Everyone roots for the underdog. You know, the person who never gives up – or gives an inch for that matter. Against prevailing opinion, they speak out, braving the snubs and scorn that follow. Over time, their rallying cry coalesces into a mission and their actions drive history. They are, to borrow a well-worn phrase, profiles in courage.
In this year’s latest crop of incoming MBA students, you’ll find plenty of tales of bravery and integrity. Not only did many in the Class of 2020 beat the odds, they set the tone – and the bar – for those who followed. One such first-year was Duke Fuqua’s Alexandra Herrera Flores. A strategy consultant, Herrera Flores developed a passion for soccer as a young girl. Just one problem: only boys were allowed to play it in her native Peru. When she questioned why, a teacher told her that soccer was “too rude for a delicate little girl,” encouraging her to play with dolls instead. Her parents were even less supportive, grounding her when she tried to play a sport that was considered “almost a religion” in Peru.
FUQUA FIRST YEAR PROVIDES PLATFORM FOR WOMEN TO PLAY SOCCER
Herrera Flores, however, never lost her fervor for the sport – or equality. As an adult, she partnered with a friend to create Ligas Femeninas Futbol 7 (LF7) – Peru’s largest women’s soccer circuit. Herrera Flores was hardly an outlier, however, Today, LF7 boasts 3,500 female players – even hosting a 1,000 person tournament. What’s more, she has funneled LF7 profits into soccer academies that teach self-esteem and confidence alongside soccer skills to girls. Even Herrera-Flores’ mom – the one who grounded her – has become part of the act; she plays in LF7’s master’s division.
Columbia Business School’s Martin Palmer
In fact, Herrera-Flores’ spirit is almost emblematic of the incoming class. “The thing that most defines me,” she says, “is that I am really passionate about projects and that I actually make things happen, no matter the problems and no matter if everyone says it is impossible.”
Few would question Martin Palmer’s courage. A Columbia Business School student and Green Beret commander, Palmer’s strengths extend far exceed grace under fire. This is illustrated by an event In Syria, where an intensive bombing inflicted painful casualties on the fighters who battled alongside his 12 member unit. In response to the losses, the Syrian commander wanted to pull back and leave a key city in ISIS hands. Rather than retreat, Palmer persuaded the commander to push forward – an act that enabled him to deal “a major blow to ISIS in the region,” Palmer notes.
THE COURAGE TO LISTEN…AND EMBRACE
It wasn’t the first time that Palmer’s soft skills came in handy. In Afghanistan, where he led an infantry platoon, Palmer partnered with elders to build a village police force. Sure enough, this force became formidable enough to repulse the area Taliban. To some, these successes can be chalked up to technical ability and training at some level. Look deeper and they can also be credited to Palmer’s courage: the courage to listen, learn, and work patiently with partners as equals – virtues that foster trust and amplify influence. They are skills he intends to apply after he graduates from business school.
“Working through language and cultural differences, limited resources, and difficult mission objectives, I was able to influence [people] to achieve success,” he explains. “In management consulting, I look forward to achieving similar success by working with a team of fellow consultants to take on complex business problems, influence senior business leaders, and develop actionable and practical solutions for our clients.”
It also takes courage to embrace what’s contradictory. Take Berkeley Haas’ Katherine Hawthorne. At Stanford, she earned her degree in Physics before eventually finding her way into impact investing. That glosses over her real passion: dance and choreography. Unlike many, who choose the most lucrative or easiest path, Hawthorne refused to compromise and courageously pursued all of her passions. For the past seven years, she has balanced her 40 hours work week as a finance manager with another 40 hours performing in dance troupes across the world.
For Hawthorne, dance was far more than a creative outlet. “Dance taught me how to lead, inspire collaborators, and connect to audiences,” she shares. “I decided to attend business school to build on these leadership skills and to further my interests in finance and data science.”
