Every semester, HIF offers the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to intern with the foundation, gaining substantive work experience while enjoying the bustling life of the US capital. This spring HIF is hosting Eliza Hajdu, 2019 YHLP alumna, and Niagara University’s MBA graduate.
Eliza Hajdu is a Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate from Niagara University in New York. She has completed three majors of her MBA: Strategic Management, Strategic Human Resource Management and Marketing Management. As one of the top students in her class, she was a Beta Gamma Sigma candidate for 2020.
Prior to moving to the United States, she obtained her degrees in Business Management from Hof University, Germany, and Commerce and Marketing from Budapest Business School University of Applied Sciences, Hungary. She was awarded the National Higher Educational Scholarship (the 0,8% of the top students) and the Scientific Research Scholarship. Eliza contributed as guest speaker and panelist at international conferences in Germany. She also published numerous articles, research, and publications while participating in several economic case study competitions.
After the university years in Germany, she lived in Bangalore, India and worked in the field of business development at Integro Infotech and Consulting. She also gained important experience from the nonprofit sector at the Smart Cities India Foundation, where she was working on several smart city projects.
During the first year of her MBA, she moved to New York City to start her professional career in the Business Capital of The World, where she worked as a consultant account representative in Manhattan, for Fortune 500 clients.
“It is an experience of a lifetime that I lived in Germany and India and now in the United States. After my studies in Germany, India was a real culture shock and challenge, where I learned the “art” of quick adaptation to any circumstances. In the US, the helpfulness of the Hungarian diaspora is incomparable to any other country – the multitude of Hungarian cultural events make me feel like home.”
She was on the Hungarian National Team of Eventing for years, she is a National Junior Champion and represented Hungary three times at the European Championships for Juniors at individual and team level. She speaks English, Hungarian, German and Spanish. In the future, Eliza hopes to work in foreign affairs and economics.
“I got my first insight from HIF during The Young Hungarian Leaders Program last autumn. After the wonderful study sessions, workshops, meetings, and think-tanks with high position U.S. government representatives and Washington DC’s best academics, I saw what a remarkable job HIF is doing for the civil relations between Hungary and the United States. When I had the opportunity to be a part of the team, I took it immediately. I knew how fortunate I was, because working at HIF has given me the experience to be part of such an extraordinary initiative, while working for a foundation helping the Hungarian-American relations.”
