It’s not very often we get to see our former student-athletes take their talents international. Former women’s basketball defensive standout Irma Munoz has done just that, landing a two and a half year stint in Germany working for ALDI grocery stores in their corporate offices.

Unsure of what she wanted to do with her future as a Strategic and Corporate Communication major, Irma began attending business sessions for athletes her junior year. In these sessions, she learned how to build her resume and tips and tricks for interviewing in the corporate world. During these sessions, she was introduced to the CEO of Athletes to Careers, a company that focuses on helping collegiate student-athletes land the career of their dreams. It was in meeting the CEO of Athletes to Career when Irma first heard of ALDI – the company she would later rise the ranks in.

“Funny story, we looked at Franciska crazy when she said ‘take them out on a business lunch and just ask the questions…,'” Irma said. “This was that one time that I actually did that and was extremely nervous but clearly she was right.” Irma landed a 10-week internship program as the District Manager, learning in a condensed version what a 1-year training program for the company would look like. After a successful internship and business plan presentation to the VP and Directors, Irma was offered a full-time position as District Manager upon finishing her final basketball season.

Irma graduated early in December 2017, but she did not let that stop her from having a stellar final basketball season that ended with a SCIAC Championship title just two months later. In her senior season, Irma started every single game, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game while posting an average of 4.5 rebounds per game. With her most successful season of basketball behind her, Irma start her full-time position at ALDI in March 2018.

After a little over three years as a District Manager, Irma accepted a position that has relocated her to Germany through December 2023. Irma is a member of the ALDI AHEAD Project Team, a central IT project that creates, tests and rolls out future processes and systems for all of ALDI globally. She is a Process Expert, lending her talents as a project manager to English speaking countries (US, Austria, UK, Australia).

She did not necessarily know where she would end up, but Irma wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

“Although interestingly enough I did not see myself working in the grocery industry, I have gained business, administrative, management and leaderships skills since.”