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST YEARS BEING PROFILED THIS FALL
These are just three profiles in courage from this year’s incoming MBA class. It is an electrifying class, one populated with driven doers, infectious idealists, and selfless supporters. They include D1 athletes, music producers, neuroscientists, activists, trauma surgeons, teachers, and techies. Hailing from lands as far-and-wide as Australia, Chile, Lebanon, Ghana, and Belarus, they bond over soccer as much as sneakers. When they weren’t shining at iconic names like McKinsey, General Motors, Edelman, or Twitter, they were making jaws drop at equestrian and ballroom dancing competitions. Their alma maters include household names like MIT, Cambridge, and Princeton, and Brown – not to mention Liberty, Campbell, and U.C.-San Diego. Forget the myth that most MBAs majored in finance or engineering. Like years past, some top candidates boast degrees in areas like creative writing, linguistics, medieval classics, anthropology, and urban studies.
Duke Fuqua’s Shezanne Cassim
More than anything, they are courageous. They are risk-takers who’ve started – and shuttered – businesses. They’ve launched departments and opened markets where no one had dared venture before. Some have even launched relief efforts in troubled areas like Puerto Rico. Overall, they reflect the spirit of their MBA programs, whether that be principle-driven, academically intensive, or team-oriented. That’s why, throughout the fall, P&Q will feature over 400 of these students as part of its 4th annual profiles of over 40 incoming MBA classes. In doing so, we’ll introduce prospective MBAs to the unique cultures and offerings inherent to these leading programs. In the process, we hope our student profiles inspire candidates to see themselves in these role model candidates – and decide to join them as MBA candidates.
So who are some of these students? Well, they are as daffy and diverse as they are courageous and clever. Dartmouth Tuck’s Colin Chapin considers himself to be a “liberal arts poster child” – “a government major turned English teacher turned investment professional.” Notre Dame’s Zeve Fefoame prefers to compare himself to a fine automobile: “Personality of a Lamborghini Aventador and calmness of any Bentley.” You couldn’t blame anyone who’d nickname Grace Ko as “Sybil.” The Cornell Johnson student describes herself as “a friendly Texan at heart, active Californian in spirit, and ambitious New Yorker by trade.” Then again, Duke Fuqua’s Shezanne Cassim seems to be perfectly in tune with his times: “I’m someone who would choose an interesting life over an easy life, any day.”
Interesting life? The class features its share of celebrities, that’s for sure. Before Columbia Business School, Halle Morse played Lisa (a bridesmaid) over a thousand times with the Broadway Mamma Mia! cast. On the opposite coast, USC Marshall’s Tina Cook handled the lead role of Dora the Explorer in Dora’s Pirate Adventure, Live! Eric Dodds never made the big stage. However, the Northwestern Kellogg candidate did blow off a call-back audition to be the lead for Home Alone 3. Carnegie Mellon’s Brian Porter probably wishes he had skipped his audition. He was constantly being stopped by strangers after they recognized him as a dancer in a Red Hot Chili Peppers video.
To see Class of 2019 stats for to MBA programs, go to page 3
To read over 30 in-depth profiles of top MBAs from over 30 programs, jump to page 4.
“My Anderson classmates strike a perfect balance between savvy and social. They’re gregarious while still being thoughtful, driven while still caring about others.” — Amanda Sol Peralta, UCLA Anderson School of Management
FROM BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER TO CLIMBING MOUNT DENALI
Wharton School’s Kaila Squires
Celebrities aside, the class is also packed with daredevils who fit the courageous tag to a tee. Take Georgetown’s Varun Premkumar. He broke the sound barrier as a Marine Corps pilot. Think that’s exhilarating? Just imagine trading places with Wharton’s Kaila Squires, who took a true leap of faith in Macau: a “once-in-a-lifetime” bungee jump from 773 feet – the highest jump of its kind. Think that’s high? Ask the University of Texas’ Travis Miller about the time he fell just 250 feet shy of Mount Denali’s 20,310 summit, thanks to 40 below temperatures and fierce winds. That might not have stopped Fabian Kissing. The Dartmouth Tuck made the 4,920 nautical mile sail across the Atlantic Ocean – an adventure that steeled his leadership skills during one severe evening storm.
“As a less experienced crew member was helping me put down the mainsail,” he recalls, “it got stuck, creating a dangerous situation. In that moment, I learned more about leadership—and the importance of helping others remain calm and function effectively—than in any other moment on our cruise. I learned that empathizing with the feelings of others, especially in stressful situations, is the foundation for effective teamwork.”
