Post by Nikita Arora

As I get closer to graduation and reflect on the experiences that shaped my time at Georgetown McDonough, one that stands out most was my Global Business Experiences - Georgetown McDonough in Brazil. Over the semester, our team had the opportunity to work with Natura, Latin America’s leading beauty and personal care company, on a digital strategy challenge. What made the project especially interesting was how much the problem evolved as we dug deeper into the business, customer journeys, and operational realities behind the scenes. What initially looked like a fairly straightforward chatbot retention challenge turned into a much broader conversation around what it actually takes to make digital channels effective at scale. One thing that stood out throughout the project was how relevant this challenge feels today. As AI-powered customer interactions become increasingly common, it’s becoming clear that good AI experiences are not just about how intelligent the interaction feels on the surface. The real differentiator is whether the underlying systems, processes, and integrations are capable of turning those interactions into actual outcomes. Being in Brazil added an entirely different dimension to the experience. Working across languages, markets, and teams, while also getting firsthand exposure to the country’s retail and consumer ecosystem, gave me a much deeper appreciation for how strongly local context shapes business decisions and customer behavior. It made the work feel far more real and grounded than any remote project could. And outside of work, experiencing Brazil’s culture, energy, music, food, and yes, the Caipirinhas, made this an experience I will genuinely carry with me beyond business school. Grateful to Thiago Montu and Ana Flávia Nascimento for the candid conversations, collaboration, and for making us feel genuinely welcomed throughout the engagement, Debora V. Thompson for her invaluable insights, our Georgetown faculty, and my teammates Shivang Juneja, Alvin Chen, Koral Huang for making this such a memorable part of my MBA journey. Excited to see how some of the ideas and discussions from the project continue to evolve going forward. Attaching a few highlights from this experience here.