Building a Foundation: Victoria Darmody hopes her online MBA will prepare her to transition to a career in marketing

Victoria Darmody  ’25 MBA never imagined her English literature degree from Fordham University would lead her to a Syracuse University MBA program. But after nearly a decade in business roles without formal business education, the Central Jersey native knew she needed to fill that gap to jump-start her career.

“I felt like I was missing that final piece,” says Darmody, who began Syracuse University’s online MBA program in fall 2023. “I had worked in business roles, but I didn’t have the business foundation that I wanted.”

After graduating from Fordham, Darmody joined the leadership development program at Wawa, spending seven years with the company and ultimately serving as a store general manager. She then transitioned to McMaster-Carr, a supplier of industrial materials and maintenance equipment, where she works in sales, focusing on customer communications and pilot projects.

“It’s not what you would consider a typical sales role,” she says. “I work more in a data customer and response role, piloting how we control our customer contacts and communications.”

When choosing an MBA program, Darmody was drawn to the Whitman School for its reputation and welcoming approach. After applying to six graduate schools, Syracuse stood out.

“The connection that the recruiting team made with me as a prospective student was really above and beyond,” she says. “They said, ‘We’re going to make you feel like you’re part of this community.’ And that was communicated so clearly from the beginning."

Rather than a purely online experience, Whitman requires three residencies, though Darmody has opted for six. These intensive weekend experiences have taken her to Denver to study cannabis and hospitality, to New York City for entrepreneurship and to the Syracuse campus to study negotiation with Chancellor Kent Syverud.

“My favorite one [residencies] were the sports and business track,” she says. “They brought in the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, speakers talking about NIL deals. To see so many women in sports was really exciting.” The program’s hybrid format combines asynchronous lectures with weekly 90-minute synchronous sessions, allowing working professionals to balance careers with academics. For Darmody, this means managing two classes per semester year-round while working nine-hour days.

Her capstone project this fall will simulate launching a business, complete with financial projections and a Shark Tank-style final presentation. But for Darmody, the real measure of success will be transitioning into marketing— potentially within McMaster-Carr, though she’s open to opportunities elsewhere.

“If my company is open to letting me move into a marketing role, I would love to do that,” she says. And her ultimate dream? “I would love to be on the marketing and communications team for the Philadelphia Phillies.”

By Renee Gearhart Levy