And you won’t find a better teammate than Ashley John. This Rice Jones recruit kept performing on her high school dance team while hiding a secret: she was twisting and flipping on a torn ACL. NYU Stern’s Alice Schnurman actually climbed the Great Wall of China just a month after ACL surgery. Looking for an example of serendipity? IESE’s Tetsuya Hasuoka was born on the same month, day, and year as his wife. How about obsession? Check out the London Business School’s Andi Frkovich, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant who has read the entire Harry Potter series in English, Arabic, and Spanish! When you’re down in Emory Goizueta, be sure to check out David Hinshillwood’s better half. “I am an aspiring drag queen who goes by the name Miss Patti Archy (like “patriarchy,” which I hope to dismantle one lip-sync at a time!).”
FROM PLAYING WITH THE WOOKS TO HITTING THE BOOKS
Beyond their cocktail stories, the Class of 2020 comes from nearly every corner of business. Anthony Solesi made VP at the Bank of New York Mellon before enrolling at Duke Fuqua. By the same token, HEC Paris’ Amanda Moritz served as a marketing manager at Google, while NYU Stern’s Nica Langinger grew Snap’s B2B support team from 1 member to 40. At the same time, IESE’s Laura Napoli was elevated to head Bitly’s strategic marketing, thanks to her content initiatives driving nearly three-quarters of the company’s new business in one quarter.
However, corporate was only one source of MBA talent this year. After earning degrees in anthropology from Dartmouth and piano from Julliard, Columbia’s Edward Kim joined the Salzburg State Theater, a leading venue for operas and symphonies. Across the pond, Perrish Green helped his band, The Wooks, launch a crowdfunding campaign that enabled them to cut a Top 10 Bluegrass album with Grammy-winning producer Alison Brown. Along with the awards, touring, and radio play, the North Carolina MBA learned that music was more than a dream. It was a business.
“As that happened, my professional interests evolved beyond the music industry to include finance, general management and energy because I had recognized how integral these fields were to every kind of business—from huge corporations down to small businesses like our own,” Green explains. “The MBA was just a natural progression from there.”
Go to Page 3 for in-depth profiles of 32 members of the Class of 2020.
“I’ve only had one full-time job since college, and it was fairly non-traditional. A key factor that led me to choose Ross was the amount of hands-on, experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom. At the end of my first year, I’ll work for seven weeks on an actual business problem for a real organization—not a hypothetical case.” — Georgia Cassady, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
HBS MBA BRINGS UBER TO VIETNAM
Then there is the London Business School’s Jacob Appelbaum. Before coming to “The Great Wen”, he was a clam farmer in the Marshall Islands, which sits between Australia and Hawaii. Isolated for the most part, he built his business on being “resilient, resourceful, and adaptable.” His work also required him to rely heavily on trial-and-error. “Developing effective methods to grow one particular snail species took over a year of repeated failures with incremental improvements coming from experimentation with new techniques and discussions with colleagues,” he shares. “When we finally succeeded and started exporting them in large numbers it felt like a great victory.”
Harvard Business School’s Dominic Marrone
That was one victory among many for the Class of 2020. Do you ever call on Amazon’s Alexa? Well, Harvard Business School’s Dominic Marrone led a team that created the personalized “Works with Alexa” component. Cornell Johnson’s Thomas Stelle managed the logistics of President Obama’s final state dinner. Before joining Indiana Kelley, Jatin Gupta helped hire 3,500 people at Google over three years. Think that number is impressive? Check out LBS’ Faheem Ahmed, who led an international relief effort in Bangladesh that provided medical treatment to over 15,000 people. Ahmed wasn’t the only first-year who possessed a global reach. At Nike, Crosby Wright developed a content platform that connected over 1,000 Nike stores. “[It] became the primary way that Nike delivered communications, training, and other forms of digital content directly to their retail employees across the country,” says the Vanderbilt Owen MBA.
How were these students able to achieve so much in so little time? Like Harvard Business School’s Daphne Pham, they adapted to the conditions at hand – and dug deep for the courage to ditch the playbook. Pham, for one, was Uber’s first employee in Vietnam. Despite the brand name, Uber was basically a startup there, dogged by entrenched competitors, unwieldy regulations, and bad press. That doesn’t even count the standard startup issues involving scaling and payment – or the nation’s low car ownership rate. To survive, Uber innovated with programs like cash payment or making it easier for prospective drivers to borrow money to purchase vehicles. Over time, Pham built Vietnam into Uber’s third largest Asian market.
