Preet Kaur Kumar ’13 not only fostered her passion for learning and challenged herself academically during her time at University of the Pacific, but also found her passion for travel.

Kumar got hooked on international travel at Pacific, when she spent two summers interning abroad. She spent a summer in London, England, interning for a co-working company, eOffice, and the following summer she was selected to be an ambassador for the Social Entrepreneurship program for Pacific, which took her to Johannesburg, South Africa.

"I fell so in love with traveling and experiencing new places that I set a goal to travel to all seven continents," said Kumar. "I traveled to Antarctica in 2018, which marked my seventh and final continent but I feel like I’m just getting started in exploring the world."

An alumna of the University’s Eberhardt School of Business, Kumar graduated with dual degrees in business administration (finance) and international economics. She was so eager to kick-start her career during her time at Pacific, she took on many extracurricular challenges. During her junior year, she helped launch the upscale residential housing project called University Lofts at the University Plaza Waterfront Hotel in downtown Stockton. Her work took the project from construction to launch to achieving near full occupancy within a year and a half.

Following graduation, she started her career in corporate finance at The Clorox Company.

"My finance degree helped me be familiar with the basic foundations of my role as a financial analyst at The Clorox Company," recalled Kumar. "But ultimately what you learn in the classroom does not translate directly into what you do in your job. Pacific helped me learn to think critically, which allowed me to refine my skills and continue to expand my responsibilities."

Kumar credits Pacific's small class sizes and the campus community for her career success. She believes the small class sizes allow you to not only get to know your professors better, but also build lifelong friendships with classmates that continue into your professional career.

"The small feel of Pacific made the whole campus feel like home," recalled Kumar. "I am still close with many of my professors and most of my friends are still in my life."

After three and a half years working and advancing in corporate finance, Kumar decided to take a risk and pursue a longstanding passion in technology. She made a career change into the tech industry by taking an implementation manager role at Medallia, where she worked with Fortune 500 companies on customer experience design, software implementation and strategy.

Currently, Kumar works for Armorblox, a cybersecurity startup using machine learning and artificial intelligence to help protect enterprises. In her role, she leads their customer success and support efforts.

Kumar stays closely involved with Pacific. She remains in contact with professors and provides advice and guidance to current students.

“I try to tell students to not be afraid to take classes outside of their degree requirements,” said Kumar. “It will help them branch out and make them more well-rounded for the real world.”