Carmen graduated from the university's School of Sport and Service Management in Eastbourne with a BA(Hons) in International Travel Management in 2005.
She said: "Back in those days, I could not have imagined that what I gained would become so instrumental in the new journey I was about to embark on."
Burundi has suffered from warfare but is now making its first steps into tourism, promoting its popular beaches and trips to Lake Tanganyika, the world's largest fresh water lake.
Carmen told of her nine-year journey to becoming Director General: "From the wonderful campus in Eastbourne where I earned my degree, I started as a receptionist in a four star hotel in Cheltenham. I later move back to East Africa to manage a hotel and a tour operating company, all of this in different continents, with different cultures and management styles.
"These gave me the opportunities to see the tourism industry from the different facets of hospitality, tourism, travel and academia to fully appreciate that I had chosen the right path, a career I am so passionate about.
"I had been so fortunate to have acquired the right foundation at the University of Brighton, where I was equipped to grasp and appreciate the complexity of the travel and tourism world as well as the thirst to discover more of this exciting industry that I knew little about back in 2002 when I enrolled to start my degree.
"I still have fond memories of my university campus in Eastbourne. The foundation I gained from what I learned in the class - the theories and the practices of the travel and tourism – proved to be very helpful. I still recall some of the core modules taught by Graham Shephard, Mike Taylor and Dr Marina Novelli.
"My relationship with Brighton did not end after graduation. I was able to develop a professional relationship with Dr Novelli, who visited Burundi in 2009 to research aspects of tourism in a post-conflict situations of fragility, which we later jointly published in one of the top tourism journals.
"Our collaboration is on-going – we recently presented at the ATLAS Africa Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Dr Novelli's role of a lecturer and professional mentor went well beyond the classroom and she gave me confidence to apply for a scholarship and embark on a doctorate programme in parks, recreation and tourism at Clemson University (USA) in 2012.
"In 2007, I made a personal commitment to revive the tourism sector of Burundi, soon after returning home with the ambition of assisting in rebuilding and laying the foundation for a sustainable growth path for my country, which was still suffering the consequences of 30 years of conflict.
"East Africa became my new home, allowing me to broaden my horizons and giving me a global and better understanding on how travel, tourism and hospitality are interconnected and intertwined with other economic sectors and how it has a huge potential for a region gifted with comparative and competitive advantages from natural parks, protected areas to amazing and diverse culture as well as heritage and people.
Burundi is now making its first steps into tourism
"I am committed to making a difference through tourism, as I believe that with the right foundations, Burundi can use it as one of the many opportunities to rise from challenging years of conflicts and instability into a nation embracing its endowed natural and culture assets for the benefits of the whole country.
"Recently, I was instrumental in the opening of the Akilah Institute for Women in Burunidi's capital, Bujumbura, as I believed in the need to equip local women with core skills for the country's changing economy, shaping them into leaders within their own communities as well as in the local, regional and international job markets.
"The Institute offers two diplomas in Hospitality Management and Entrepreneurship, as these two are needed in a country where the service industry is growing. I felt I needed to give the same 'education chance' I had been given at Brighton and invest in a generation, which can make a difference. The Institute started in January 2014 with 70 students on campus.