Bachelor of Data Science: Student Internships

Tushar Sonthalia has been onboarded as a Software Engineering Intern at Adaptive Investments, a USA-based FinTech company, for a period of 6-8 weeks and convertible based on performance. He assists the company in developing and deploying the algorithms for AWS Lambda, a revolutionary serverless computing service.

Tushar has also published a research paper on ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Payment Transactions’ in the Statistics and Applications journal issued by the Society of Statistics, Computer and Applications (SSCA). The SSCA is an important forum for harnessing statistical sciences for enhancing the quality of research. He worked on the research paper during his internship at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India, earlier this summer.

After completing a term at Mumbai and Milan respectively, I have been placed at Taj Lands End, Mumbai for my last term as a Management Trainee. At Taj, getting exposure to the hospitality sector itself is a great experience. The rigorous curriculum and the exposure to the vast industry network of leading experts at SP Jain and MIP Politecnico di Milano have helped me build professional skills and gain confidence to manage the competitive industry environment. This plays a crucial role in helping me in my internship project at Taj Lands End to contribute to the social marketing space.

It’s a privilege to intern with Barunii and gain exposure to the world of beauty with modernity and digitisation. Through this opportunity, I aim to showcase the knowledge and skills acquired during the luxury management program at SP Jain School of Global Management and MIP Politecnico di Milano and my 7+ years’ stint with the IT industry in companies like Infosys, L&T Infotech and Infomatrix. I look forward to delivering the best, enriching my current portfolio with goals and values and be my own beautiful at Barunii. I aspire to achieve success by adding value to the organisation and myself.

The rigorous curriculum and the exposure to the vast network of leading professionals at both SP Jain and MIP Politecnico di Milano helped me become a professional with multifarious skills, enabled me to understand the various cultures and practices of different countries and helped me secure a leading position as a Corporate Manager and Product Marketing lead with My Inbox Media, a reputed marketing agency, which has its base in India, UAE, KSA and Oman.

In a short span of time, I have helped my company bring on board top clients like Zoya, Tanishq, BMW, Jaguar, Range Rover, Hyundai, VLCC, Toni and Guy, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, DLF, Central Park, M3M, Paras and Godrej, and offered them 360-degree marketing solutions. I have also spearheaded strategic partnerships with leading production houses and creative agencies.

My work and education background, before this program, was finance and consulting but I always had a keen interest in the luxury industry, especially beauty. Since India is an upcoming market for luxury and premium brands, I found SP Jain and MIP’s luxury management program perfect for understanding the market and its needs and to be equipped with the right skills.

The coursework includes intense activities, assignments, real-world case studies and industry visits which exposed me to a whole new universe. From branding to operations, we managed to learn skills in each domain. We also had experts from across industries including visual merchandising, design, manufacturing, etc., who spoke about their journeys and experiences. This was quite enriching and fruitful. Classes on negotiations, digital marketing, branding were niche, but they helped me develop an edge over others, especially in my current role as Assistant Manager, Marketing at Nykaa.

I am quite passionate about the luxury industry and when I got accepted into SP Jain’s Luxury Management program, I was beyond excited! The program allowed me to complete a term each in Mumbai and Milan and was full of industry visits and live projects at some of the world’s top luxury brands.

At Kunal Rawal, I’m able to gain experience in a wide array of fields including retail business expansion, operations, PR, CRM, event planning, fashion weeks, budgeting and a lot more. My experience at SP Jain and MIP equipped me with the perfect knowledge and exposure to perform well in my current role. If you are serious about making a career in the field of luxury management, this is the place to be!

Barunii is an e-commerce website for premium beauty products catering to the affluent and modern women of today. My role here primarily involves business development, marketing strategy and operational duties. Working at this startup has given me the opportunity to be involved in every aspect of the business and has provided me with 360-degree learning of the online beauty industry.

The time spent at the business school was a capsule learning into the life of a manager of a premium luxury brand. The marrying of creative branding and detailing with the complexities of business was taught with passion. I believe that SP Jain has equipped us with the ability to ramp-walk the finesse of luxury and manage commercial responsibilities.

