Karina Rao, International Business

Karina Rao has risen to leadership roles in just about everything she undertakes. And now, she is poised to enter the real world of business to do the same thing. She already has been accepted into a full-time position with Raymond James Financial as part of the investment giant’s Accelerated Development Program in the marketing department.

Rao is set to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in international business. She has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average both overall and in her major. At the end of her freshman year, she took a position in the USF Honors College as a marketing student assistant. She continues to work there now as a communications and marketing intern. She edits the weekly newsletter, directs, edits and produces video productions to promote faculty, international trips and other Honors College initiatives; updates the college’s website, does interviews, writes stories and shoots photographs for the annual report.

She also served as a marketing development intern at Raymond James Financial last year, a position that found her tracking consumer behavior, assessing diversity in the company and its competitors’ marketing materials and managing projects designed to communicate and collaborate with clients. She also wrote bios of associates who were recipients of the Award of Service Excellence. She currently serves as the company’s campus recruiter.

She entered USF with the intent of honing her leadership skills and making meaningful connections and she has accomplished these goals and much more. She helped create the Global Citizens Club and became its marketing coordinator. She served as public relations coordinator for the Asian Students in America club and was the vice president of memberships for Toastmasters.