FIGHTING ADDICTION THROUGH ANALYTICS
“Disruptive innovation is never easy,” Pham writes.
What’s more, the class contributed in areas where the public wouldn’t normally associate future business students. In her most recent position, Grace Zimmerly served as a lead for overdose reduction initiatives with the New York / New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Despite working in NYPD headquarters, this Chicago Booth MBA candidate didn’t carry a badge or a gun. Instead, her job was to develop a real time data collection and reporting system for the NYPD across five boroughs. When she arrived, the process between death and official reporting by the health department averaged six months, creating a gap between when strategies and resources are needed and actually delivered. Through Zimmerly’s efforts, the gap was driven down to 36 hours.
Such innovation – outside the normal scope of business operations – is what business sorely demands, says Zimmerly. “We need people who understand the minute operations of our companies and institutions and society as they are. However, we also need people who can look at that status quo, break it apart, and rebuild the pieces into something better.”
CARPE GRADUS: SEIZE THE DEGREE!
The Class of 2020 found their way to business school for many reasons. As a teacher, Vanderbilt Owen’s Brittany Hunter taught her students that “being illiterate can be a life-threatening disability.” When it came to business and finance, that’s exactly how she felt: left out and illiterate. Michigan Ross’ Fernando Palhares felt his career had careened “sideways” – where he’d lost his passion and failed to make an impact. For MIT Sloan’s Kevin Cheung, joining an MBA program was a deliberate act of courage – a means to “to push myself out of my comfort zone while in a safe space” so he could pursue his dreams.
MIT Sloan’s Kevin Cheung
MBA graduates themselves inspired their peers to return to campus. NYU Stern’s Schnurman, for example, reviewed the Linkedin profiles of senior leaders in global organizations she admired and noticed a trend: they all had MBAs. Similarly, the degree became increasingly compelling to North Carolina’s Jermyn Davis after one of his co-workers returned to Deloitte after earning his MBA. “I was astounded by his growth as a professional,” he admits.” I was also embarrassed because he was running circles around me.” The before-and-after shift drove Davis to take a long, hard look at where he was. “That experience was a catalyst,” he adds. “I realized: (1) I didn’t have a spouse or children so there were no real family considerations; (2) my company offered a sponsorship program; and (3) I was getting older so if I didn’t do it now I would never do it.”
For Hinshillwood, the decision to pursue an Emory MBA was a profoundly personal one. “My grandfather – or “Poppo” as I call him – was not only a huge influence in my life but also a major professional aspiration for me growing up. One of life’s most bittersweet ironies is watching a man who was the COO of a cancer research hospital battle cancer, and his journey showed me that there’s no time like the present to better yourself, pursue your passions, and make a difference. Sometimes, we don’t get a “tomorrow” or a “next time” and I want my grandfather to see my impact. So, business school, here we are!”
CLUB LIFE CATERS TO EVERYONE FROM POKER PLAYERS TO FEMALE LEADERS
What is the Class of 2020 looking forward to once they arrive at business school? The club and extracurricular life, for one, stirs their imagination. Columbia Business School’s Shrey Gupta likens it to a “buffet meal” where he can “sample varied opportunities.” There is plenty of that of campus – particularly clubs that are more social nature. At Chicago Booth and Dartmouth Tuck, for example, students can sample the spirits as part of the Wine Club or the Whiskey, Scotch, and Bourbon Appreciation Club, respectively. For foodies, there are always epicurean clubs like MIT Sloan’s Happy Belly Club. At the same time, the Tuck Sailing Club has caught the eye of Cordaye Ogletree, while Zach Zimmerman can’t wait for the “challenge” of the Ross Poker Club.
Challenge, you say? Head on over to the forests surrounding HEC Paris, where business students organize and host the MBAT, a three-day sports tournament held each spring for over 1,500 peers. Lauren Appel considers it a great way to put her “leadership and teamwork skills to the test.” That’s not the only benefit adds her classmate Amanda Moritz. “I love getting swept up in the excitement around sporting events, and I cannot wait to meet other students from MBA programs all over the world.”
