Class of 2020 Success Stories: BGSU College of Business grad has data stacked in her favor

With two internships at Eaton and one on the way at O-I, the sky's the limit for Jazzmin Speziali

By Bob Cunningham ’18

Jazzmin Speziali arrived at Bowling Green State University in 2016 as a high school student who didn’t know a soul. Now, Speziali has made countless friends and career connections as a member of the Class of 2020.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration with a specialization in business analytics and intelligence from the College of Business and is scheduled to begin an internship Aug. 1 at Owens-Illinois (O-I), a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Speziali, who attended Anthony Wayne High School in Whitehouse, Ohio, earned 35 credits from the College Credit Plus (CCP) program by taking classes at the Bowling Green campus while still in high school. She liked the experience so much that she decided to continue her education at the University.

“Once I got to college, I was introduced to internships and all of the different possibilities to explore while at BGSU,” she said. “In the College of Business, specifically, there are many opportunities and you’re kind of guaranteed a job if you do well. That’s why I like it. The curriculum is top notch and they really prepare you for your job in the future.”

She had two internships as an IT data analyst at Eaton Corporation, another Fortune 500 company: one in Pittsburgh and one at Eaton’s headquarters in Cleveland. While in Pittsburgh, she developed a knowledge base that was used as a training tool for incoming employees to resolve internal IT tickets. The experience gave her confidence that she was on the correct career path. In Cleveland, she managed a project to develop an app that would help employees find resources within the company for any issues or questions that may arise. Not only did she manage the project, she also helped develop the app.

“I really enjoyed having a project to develop an app, and everything involved with it, including creating a project charter and a plan,” Speziali said. “The work made me realize that this is what I want do — and, frankly, I’m pretty good at it.”

At the Fall EXPO Job and Internship Fair, she connected with Troy Dowd, applications and cloud delivery architect at O-I, who recruited her.

Her connections with faculty helped facilitate her first two internships.

“Bethany Niese (instructor, management information systems) actually is the reason I got the internship with Eaton,” Speziali said. “She called me five minutes before one of my classes and said, 'the CIO and senior vice president of Eaton Bill Blausey (’86) is upstairs and I really want you to meet him.' I went to talk to him for a while and told him about myself.

“When I went to the career fair and stopped at the Eaton booth, they knew exactly who I was. They called me right after I left and I got the internship.”

Christine Seiler, former coordinator in Women in Leadership Initiatives, taught Speziali Introduction to Business.

“She was instrumental as well because she introduced me to Women in Business Leadership,” she said. “She reached out to me during one of my first semesters because she knew I was still in high school. She told me about all of the opportunities to make friends on campus.

“I had talked to her about it because I was a little uncomfortable with the fact that I was so much younger than everyone and I felt like I didn’t really fit in. She told me to go to a meeting, and I loved it and soon after that got offered the position of vice president of development.”

While serving in Women in Business Leadership, she earned the Theresa Popp Braun Women in Leadership Scholarship.

“Theresa Popp Braun introduced me to her husband, Dean Braun, and they both thought I would be a great Student Ambassador” Speziali said. “I joined Student Ambassadors and it was a lot of work for me because I was working 35 hours a week as a waitress while working in both of these student organizations, but the experiences were invaluable.”

“Jazzmin has been a highly engaged student in the College of Business,” said Raymond Braun, dean of the College of Business. “Her work ethic is admirable and she is known as a person who gets things done. She was also voted ‘most helpful’ by the other Student Ambassadors. I look forward to seeing great achievements from her!”

Speziali said she her O-I internship has the potential to turn into a full-time job. She also plans to become certified by the Project Management Institute and earn a master’s degree.

She said her time at BGSU is “a journey that I’ll be able to keep with me the rest of my life.”

“I made a lot of connections and lifelong friends and I honestly consider BGSU my home. When I got to BGSU, Dean Braun and his wife, Theresa, kind of took me in under their wings. I made a lot of friends in the organizations, found a lot of career opportunities and developed professionally.”

“The professors are always there to help you and even be a friend. The professors are a huge help and they really care about their students. Like Christine Seiler for example, she and I actually built a really good connection and she really helped me get involved on campus. Financially, BGSU is great too compared to other universities — the College of Business’ return on investment is insane compared to other schools.”