Jason Mariasis looked at 25 liberal arts schools before he found Hamilton. It was a perfect fit right away—he applied Early Decision. Four years later as a new Hamilton graduate, he has found another perfect fit at Capital One Financial’s Digital Strategies group, where he will be employed beginning this summer.
Capital One is one of the country’s largest banks, and provides a range of financial services to a variety of clients. Mariasis was offered the position after he completed an internship at Capital One in the summer of 2011. When he began his internship, he immediately saw a connection between the two organizations.
“Hamilton and Capital One are both collaborative environments that want to create impactful change,” Mariasis said. “They’re full of smart, down-to-earth people.”
Mariasis is quick to credit the Hamilton community for his success. In particular, Mariasis praises Career Counselor Kino Ruth as an “instrumental” figure in his quest for the Capital One internship. Many of their discussions revolved around valuable techniques to stand out to employers and the strategy behind creating a personalized professional brand. The time Mariasis spent inside the classroom, though, proved to be just as valuable.
“I tend to do a little bit of everything,” Mariasis said. “I’m well-rounded because of all the classes I took at Hamilton—not just one. I learned how to think outside the box. That’s the Hamilton experience.”
But Mariasis was thinking outside the box long before he set foot on the Hill. As a middle school student in Sudbury, Mass., he started his own disk jockeying business that provided music at community events like block parties or bar mitzvahs. In a textbook example of entrepreneurial acumen, Mariasis re-invested his profits in his own company. As a result, the business grew by leaps and bounds to include photography and video production services. Their videos have been shown all over the greater Boston area, including Fenway Park.
“We were really excited about that one,” Mariasis said.
With his previous entrepreneurial expertise, it was perhaps inevitable that Mariasis would go on to found Hamilton’s Entrepreneur Club (E-Club) in his first year on the Hill. Just like with his entertainment business, Mariasis identified a need on campus and designed the E-Club to fill it. “Hamilton has a lot of talented, innovative students,” Mariasis said, “but they didn’t know how to channel the talents. I wanted to help bring ideas into reality—teach practical skills.”
E-Club has since become one of Hamilton’s most visible and vibrant organizations, and has given rise to a few successful business, such as a student-run textbook selling website and a campus laundry service, HillFresh. E-Club also organizes the annual Pitch Competition with Mark Kasdorf ’06. Current students and even alumni pitch business ideas for potential funding and the competition has become a prime proving ground for student entrepreneurs. Mariasis strongly encourages Hamilton students to try their hand at business while still in school. All it takes, he said, is “passion, drive and motivation.”
Although Mariasis expects to work at Capital One for some time, his future is wide open. His current long-term plan is to return to school to complete an MBA and ultimately move to Silicon Valley to found a technology start-up in web-based systems.
Mariasis confessed that he’s a little nervous to enter the working world, but believes he is well prepared. “[It’s] time to close this chapter and start a new one,” he said. With his impressive accomplishments and his ability to think outside the box, Jason Mariasis’ next chapter is sure to be an interesting one.