Such clubs are perfect platforms for networking – and finding support for like-minded peers. That’s what Molly Boschan is seeking as a member of the Kelley Association of Women MBAs. “I grew up surrounded by strong and powerful women who have taught me to always strive for my goals and stand up to the obstacles that get in the way. Having a cohort of women that support each other and offer advice and insights in a world that is not always set up to our benefit is vital.”
Better yet, some clubs, such as the University of Washington Foster’s CoMotion, even extend beyond the business school to foster collaboration among different university communities. “This program brings together students of various disciplines and offers resources and mentorship opportunities to help stimulate innovation,” writes Aaron Sachs, a Jersey-born product manager. “I’m excited to explore what opportunities might exist for a partnership between an MBA student and students from the Pharmacy or Medical schools.”
CLASSMATES DESCRIBED AS EVERYTHING FROM “FIERCE” TO “FULL”
Chicago Booth’s Vanessa Buie
The 2018 Class is equally bullish on the classmates they’ve met so far. Their early impressions? Vanessa Buie, a former Minnesota Vikings cheerleader and current medical resident, calls her Chicago Booth classmates “full” – as in “full of life, energy, passion – you name it, they’ve got it, in abundance.” In contrast, NYU Stern’s Langinger uses “clear-eyed” to represent her class. “They know what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’re working toward.” At Rice Jones, Kory Li equates his class to a unicorn startup about to IPO.” His reason? “From successful entrepreneurs to consultants for NATIONS to former professional athletes, everyone here has already accomplished what most people would be happy with in an entire career, and they’re just getting started!”
To many, being characterized as “fierce” might come across as an insult. For Halle Morse, it is a term of endearment for her curious and charismatic classmates at Columbia Business School classmates. “The students I have met so far possess an insatiable appetite for growth and intellect. While currently scholars first, they are perfectly suited to take on the concrete jungle of NYC as well as the world stage. Witty, thoughtful and dynamic, they are also humble, hungry and focused on their future success. They are, after all, Columbia Lions — roar!”
Not surprisingly, Afnajjer Hernandez uses “altruistic” to characterize his fellow Berkeley Haas MBAs – a term no doubt rooted in the school’s guiding principles that celebrate humility, questioning, community, and support. “My classmates have shown such empathy and care for one another that I am amazed at how tight-knit our community has become in such a short amount of time,” he observes. “That altruism is also forward looking. My classmates are all looking for careers where they can make a positive impact on society through business.”
To read over 30 in-depth profiles of top MBAs from over 30 programs, go to page 4.
“A CAREER INCUBATOR”
That brings up the all-important, albeit awkward, question: Do you believe the MBA is going to be worth it? Laura Botelho de Carvalho, a Brazilian consultant who chose to earn her MBA at Canada’s McGill Desautels, doesn’t downplay the risk. Students are “pausing” their careers for up to two years, costing them six figures in opportunity costs while braking their career momentum. Such decisions require conviction as much as courage. That said, the arguments against, Botelho de Carvalho asserts, miss the point of taking advantage of what she calls a “career incubator.”
“You are constantly challenging yourself, testing your limits – often out of your comfort zone – getting the most up-to-date information, networking and learning from people who have (very) diverse and impressive backgrounds. All of this effort and energy will lead you to be the best version of yourself, and the payoff will come naturally as a consequence of such large investment. Having said that, an MBA seems the perfect way to fast-track your career and help point you towards success.”
London Business School’s Nikki Gupta
LBS’ Nikki Gupta took a proactive approach to answering the ROI question. She pored over Linkedin profiles and reached out her target audience – Chiefs of Product at VC funded startups – to “plead for a 15 minute Skype call. Sure enough, Gupta came away with two priceless takeaways on the degree’s long-term value. “It was pretty clear that decades on, those that had the MBA had really benefitted from it in terms of career progression and being able to tap into a powerful network of alums,” she notes. “I knew I did not need one to get my next job, but it became clear that 10 years down the line I would have more opportunities if I did have an MBA.”
IT’S THE EXPERIENCE THAT MATTERS
It wasn’t just pay and position that MBA alums touted, adds Cornell Johnson’s Carlos Acevedo. “Every MBA alum I spoke with before applying to business school told me not to worry about the program costs. They shared that all my calculations would leave out the most important asset of the process, which includes the experience and memories, which are priceless.”
Is an MBA worth it for the Class of 2020? While students are early in their studies, Harvard Business School’s Marrone, believes the decision comes down to answering two questions – and summoning the courage to take action if both are answered “Yes”.
