From Trinidad to Barcelona: Shamine Joanne Chainani on Reinventing Your Career at 48

Shamine Joanne Chainani, a proud ESEI International Business School alumni, comes from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. With over 20 years of professional experience in corporate communications, brand management, event management and project management, Shamine has successfully navigated both the financial services industry and the sports sector. Despite her extensive career, she felt the need to expand her global perspective. “I felt like there was more for me outside of my little beautiful island, more to learn, more to see,” she explains.

Her journey led her to ESEI Business School in Barcelona, where she completed her Master’s in Sports Management. At 48 years old, Shamine proves that it is never too late to pursue new passions and pivot your career. “It’s your life. You can do whatever you want. Making a change as huge as this was scary, but I knew if I didn’t do it, I would regret it,” she reflects.

Why Shamine Chose ESEI Business School in Barcelona

Shamine’s decision to study at ESEI was driven by efficiency, quality and opportunity. After researching universities across Europe and the US, she discovered that ESEI’s application process was fast and straightforward. “I had an interview, I got the acceptance. Everything happened within a week. It was so quick. I said, why not?”

Beyond logistics, she was drawn to a curriculum built around real-world application and project-based learning rather than theory. For Shamine, that alignment between learning and doing was not a preference, it was a non-negotiable. “I loved the vibe of what I was seeing from the school,” she says. For Shamine, ESEI offered both academic rigour and the chance to join a professional and internationally diverse community in Barcelona.

Mastering Sports Management Through Project-Based Learning

At ESEI, Shamine thrived in a project-based learning environment. Instead of traditional exams, students work on real-life projects, solving problems for actual companies. “It’s practical. You’re not taking exams. You’re doing, which is the best way to learn,” she explains.

Her coursework included collaborations with experts from Nike and FC Barcelona, which gave Shamine direct exposure to how elite sports organisations operate at the intersection of commercial strategy and community impact. She also valued the field visits, which she describes as “mind-expanding.” One visit to CEM Can Felipa, a community-focused gym that is anything but conventional, left a lasting impression. “It’s not a fancy gym. It’s simple, homey. But the way they cater to every segment of the community ensures a sustainable, constant customer base and a thriving ecosystem. It blew my mind.”

It was a living demonstration of something Shamine had long believed: that the organisations which endure are not always the most polished. They are the ones that make people feel they belong.

Learning and Collaborating in a Multicultural Environment

Shamine came to ESEI with decades of professional experience, but the international student environment offered new lessons in collaboration and technology. “The younger ones are so bright and so familiar with AI technology. From my time, I used my head to write and create things.” Rather than seeing that gap as a divide, she leaned into it. “We’ve learned from each other. They’ve learned from me not to take things from technology at face value. I tried to inspire them to think critically.”

This exchange across generations, cultures and professional backgrounds embodied the very principle Shamine champions in her own work: that community is not a by-product of shared experience. It is built through it.