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Marissa Sutera

Marissa Sutera

Founder | Little Things Travel of Chicago | Class of 2013

Among the items on Marissa Sutera’s long-term bucket list: adding a Brazilian stamp to her passport.

She wants to see it, hear it and experience it for herself after getting a semester-long taste of the world’s fifth-largest nation while a marketing major at the UI.

“After I studied abroad, I had a yearning to keep traveling and learning about the world that I never had before,” says the Class of 2013 grad and founder of Chicago’s Little Things Travel.

“When I returned to campus, I received an email about this Brazilian Culture Through Advertising class. As a marketing major, I knew nothing about Brazilian culture and had only taken Advertising 101, but I was intrigued by the course.

“I signed up and immediately was hooked by Professor Nola Senna’s ability to use her own experiences growing up in Brazil to help the class understand Brazilian culture through an advertising lens. She also sparked my interest in the Portuguese language.

“I’m now feeding my travel cravings every day by working in the travel industry, although I still have yet to visit Brazil.”