“I used a few questions to help. Do you value the two years at a given school over two years at your company (or any other immediately attainable job)? Do you think you can markedly improve your trajectory through the opportunities offered at a given school? If yes to both, then it is now up to you to take advantage of the opportunities and make the MBA experience worth it.
“Healthy pressure,” he adds.
COMING THIS FALL: We will profile a dozen MBAs from 40 of the top MBA programs in the world.
DON’T MISS: THE PIONEERING MBAs OF THE CLASS OF 2019
THE ENTIRE CLASS OF 2019 SERIES
Class of 2020 Full-Time MBAs
| Student | School | Hometown | Alma Mater | Employer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ever Isaac Hernandez | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | Boston, MA | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | Chevron |
| Grace Zimmerly | University of Chicago (Booth) | Waterford, PA | Yale University | New York / New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) |
| Halle Morse | Columbia Business School | Shaker Heights, OH | Cincinnati Conservatory of Music | American Repertory Theater |
| Thomas Stelle | Cornell University (Johnson) | Sag Harbor, NY | Trinity College | B&B Hospitality Group |
| Irina Titkova | Dartmouth College (Tuck) | Mogilev, Belarus | Brooklyn College | KPMG |
| Alexandra Herrera Flores | Duke University (Fuqua) | Lima, Peru | Universidad del Pacifico | Ligas Femeninas Futbol 7 |
| David R. Hinshillwood | Emory University (Goizueta) | Cherry Hill, NJ | Harvard University | PrepScholar, Inc. |
| Michael Cox | Georgetown University (McDonough) | Brooklyn, NY | Syracuse University | New York City Mayor’s Office |
| Daphne Pham | Harvard Business School | Hanoi, Vietnam | Mount Holyoke College | Uber |
| Chen Kossover | HEC Paris | Rishon LeZion, Israel | Tel Aviv University | Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal |
| Ali Almein | IESE | Shepparton, Australia | University of Melbourne | WaterNSW |
| Jasson Muir Clarke | Indiana University (Kelley) | San José, Costa Rica | University of Costa Rica | World Animal Protection |
| Andrea (Andi) Frkovich | London Business School | Dana Point, CA | Duke University | U.S. Navy |
| Laura Botelho de Carvalho | McGill (Desautels) | Belo Horizonte, Brazil | PUC Minas) | P3N Projetos Ambientais |
| Georgia Cassady | University of Michigan (Ross) | Enterprise, AL | Wake Forest University | Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility |
| Jaime Zorrilla Sánchez de Neyra | MIT (Sloan) | Madrid, Spain | Universidad Autonoma de Madrid | Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre |
| Maya Anderson | North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | Decatur, GA | Harvard University | Hodges-Mace |
| Braden Schrock | Northwestern University (Kellogg) | Farmington Hills, MI | University of Michigan | U.S. Navy |
| Nica Langinger | New York University (Stern) | Los Angeles, CA | Stanford University | Snapchat |
| Michael Wall | Notre Dame (Mendoza) | Scituate, MA | U.S. Military Academy | U.S. Army |
| Kory Li | Rice University (Jones) | Buffalo Grove, IL | Washington University (St. Louis) | Anheuser-Busch Inbev |
| Anson E. Fraser | University of Texas (McCombs) | Summit, NJ | University of Notre Dame | Envestnet |
| Sophia Duncan | University of Toronto (Rotman) | Newton, MA | Wesleyan University | Milton Community Youth Coalition |
| Katharine Hawthorne | U.C. Berkeley (Haas) | San Mateo, CA | Stanford University | Tiedemann Advisors |
| Amanda Sol Peralta | UCLA (Anderson) | Brooklyn, NY | Duke University | Jopwell |
| Tina Cook | USC (Marshall) | Los Angeles, CA | Northern Kentucky University | Chrysalis |
| Curtis Duke | Vanderbilt University (Owen) | Morristown, TN | Sewanee: The University of the South | U.S. Army |
| Carissa Sanchez | University of Virginia (Darden) | Three Points, AZ | Yale University | Arconic |
| Alexis Goodrich | University of Washington (Foster) | Mercer Island, WA | University of Southern California | Creative Market |
| Felicia Kola-Amodu | Washington University (Olin) | Ibadan, Nigeria | Bowen University | Enterprise Holdings |
| Julia Stock | Wharton School | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro | McKinsey & Company |
| Elizabeth Davidson | Yale SOM | Richmond, VA | College of William and Mary | Kiva |
Ever Isaac Hernandez
Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
“Mission driven, passionate, and determined to achieve full potential helping others do the same.”
