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NYU Stern Undergraduate College NYC Consulting Capstone students at their final presentation to the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the 2026 Summer of Opportunity Coalition

In Fall 2025, the World Cup got an early kick-off thanks to NYU Stern Undergraduate College (UC) students.

Real-world Business Challenge

As part of Stern’s NYC Consulting Capstone course, a requirement for BS in Business students in their final year, a Stern UC student team helped create a marketing campaign to effectively drive FIFA World Cup 26 tourists to destinations across all NYC boroughs to spur positive economic impact. The project was in partnership with the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the 2026 Summer of Opportunity Coalition, and was led by Professor Rachel Kowal.

Stern Solution

The resulting Marketing to Summer 2026 Tourists resource guide for NYC small businesses, fueled by the students’ recommendations, includes storefront strategies, digital marketing tips, foot traffic insights, and actionable checklists for retailers, restaurants, wellness services, and more.

Client Impact

According to the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, “This collaboration brought fresh ideas, real research, and new energy to the opportunities coming to our city. We’re proud to support the next generation of business leaders and to see them investing in the success of our small business community.”

Meet Stern UC student Stephanie Su (BS ’26)

Learn how Stern’s NYC Consulting Capstone challenged Stephanie to apply what she’s learned at Stern to help support NYC businesses make the most of this global event.

Stephanie Su (BS ’26) presenting to clients from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the 2026 Summer of Opportunity Coalition

Tell us about the real-world challenge you worked on as part of the NYC Consulting Capstone and how you approached it. 
Our class was tasked with strategizing how to attract tourists to small- and medium-sized businesses in New York City during the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026. We approached this by interviewing businesses in each borough, creating marketing assets for these businesses to use, designing and sending a marketing toolkit flyer to businesses, and researching multiple different data sources to gain an understanding of demographics in each borough, as well as tourists coming for the event.

What surprised you about this experience?
I was initially surprised by the fluid class structure. As the course continued, I realized how important it is to be flexible and adapt to the clients' needs, as oftentimes these can shift and evolve.

Which borough did your group focus on? What were some of the general insights you gained from interviewing businesses there? 
Our group focused on the Staten Island borough. Throughout our research, we realized many small businesses were most concerned about how to bring in tourist foot-traffic. We tackled this by making sure one of the main points we focused on was marketing how easy it is to get to Staten Island via the Staten Island Ferry. Additionally, we found that Staten Island has a strong emphasis on local engagement through events and partnerships. To match this, we created marketing ideas that included collaborations with neighboring organizations or businesses.

What was it like presenting your findings and recommendations to the Chamber and the Coalition? What feedback resonated most with you?
It was great presenting our findings and recommendations. We had one big class presentation, which was a first for me, and I always value being able to experience new tasks. We spent a lot of time discussing what would be the best structure for our presentation. I'm very glad to say that we structured it clearly for our clients, as they commended our ability to get across a large amount of information in a logical and digestible manner.

How did this capstone experience help you bring together skills from across your Stern coursework, internships, and extracurriculars?
The class required immense teamwork among the groups, which were each assigned a  borough, and between groups as well. This meant all of us needed to communicate effectively and respond promptly. I applied key communication and teamwork skills I learned from Organizational Communications, which is a class where students form a group and present together for the entirety of a semester. Outside of communication, we each had to problem-solve using the resources at our disposal, something we have been practicing throughout our four years at Stern.

What will you take away from the course experience to your future career?
This class gave me a glimpse of what it is like to work in the professional world while still being in school. I will take away the importance of quality teamwork and how it's important to stay adaptive to the clients' needs.