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For business students Tianna Brown ’19, Emma Tobola ’19, and Brendan Adame ‘20, the opportunity to land full-time jobs at Restoration Hardware has been born out of networking and a relationship Dominican has developed with the upscale home-furnishings company based in Marin County.

Over the years, Dominican students and graduates have secured internships and full-time jobs at RH as far back as Lisa Kough ’00, Karen Meiswinkel Archuleta ’01, and Ben Wasserman ’05. Tim Mayhew ’11, Ashton Guasco ’12, and Justin Read ’15 are among recent alumni who have helped Dominican forge a connection with RH that comes with a reputation before its students walk through the door.

“At Dominican they prepare you really well for what’s next,” Brendan says.

In other words, students in the Barowsky School of Business feel ahead of the game when they enter the workforce.

“Dominican trained us to be professionals,” says Emma, who, like Tianna, is a 4 + 1 BA-to-MBA student.

Emma came from Will C Wood High School in Vacaville to Dominican interested in sports management, but internships in the Human Resources departments at Dominican and the Buck Institute took her career in another direction. Through connections at the business school, she was introduced to Carrie Cassidy, Chief of People Officer at Restoration Hardware. After a series of interviews, Emma was hired into a Human Resources operations role and recently moved to benefits.

“What really changed it was working in HR at Dominican. That showed me what I wanted to follow,” says Emma, who eventually became the student leader in HR. “If it hadn’t been for the opportunity to work with that team, I wouldn’t have known that sports management wasn’t the path for me, at least not now.”

Tianna started in the RH Customer Delight Center in May 2018. While she was thriving in that role, she was able to network with other leaders across the company. As a result of the networking opportunity, Tianna’s strong work ethic and desire to be in real estate enabled her to transfer into her new full-time job in RH’s Real Estate department before her graduation last May.

“This would have never happened unless I had gone to Dominican and been able to network because of the many connections made by the business school,” says Tianna, a graduate of Chaparral High School in Temecula. “So many people are trying to get into my department at Restoration Hardware. I was fortunate to have both the connections and the great preparation for the job.”

Brendan started in the RH Customer Delight Center at the same time as Tianna. They were both student-athletes at Dominican and played soccer. He, like Tianna and Emma, are grateful for the guidance and mentoring of BSB professors Dr. Francoise Lepage, Dr. Denise Lucy, Dr. Christopher Leeds, and Courtney Budesa, Director of Internships and Professional Development, for providing motivation and inspiration.

“Dominican really made me want to be super productive,” says Brendan, a Rocklin High School graduate who was recently promoted in RH Customer Delight Center. “I was very well prepared for the responsibility that came with my job.”

At RH Orientation, the BSB students were given a copy of the RH values: People, Quality, Service, and Innovation. They found that RH values are similar to Dominican’s ideals of Study, Community, Reflection, and Service. Hence, the transition from Dominican to RH has seemed almost seamless. The students are comfortable and confident and the networking they have encountered has been of great benefit.

“That’s the precedent they set here at Dominican,” Tianna says. “For the business school, the exiting statistics and job placements are superior. It’s just expected and we think it’s normal, but it’s really not. I have friends going to state schools and they are there for seven years and they’ve not graduated and all of us are graduating with full-time jobs in four years.”