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Fun Fact About Yourself: Having come from humble beginnings in El Salvador and being the son of once-undocumented immigrants, I feel very accomplished and proud to have earned the means to see the world in my twenties. I have lived in 5 countries (El Salvador, United States, Spain, Kazakhstan, and Norway) and have travelled to over a dozen others covering all 5 continents before I was 30 years old, including a couple around-the-word trips.
Undergraduate School and Major: I attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, majored in Civil Engineering, and completed a minor in engineering management.
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I worked at Chevron for 12 years out of college and interned for three summers before graduating and joining full time. My last job title was Subsea Pump & Equipment Engineer.
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My most notable achievement in my career has been delivering multiple 3-megawatt subsea pump stations for Chevron and installing them on the ocean floor 7,000 feet below the surface. I lived in Norway for two and a half years overseeing design and construction of this equipment. I also had the opportunity to lead the successful offshore installation of the same subsea pump systems in the Gulf of Mexico. These were the first subsea pump systems Chevron has deployed on any of its oil fields, and they were the first in the industry of that complexity. Other exciting accomplishments have included leading the execution of an offshore geotechnical and geophysical survey for a subsea development off the coast of Angola and working on the commissioning and start-up of a sour oil and gas processing plant in Kazakhstan.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I had the opportunity to spend quality time with Consortium Fellows as we prepared for career forums and interviews during a 5-day Orientation Program in June. The quality that best defines my MBA classmates I’ve met so far would have to be a genuine desire to help each other out, and an accompanying maturity and self-confidence that allows for vulnerability in asking for and leveraging help. This was evident as we practiced our elevator pitches and interviews, as well as in participating in team exercises at workshops throughout the conference.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The key factor that led me to choose Carnegie Mellon University and the Tepper School of Business was my connection with the spirit and values on which the university and school were founded upon and on which they operate today: hard work, passion, vision, leadership, impact on society, collaboration, innovation, education, research, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Being a tenacious student and worker myself, the university’s motto of “My heart is in the work” really resonated with me. In addition, Andrew Carnegie’s and David A. Tepper’s trajectories of humble beginnings, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy are ones I relate and aspire to and thought I would find more people like that among my classmates and alumni.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am excited to join the Entrepreneurship Club, Graduate Finance Club, Asset Management Club, and become involved with Scottie Ventures as I aspire to learn all I can on due diligence and financing for venture capital, private equity, and corporate mergers & acquisitions.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Entrepreneurship Club, Graduate Finance Club, Asset Management Club, and become involved with Scottie Ventures as I aspire to learn all I can on due diligence and financing for venture capital, private equity, and corporate mergers & acquisitions.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I felt ready for leadership during challenging times in the oil and gas industry, and so I decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship and business development, as well as into exploring opportunities in other industries such as clean technology, renewable energy, and health. I am pursuing an MBA to gain an objective certification of my capabilities and potential in business, and to gain access to powerful networks.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to Rice University Jones School of Business, Texas A&M University Mays School of Business, Boston University Questrom School of Business, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business, and Harvard Business School.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I first researched schools based on their academic reputation and involvement with diversity and inclusion initiatives, and then based on location. I also attended MBA fairs to engage with admission staff of various programs of interest to get a sense of fit. I then visited the campuses of the schools where I would be applying to be sure the location and environment was right for me, and to engage with admissions staff, faculty, and students for a final assessment of fit prior to submitting applications.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I have had a few defining moments in my life. The first one was when my parents left me in El Salvador with my grandparents at the age of 3 in pursuit of a better future for my brothers and I. The trauma and pain from losing the people who I relied upon for protection and care since conception taught me to be guarded and independent from a very young age. While being guarded and independent served me well growing up in El Salvador, Chelsea, and even in completing college. I have had to unlearn these defenses in my professional and leadership endeavors where trusting colleagues has been paramount.