During my time at SP Jain, I studied in Mumbai and Milan, undertook study tours to some of the most luxurious retail brands, and was able to build skills in a lot of areas including influencer campaigns, Below the Line (BTL) and Through the Line (TTL) marketing, customer satisfaction finesse, and many other facets of retail. My current role at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail allows me to apply my learnings to drive impactful launch campaigns, align strategy and media plan, drive an awareness agenda, create a PR impact, manage celebrity seeding and generate brand awareness. I am very excited to see what the luxury retail industry has in store for me!

I am a Marketing Associate at id8 Media Solutions, an integrated marketing and communications firm. I am working with clients across all major segments, be it fashion, luxury, hospitality or corporate. My workplace is fast-paced, challenging and accommodating and the luxury management program helped me prepare for my role. The program is rigorous and covers all the aspects essential to run a successful organisation – right from operations to marketing. It has trained me to communicate effectively with our clients and holistically understand their goals and objectives better.

I am working as the Architecture & Technical Associate for Araiya Hotels & Resorts. My primary responsibilities include ensuring the hotel/resort is built as per brand specifications and is operationally viable in addition to coordinating all the pre-opening activities. I also assist our COO in planning budgets, brand development, marketing and social media marketing. At the inception, I have been instrumental in establishing an MIS for the corporate office and project M&E.

During the luxury management program, our semester in Milan gave us the opportunity to interact with executives from some of the world's biggest and most influential brands. Our study tours allowed us the chance to see first-hand how a brand is created and developed from paper to product, across centuries and around the world. Our classroom lectures covered the theoretical understanding it takes to create a financially sustainable business model. These aspects are instrumental in establishing a successful brand and we were fortunate to experience them from the best during our program.

I’m currently working as a Design & Communication Trainee at Start Up Bootcamp in Milan. I would describe SP Jain and MIP’s luxury management program as efficient and elegant. The program lets you dive deep and indulge in the world of luxury by first helping you comprehend it in theory and then allowing you to experience it first-hand in three major luxury sectors: watches in Switzerland, cars in Germany, fashion and champagne in France and, of course, in the heart of it all, Milan.

The course structure is perfect for identifying the demands of the luxury sector and helping students meet them. Moreover, this program has given me the opportunity to do my thesis with Vivienne Westwood and participate in a sustainable contest held by Prada. It has also given me the chance to explore career opportunities in Milan and the confidence to face this industry head-on.

The program has provided me with an in-depth knowledge of branding, luxury management, marketing, and finance, specifically for the fashion and luxury goods industries, through industry-linked case studies and projects. The mystery-shopping experiences in multiple countries helped me develop a better understanding of crucial aspects like the customer psyche, the customer experience with the brand as soon as they enter the store and more.

I always wanted to make a difference in the healthcare industry. Owing to my own unpleasant experience of using hand sanitizers with high alcohol content, I started with research in the area. I built a team that helped me formulate the ideal hand sanitizer which didn’t cause dehydration due to its alcohol content. Our unique invention led me to start applying for a patent for our product, GoSan. I invested in building our manufacturing unit as the quality of the product is one of the first things our potential customers will experience.

My role at Nuvae Healthcare includes developing new sales trends, ideating digital marketing strategies, attaining and retaining new customers, and maintaining customer relations and customer satisfaction.

SP Jain and MIP’s luxury management program helped prepare me to tackle the competition in the industry and focus on my goal.

SP Jain and MIP’s MGLuxM program offered me the chance to build expertise and skills that I’ve been applying at my job ever since. The study tours to Paris, Switzerland and Munich, numerous case studies, competitions and sessions by highly eminent professors helped me develop an understanding of the rapidly growing emerging markets. These learning experiences enabled me to land an internship with Flipkart, where I worked closely with the supply chain team on a very interesting project on network design decisions. With over 6 years of work experience in the travel industry and a degree from one of the most reputed global universities, today I work with Klook, an in-destination travel services booking platform as a Business Development Manager. I cannot thank the School and my professors enough for introducing me to the world of global luxury.

I got an opportunity to work on my live project with Rene Caovilla in Milan. We planned the luxury brand’s entry into the Indian market. During this project, I developed a commercial strategy on multi-channel approach (wholesale and franchising), scouted for potential brand partners in the market, and built a 3-year roll-out plan with sales projections and business opportunities.

