being anywhere and calling it her home, however, COVID-19 wasn't so sure about that.
Image credit: Fernanda Sapiña
Due to the pandemic, Fernanda only had in-person master's experience in Kings College for four months. After Christmas break and a very strict lockdown in London, she had to come back to Paris and since then, she had to take on the challenge of doing her master's program online, which wasn't in her plans. However, she always tries to look at the bright side, so she says that even if she is the "COVID generation," she has become very tech-savvy and has learned the importance of mental health during this time.
The former AUP student is still involved in some capacity and would like to be in the future. If not in an educational capacity, a social, or mentorial one. She pictures herself coming back to her alma mater and giving a talk to students who were once like her, sitting in C-103 listening to a talk on a Wednesday afternoon. Today, she still reads the Peacock Plume and tries to stay involved with alumni activities.
For now, Fernanda plans to go back to the UK as soon as possible to finish her master's, her plan for the future is to get into social entrepreneurship, if not in Europe, in Asia.
