2 Hearts, 2 MBAs, 1 Journey At Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business

MBA couple Diego Miranda and Fernanda Canessa, members of Georgia Tech Scheller’s Class of 2025

Love isn’t just in the air — it’s in the MBA classroom, too.

On Valentine’s Day, Poets&Quants spoke with Diego Miranda and Fernanda Canessa, who last fall embarked on their MBA journey together at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business — the first international couple to enter Scheller’s full-time MBA program post-Covid.

Miranda and Canessa’s story began in Chile in early 2018 when they crossed paths. After four years of dating, they decided to tie the knot — impressively, while both juggling GMAT studies. Together they studied late into the night, encouraging each other to keep going every day after work from 8 p.m. to midnight.

“It helps to have someone who is in the same position as you and will motivate you to keep moving forward,” Fernanda says.

“If we were not on the same page it would have been very tough,” Diego says.

Diego Miranda and Fernanda Canessa are the first married couple to study for an MBA together post-Covid at Georgia Tech Scheller’s College of Business

‘WE COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER WELL’

The couple enjoyed a playful competitiveness while taking GMAT practice tests, pushing each other, each with strengths in different sections.

“It was between England and the U.S.,” says Diego, who used to work for Alto, a Chilean loss-prevention company. He had studied abroad in North Carolina many years ago and had a great experience, and really wanted to return to the United States. The two were accepted to schools in both countries, but ultimately they ended up choosing Georgia Tech Scheller, which they decided offered the perfect combination of affordability and accreditation — and a good return on investment.

Now in their second semester, Fernanda is focused on supply chain, while Diego is interested in tech. They have both been offered GRAs (graduate research assistantships) working for the university, where they earn income in exchange for working.

Both have much overlap in their lives: They have backgrounds in industrial engineering, and they love watching sports and socializing with their cohort. “It helps that we both have similar backgrounds,” says Fernanda, who worked as a demand planner for L’Oreal for years.

While their lives may be similar, they have very different personalities. “I am very motivated to attend social events, and Fernanda is very responsible with our schedule. We complement each other well,” says Miranda.

SCHELLER FAMILY AWAY FROM FAMILY

“Our cohort is small, just 70 of us,” Fernanda says. “One thing our program does is pair you in core teams with four or five people. They become your support group on the academic side. Scheller does a really good job of bringing different people together from different cultures and backgrounds.”

She commends Scheller for mixing their core group members from other industries like marketing and finance, saying this is an effective way to learn each other’s expertise and grow as well rounded leaders in business.

“This is so helpful because transiting to a new country is always tough, but they make it easier. We didn’t know where to live, yet our classmates are very helpful and kind and have guided us,” Diego says.

He and Fernanda have countless kind things to say about their cohort. They don’t feel the need to get their own car, they say, because their fellow Scheller MBAs students constantly offer them help getting around. Scheller classmates have extended warm invitations for holidays, as well, insisting they join them for celebrations like Thanksgiving.

As for now, their future is wide open — and so are their plans. Diego is attending a summer internship with Microsoft this summer, and post-grad he hopes to continue working in customer success management, potentially in a more senior role. Fernanda is planning to further her career in supply chain management and may want to return to Chile at some point.

But for now, she says, she and her Valentine are hoping to see where the wind takes them, ideally to work in the U.S. post-grad.