Finance senior Emilio Ramos Barrios has learned that determination will take you places—literally. From growing up in Mexico City to attending Brigham Young University in Provo to recently completing an internship in Berlin through the Whitmore Global Business Center (GBC), Ramos has learned the importance of chasing every opportunity, no matter how out of reach it may seem.
Ramos found his love of numbers early on in life as he learned about business from a close aunt, who worked for the Mexican Stock Exchange, and his parents, who were proud small business owners. Even when he was in middle school, Ramos knew exactly what he wanted to study in college. “Finance was the right path for me,” he says.
While choosing a future major was easy for Ramos, developing a competitive application to BYU and the BYU Marriott School of Business was not. Even after an academic advisor urged him to consider other colleges, Ramos was undeterred. With support from his parents, he worked hard to earn the title of valedictorian at his middle school, receive a scholarship to an expensive private high school, and become trilingual. “Because I wanted to come to BYU, I learned German in high school. I needed to stand out,” he recalls.
Ramos’s determination, which ultimately resulted in his acceptance to the finance program at BYU Marriott, has continued to open doors. When finding an internship before his senior year proved difficult, Ramos sought help from two German and Russian professors: Teresa Bell identified a potential internship in Germany, and Tony Brown nominated Ramos for a scholarship. Additional funding from the GBC allowed him to intern in Berlin with home24, an online furniture retail company.
During the internship, Ramos primarily focused on helping the company switch the format of its financial reporting standards after home24 was acquired by another organization. Even as he worked closely with both the CFO and vice president of finance, he was often trusted to find solutions to his projects on his own. Ramos recalls when, after wrestling with a particularly difficult error in a balance sheet for several days, he decided to try out a new idea—and the system snapped into place. Ecstatic, Ramos showed his solution to his boss. “He actually got excited—and that got me excited because I was an intern. I didn’t expect to have that much of an impact in the company,” Ramos says. “That was really rewarding.”
The balance sheet experience taught Ramos the importance of being bold and showing his abilities, even as an intern. “Sometimes, we are nervous to give insights to companies because we think we’re not experienced,” Ramos explains. “But the lack of experience isn’t bad. It’s temporary. There’s nothing you can do about it except to be confident in what you know, what you can do, and who you can be; people around you will start to notice.”
His time in Germany has done more than just give Ramos valuable work experience. It opened his eyes to “a much bigger world of opportunities,” including those that come from speaking another language, he explains.
While in Berlin, Ramos attended a championship soccer game between Germany and Spain. Wearing a German jersey, yet singing along to the familiar Spanish songs playing over the speakers, he caught the attention of a group of German sports fans. Good-naturedly, they began joking that Ramos didn’t belong next to them—but Ramos reassured them that he was supporting Germany. For the rest of the game, Ramos spoke and cheered in German with his new friends. “Though Germany lost that game, they hugged me and said, ‘You’re one of us,’” he recalls. “Just speaking the language can open more doors than you can ever imagine.”
Ramos’s experiences in Berlin have only reenforced his determination to seize opportunity when it knocks—and go wherever it takes him. “Take as many chances as you have, even if they don’t seem like real options,” he emphasizes. “It’s good to always be open to new opportunities and learning experiences. Sometimes, something you never expect turns out being the highlight of your life or your summer. Take chances and do whatever it takes to get them.”
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Written by Katie Brimhall
