Pictured: Veronica Escobar-Mesa (left) and Frances Smyth (right)

The annual Poets & Quants Best & Brightest Business Majors list, begun in 2016, has honored 100 of the most accomplished seniors who majored in business showcasing the Class of 2021 for whom “business is a tool to give back and do good. It is a means to open up the playing field and support those who share their values.” Even with the challenges of COVID-19, Questrom students Veronica Escobar-Mesa (Questrom’21) and Frances Smyth (Questrom’21) embody that spirit in their experience as Questrom undergraduates. They are successful, motivated women with demonstrated potential that foreshadows extraordinary career journeys.

Veronica is majoring in Business Administration and Management with concentrations in Strategy & Innovation and Entrepreneurship. After graduation, she plans to work for The Barthwell Group, a Certified Woman-Owned, Minority, Small Business Enterprise, boutique management consulting firm, based in Detroit. She is in the Questrom Honors Program, Vice President of Student Affairs for the Questrom Student Government, and Vice President and Co-founder of the Colombian Student Association. “My success is greatly thanks to my parents. They encouraged me to study at Boston University and they supported me throughout every step of the way,” she says. “My parents have not only been my support, but also my motivation. They showed me that I could achieve anything I set out to do. Therefore, I am where I am today thanks to them.”

Frances is a Business Administration major with a dual concentration in Marketing and Information Systems. After graduation she will return to Microsoft as a Product Marketing Manager in their ACE Marketing class, which is a 2-year rotational program within Microsoft. She is Director of Marketing Strategy at BU’s Cybersecurity Association, a Qualitative Research Assistant for an Antiracism in Tech initiative at BU’s Center for Antiracist Research, and a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar. “I learned that business draws from multiple disciplines in unexpected ways. As a marketing student, I have learned how to construct a narrative in order to develop a meaningful message behind a product, create business models to quantify the business impact of selling a product, and communicate a vision of where a business is head. The combination of these skills not only makes me a better marketer, but also team player.”

Get to know more about Veronica and Frances by reading their full profiles on Poets & Quants.

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