Kate McGarr’s experience in the MA in International Affairs Program was about shaping her values and building relationships across borders. Following the eye-opening experiences and contact with people from all over the world that AUP brought her, she wouldn’t have settled for anything less than a meaningful career where she feels she is contributing positively to the world. Her current position as Health and Sustainability Officer at the Consumer Goods Forum, based in Paris, only seemed like a natural step, and a great opportunity to drive change across borders.
As she works to promote healthier and more sustainable lifestyles for consumers and employees within the consumer goods industry and on a global scale, Kate can rely on her knowledge of international affairs and on the skills that she honed through the experiential learning opportunities she had at AUP. In order to drive collaborative impact in a given context, you have to understand that context, and an international affairs background is a great way to gain that understanding.
In addition to the mandatory École de Guerre Practicum, which changed her life in an unexpected way (she met her current partner there), Kate attended the India Practicum which inspired her to do her master’s thesis on the integration and assimilation of the Romani people into France, and completed an internship at the International Chamber of Commerce where she managed international events. The MA in International Affairs program also took her on a study trip to Krakow, Poland and led her to hold a student position at the George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict where she conducted research through archived testimonies.
But Kate points, above all, to the relationships she fostered through AUP as life-changing. “This was the first time I established relationships with so many people from different nationalities,” she explains, and that helps you to manage all types of complex situations that arise in international workplaces and careers.
“Before AUP, I had traveled across Europe, the Middle East and Morocco for photography and had always felt a calling for international, multicultural experiences. I love hearing people’s stories and perspectives from across the world, especially when it enables you to experience humanity through a different lens.” This is something she is now experiencing hands-on in her multicultural, multilingual work environment where at the time, she was the only American in her office. Building relationships across language and cultural barriers helps you see that “different backgrounds are not the most important thing.” This is essential when working within systems that also cross borders and affect us all, such as the traceability of consumer goods. You are ultimately looking in detail at human situations.
This passion for the stories of others goes hand in hand with Kate’s strong desire for justice and positive change in the world that led her to be part of AUP’s committee to elaborate an improved sexual harassment policy, to occupy the role of vice president of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) for a semester, and to take on her current role.
When you come to AUP, she advises, be ready to open your viewpoints, question your own beliefs and “get out of the American silo.” “Stretch yourself,” and use the experience for the network of peers. “Try any and everything.” You will end up doing something meaningful.