When I returned to India, some of the leading premium footwear brands appreciated my experience. Currently, I am a Business and Marketing Manager at Heel and Buckle, London. It is a bridge-to-luxury brand which has recently entered the Indian market.

I had joined Marriott, Ahmedabad as a trainee and within three months I was given charge of all the Marketing Communication of the property. This rapid progress has been possible because of the knowledge and skills learnt while pursuing the MGLuxM program at SP Jain. The program helped me understand how to build and maintain a brand and get a pulse of what exactly the luxury experience is.

I chose this program as it offered multi-country exposure to various industries, from watches to fashion. In addition to the theoretical knowledge, we also got an opportunity to experience luxury first-hand through study tours. This exposure gave me more confidence and made me an effective speaker, which helped me stand out as a trainee at Marriott.

Luxury as an industry had always fascinated me. After completing my Master’s in Commerce and working with a start-up for 2 years, I wanted to pursue an MBA with a niche specialisation and SP Jain’s Master in Global Luxury Management was a perfect fit.

During Term 1 in Mumbai, Visual Merchandising (VM) was one of my favourite subjects, and it’s a topic I am still very interested in. Even Term 2 in Milan covered intriguing topics like brand identity, customer journey mapping, and customer experience in a retail scenario. The combined knowledge from all these topics helped me realise how much customer behaviour can be predicted using VM, and this is something I use in my daily work even today.

I’m currently working as the Trade Marketing Intern for Estée Lauder Companies. Over here, I’m responsible for the visuals, signages, collaterals, and setups – the VM elements which represent the brand’s communication. Apart from managing all the free-standing stores of Bobbi Brown and Jo Malone London, I also handle the brand’s presence at over 50 Sephora and Nykaa stores across India.

My job demands a lot of coordination, an eye for detail, an acute vision for product placement, and an understanding of how sales are affected by external factors in a retail environment. It also gives me an opportunity to take up managerial responsibilities and maintain corporate relations with vendors and retailers, all of which are helping me expand my skillset immensely.

SP Jain’s luxury management program is brilliantly curated to prepare students for the rigorous luxury industry. The course structure comprises both practical and theoretical knowledge which includes industry visits to some of the world’s leading organisations. Moreover, the collaboration with MIP opens a new world of opportunities. I had the chance to work with Frederique Constant for my thesis which gave me an insight into the intricate operations of the Swiss watch industry. The program has trained me to work for this fast-paced and challenging industry. I am thankful for this incredible journey with such multicultural experiences.

After gaining experience at multiple companies and cities pan-India, I founded The Wall Couture – a one-stop-shop for interior design services (Shivani Maheshwari Designs) and home decor products. As a science student and an NIFD graduate, I never got the opportunity to learn the managerial aspect of a business. My master’s at SP Jain helped me develop these essential skills and hone my personality. Being an Interior Designer and pursuing the global luxury management program will give you the chance to work with clients across major segments and interact with them at every level, from negotiation to execution.

SP Jain, Mumbai and MIP, Milan paved a way forward to pursue my interest in luxury goods and services. Having a background in finance, this program helped me develop an in-depth understanding of the luxury industry worldwide and gain a first-hand experience which was not only insightful but also enjoyable. The faculty members were supportive and helped open a world of new opportunities for us.

The experience and exposure I got during the MGLuxM program has been a major leveraging point in my career. The program was engaging and insightful and taught me to think analytically and strategically. It has helped me develop an entrepreneurial mindset along with a sense of teamwork, given the rigorous assignments we were provided with. Consequently, I have also become more mindful and aware of the market and the larger luxury industry. A crisp MBA in Term 1 in Mumbai helped me develop a managerial base, and the second term in Milan helped us see first-hand and learn how operations are carried out in luxury brands.

Currently, I work as a Marketing and Sales Intern with artist and interior designer, Bandana Jain. She is known for working with sustainable materials and contemporary concepts. Mine is a dynamic role that involves networking and collaborations, conducting research activities on market trends, and curating products and services in line with my research. It is an extremely exciting role that involves coordination and event management.

