Earning your bachelor’s degree is a massive accomplishment in itself. Doing so in three years — with honors — is all the more impressive.
For Daisy Dimatos ‘26 , it doesn’t stop there. Not only did she earn her undergraduate degree in business administration, concentrating in leadership and consulting, but she also minored in sociology. And she's not done yet.
The Binghamton native also won two prestigious awards this year and landed a summer internship, all while beginning her one-year pursuit of an MBA through the 4+1 program.
Reframing Disability Award
In April, Dimatos won the Reframing Disability Award for her leadership and advocacy within the disabled student community at Binghamton.
As vice president of the Disabled Student Union, she helps foster supportive social environments, creates inclusive events, and collaborates with Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to enhance student engagement at Binghamton. She also leads independent research on disability inclusion and published a scoping literature review focused on neurodiversity inclusion in the workplace from a Human Resources (HR) perspective.
“It’s so cool to see that my efforts are helping the disabled community at Binghamton,” Dimatos said. “SSD’s recognition event was a really nice conclusion to my undergraduate career, and a reminder to keep focusing on accessibility, inclusion, and making sure that I’m welcoming to people and uplifting those around me.”
Read more about her accomplishment .
Employee of the year
Then, just months later, Dimatos had another award to place on her mantel: the School of Management (SOM) Student Employee of the Year.
She works in the Dean’s Office at SOM, and one of her favorite projects was creating resources for neurodivergent students. Her goal is to provide students with as much information as possible on navigating college, internships, and the workforce.
“Everyone at SOM has been so supportive of me and my passions,” she said. “My work also lets me intersect with the disability office at times, which is awesome. This was another great, full-circle moment of realizing how things can connect and come together really well.”
A future in HR
This summer, Dimatos is working as a leave management and compliance intern at Excellus BCBS. She has gained knowledge of the legal side of HR, including company policies, workplace accommodations, and leave benefit processes.
She turns that knowledge into internal communications at Excellus, mostly through educational videos. She wants to create accessible and digestible content to walk people through big life changes at work.
Dimatos describes herself as a “future HR professional.” She’s certainly on the right track.
“Everyone needs HR,” she said. “When people are trying to achieve efficiency, success, and profitability, they can lose sight of the human aspect of business, but ultimately, people are the most important part of anything you do. I want to help people help themselves by encouraging them to advocate for themselves, giving them the tools that they need, and helping them through processes that they might not be able to navigate alone, especially in the context of a workplace.”
Smelling the roses
Her one goal for her year pursuing a master's degree? Enjoy it.
Dimatos has accomplished much in a short amount of time, and she says she does not want to let her lone graduate year fly by.
“I want to focus on making connections and further developing the ones I’ve already made here, and just taking a moment to breathe and enjoy," she said.
Heading into her fourth and final year at SOM, Dimatos’ biggest takeaway from the school is the importance of personal branding. She says that she’s frequently recognized for her LinkedIn account, where she posts regularly about her progress and accomplishments.
“I learned that you should represent the best version of yourself publicly,” she said. "Employers, people in the workplace, and potential connections are interested in learning more about you. Making sure that you’re putting your best foot forward, polishing your image, and being both genuine and professional has been the most useful thing I’ve learned at SOM.”
