Senior Integrates Sales and Global Business Into Dream Career: Macalaster Hooper ’19 BSBA (Marketing)

Macalaster Hooper’s ’19 BSBA (Marketing) passion for speaking with people from different cultures emerged when he was 12 years old and began learning Spanish. After he became fluent and was enrolled at the Eller College, he discovered the Global Business Program and realized he could have a career doing business with people from around the world.

“I knew that I wanted to major in business, and I knew that I loved Spanish,” says Hooper.  “Eller was able to show me I could combine both to work in a global economy.”

Sales had also always intrigued Hooper and after learning about the Eller Professional Sales Club in one of his marketing classes, he dove right in.

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“There are two tracks in the club: learning and competing. I started competing right away and I haven’t been able to step away since,” he says.

Now, being an active member for two years, Hooper is on the executive board as the vice president of event planning and internships: “My role involves communicating with companies who want to host events with us, coordinating sales competitions and helping students get summer internships.”

The B2B route was very attractive to Hooper, because he values building a relationship with the client before doing business: “In Mexico, it’s a laid-back family culture where have dinner and get to know people’s families before coordinating business.”

Rob Matteucci, an adjunct lecturer at Eller, has taught him the need for careful approaches and manners when conducting business with other cultures.

“In China, you have to be exactly on time to a business meeting, and anything other is a sign of disrespect. Japan has a mix of both Mexican and Chinese values, where they value being on time, but they still expect you to socialize outside the work place,” says Hooper.

Hooper continued to explore the global market when he traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico with his classmates for the Global Business Program. The group visited the Herradura Tequila Factory, where he learned about the traditions behind the production of their tequila, the Hewlett-Packard office to learn about their internships, heard from a global lecturer at La Universidad de Panamericana and took a cultural tour of the town, Tlaquepaque.

Before his December 2019 graduation, Hooper will intern for AT&T’s B2B Sales Development Program in Texas and hopes to become a salesman in the future.

In the long-term, he plans on learning Portuguese and working or living in Latin America, saying: “I want to get a solid footing with a good company that works internationally and experience living and working outside the United States.”