Before joining SP Jain, I was working as a Doc Prep and Certifications Officer at HSBC Mortgage Services (Australia). I chose to specialise in luxury management as I was passionate about quality lifestyle and high standard of living. My experience at SP Jain has been enriching. The industry visits organised by the School in the niche sector stood out for me. This one-year journey has taught me how to market luxury to the fast-paced industry.

I am currently working at the Rose Group of Companies as a Marketing Executive. We conduct market segmentation and buyer value analysis to design the strategy for the target market. We also prepare the monthly media plan (branding, campaigns, marketing and media marketing) and deal closely with the PR, Sales and the CRM team for successful implementation of the ideas and strategies.

I chose the luxury management program as I was fascinated with the industry and intrigued to learn more about the niche sector. The program has helped me develop skills like business communication, marketing strategies, conflict resolution, competitive analysis, team building, teamwork, local awareness and having an eye for detail, among others. I gained a unique perspective of the Indian and the European luxury markets. Our professors shared valuable inputs that helped us be prepared for interviews. Studying at SP Jain gave me the leverage on my CV to negotiate for better opportunities.

I work with a Finnish company called Veen Waters which is now piercing the Indian market in the affordable luxury segment. They bring to the table the purest of the natural mineral water from Bhutan. The brand serves still as well as sparkling water. They cater to luxury restaurants and 5-star properties. I work as a key accountant executive and currently head the Goa region. My work involves creating a base for sales, generating sales and acquiring new hotels to place our product.

I am an engineer and I used to work as an IT Consultant for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). While handling different projects in TCS, I developed a keen interest in business management positions and, eventually, I planned to pursue a traditional MBA. While researching on different MBA programs, I came across the MGLuxM program by SP Jain School of Global Management, Mumbai and MIP Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Luxury has always been aspirational for me. Considering India’s potential to be a global leader in the luxury space and the diverse course offerings, I chose the Luxury Management program.

Currently, I am working as a Junior Business Strategy Consultant at Lighthouse.fr, a strategy and branding consultancy company based in Paris, France. My job profile involves activities like developing and managing global consulting projects related to brand positioning and marketing activation, building and managing the client relationship, and developing on-going brand content for Lighthouse including competitive intelligence of leading luxury players using marketing toolbox to prepare client deliverables.

A luxury manager not only needs to be aware of the luxury industry but also the different aspects affecting the business of luxury. My master's program and my job have helped me stay proactive and up to date with the changes driving the industry. Studying and working in both India and Europe has helped me acquire skills to sustain in a multicultural work environment.

As a Retail Assistant, I work on analysing the store performance based on KPIs and identifying and troubleshooting the issues that are hampering the performance. I work on staff uniforms, training and digital training modules and design special interfaces to help staff learn and train more interactively. I also work with the merchandising and retail planning team to understand shortages of stock and devise methods to make merchandise allocation more effective. Apart from these, I liaise with the press team to reach out to the HNIs and UHNIs to boost sales. My role is global. I, along with my manager, take care of 81 stores worldwide.

My undergraduate education in Fashion from NIFT Delhi and my master’s degree in Luxury Management has created a solid foundation for me to stand on and leap on to platforms where my knowledge outshines the rest. SP Jain and MIP gave me the opportunity to be a part of the European culture that enabled me to study the European market. This helped me negotiate and crack the interview questions. Working with Roger Vivier has allowed me to put theory into practice and implement what I studied.

The course and my job have taught me to be more analytical, better at people management, time management, presenting myself well, fitting into multicultural work environments and representing my culture with pride, extracting and understanding data, improving my communication and becoming a well-rounded professional.

After graduating from SP Jain and MIP Politecnico’s MGLuxM program, I got to explore a gamut of opportunities in the niche industry. The program covered all the nuances of doing business including finance, supply chain, marketing and branding elements of a luxury brand. The Milan stint helped me hone my personality and understand how luxury companies work in a mature market like Europe vis-à-vis emerging economies like India.

I recently bagged an offer to work with Venus Jewel, India's leading solitaire company, in their Marketing and Branding team. This has opened doors to a rewarding career in the luxury industry where I can put all that I have learnt during the program to practical use.