Emma DeMarco (M.S. in Global Commerce ’26) didn’t apply to McIntire to play it safe. A Long Island native from Northport, NY, DeMarco wanted to apply her strong undergrad business foundation to meet her desire for something more.
“I’ve always known I wanted to pursue my master’s because I genuinely enjoy being in school,” she says of her time at Lehigh University, where she majored in Marketing, minored in Entrepreneurship, and played lacrosse. “I wanted to get the experience of not being a student-athlete.”
After four years balancing Division I athletics with rigorous academics, DeMarco was ready for a new kind of challenge. She initially considered staying in her home state, but after encouragement from a lifelong friend who attended UVA, she discovered McIntire’s M.S. in Global Commerce (MSGC) Program. Its immersive, international structure ultimately made the decision clear.
“Being a student-athlete, I didn’t get to go abroad, so the MSGC looked like the perfect fit for me,” DeMarco explains. “Once I found this program, I immediately applied.”
At McIntire, she found students who, like her, brought prior business experience; that shared foundation allowed her to examine how global politics, culture, and economics intersect at a deeper level. “We look at how politics influences business decisions, and especially through a global lens, how countries interact with one another,” DeMarco says.
Living and Learning Across Continents: Berlin, Collaboration, and Cultural Insight
A defining feature of the MSGC program is its living-and-learning model, which begins in Charlottesville and continues abroad at ESMT Berlin. For DeMarco, the transition from Central Virginia to Germany was transformative.
In Charlottesville, the cohort was inseparable. That intensity fostered trust, essential for a program built on dialogue and debate. “Being able to be comfortable around my classmates has provoked a lot more interesting conversations than I’ve had in other classes during undergrad,” she says.
Emma DeMarco and friends at a UVA football game
One course, Professor Peter Malliet’s Global Challenges: Commerce in Context, was remarkable for DeMarco: “That was the most I’ve ever learned,” she says, crediting the weekly “Eye on Global Markets” project requiring students to simulate high-level market briefings. Equally impactful was the classroom culture: “We would talk about very controversial issues in class, and after class, we’re all still friends.”
In Berlin, where classes are held in three-and-a-half-hour blocks, DeMarco and her peers experienced global commerce firsthand. Living across different neighborhoods in the city, most within a 20- to 25-minute radius of ESMT’s campus, broadened their perspectives even further. “I never thought I would be meeting people from these places around the world,” she says. “It was great.”
As a class delegate, DeMarco played a leadership role, helping guide her classmates through the logistical complexities of the international program. “It was an honor to see that my classmates respect me that much,” she says. Serving as a liaison between students and administrators has given her insight into how programs evolve, especially as part of the inaugural MSGC partnership with ESMT. “It’s been exciting to contribute to the feedback loop, sharing student experiences and helping shape the program in real time.”
Emma DeMarco and Isabelle Klein with MSGC classmates in Berlin
Social Impact in Ghana: Applying Business Skills Where They Matter Most
The MSGC experience culminates in a Social Impact Project (SIP), and DeMarco’s team has traveled to Winneba, Ghana, to partner with the Charlottesville-Winneba Foundation. Her five-person team is spending five weeks on the ground beginning March 29, supporting technology initiatives and digital marketing efforts tied to a local cultural festival.
One of their most ambitious goals centers on Coast Bridge Academy, a local school. “They consider themselves a technology school, but right now, they have four computers, and two of them work,” DeMarco says. “They teach their students how to use technology and computers on chalkboards.”
The team pitched to investors to secure donations for approximately 30 computers, an initiative designed to create sustainable change. “We want to have that impact sustain itself for however long it can,” she says.
The logistical and analytical challenges are daunting: shipping electronics internationally, coordinating across time zones, and aligning stakeholder needs. “There’s definitely skill-building in problem-solving and analytical thinking,” DeMarco says. “From this project, we are gaining an insane amount of practice and skill set building that I don’t think any of us ever thought we would get.”
Emma DeMarco is part of a five-person team spending five weeks in Winneba, Ghana, supporting technology initiatives and digital marketing efforts tied to a local cultural festival.
For prospective students wondering whether the leap is worth it, DeMarco doesn’t hesitate.
“Speaking for myself, it was the best thing I could have done for my personal and professional development,” she says. “Charlottesville and UVA have been life changing for me. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
For McIntire, it’s exactly the kind of story that defines its second century: ambitious students, global perspectives, and business education that solves problems around the world.