The next defining moment was when I came to America at the age of 12. In the two years leading up to the move and ever since being informed our residency application was progressing well, I went from being a C student to an A student in middle school, driven by the excitement of a new beginning reunited with my parents and my American born siblings.
The third and final significant defining moment was during my senior year in high school when I was working as a cashier at a Target store. I didn’t have plans to attend college up until I had an epiphany as I repositioned merchandize on shelves one evening and thought about what I would do after high school. I realized then that if I was going to be spending 8 hours a day doing something to earn a living, the task needed to be more intellectually stimulating then the job on hand, the one I had before it, or any job I had seen my immediate and extended family members take on. I also thought about my mother and her journey across the US border hidden under the seats of a car having just left behind her 4 young children in pursuit of a better future for them. I concluded at that moment that finishing high school and getting a job was not enough in doing my part. The next day, I walked into my guidance counselor’s office to ask many questions about the application process, school selection, and financing aspects. I knew my parents could not afford to pay for college and I wanted to be armed with information and solutions before I broke the news that I would be pursuing college. This was new territory for everyone in my family as I was the first one to attempt such an endeavor. I was 16 at the time.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I am working two paths for my professional occupation after I complete the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University. One path involves taking a position in Corporate Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, and/or leading into General Management with a company that values employees with an entrepreneurial mindset, who thrive in uncertainty, and who are unafraid to disrupt the status quo. The other path involves continuing to grow my own business, HNDZ Global, LLC, a business development company dedicated to people, business, and technology development for a sustainable future, helping people achieve their full potential.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I see myself leading teams as they do amazing things for humanity and the world while turning performance leading profits.
Grace Zimmerly
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
“Stubborn small-town idealist who enjoys unknotting intractable problems.”
Hometown: Waterford, PA
Fun Fact About Yourself: I have received medical attention for injuries sustained during four separate bike commuting accidents.
Undergraduate School and Major: Yale University, B.A. in Ethics, Politics, & Economics
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: New York / New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA); Lead – Overdose Reduction Initiatives
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In June 2016, I had the opportunity to spend nine months embedded at NYPD headquarters in what was then the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Operations (now the Chief of Crime Control Strategies). At that point, city agencies outside of the health department were just beginning to realize the scale of the opioid overdose epidemic across the five boroughs. It was especially important for the NYPD to get ahead of the problem, as their 25,000 uniformed officers are among the most likely of city employees to encounter individuals struggling with substance use disorder or an acute intoxication.
I was asked to develop a way to track fatal overdoses in as close to real time as possible. This was challenging because of the lag time between death, the finalization of the death certificate, and the official reporting by the health department. But a solution had to be found, because real time data is necessary for allocating resources, developing timely and actionable strategies, and identifying emerging threats.
The interagency data collection and reporting system that I designed and implemented has since reduced NYPD’s reporting time on fatal overdoses from six months to approximately 36 hours. This allows leadership to drill down into what’s happening on the illicit substance scene in the immediate term, which has led to both new initiatives within the Department and to collaborative projects with partner agencies to reduce overdose fatalities.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Coming from the government, I didn’t know what to expect from conversations with my business school peers – I guess I thought we’d sit around talking about IPOs and P/E ratios all day. This is not at all true of the Booth students I’ve met so far, who are more than willing to jump into unusual conversations and activities.
If I had to define the common factor across my classmates, it would be intense curiosity, broadly applied. No idea is too off the wall. And while that kind of intellectual openness can be terrifying, it’s also exhilarating. Boothies are an idiosyncratic bunch, in the best way possible, and that contributes to an active and fast-paced learning environment.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Booth is particularly open-minded about the origins of good leadership and new ideas. I think this is reflective of the University of Chicago’s general unconcern with the beaten path; how else do you get a Nobel Prize in economics out of your behavioral science department? On a personal level, this agnosticism was important because I didn’t want my prior work history to define my business school experience.
Anyone applying to business school from a nontraditional background is intimately familiar with their top schools’ “pre-MBA industries” pie charts – the ones that show that 15 percent School X’s incoming students come from consulting, 15 percent from tech, 10 percent from financial services. These charts usually combine education, nonprofits, and the government into a single segment, and it almost always sums to less than 10 percent.
Those ratios didn’t vary much between the schools that I applied to, but the way that Booth levels the playing field across different backgrounds stood out to me. I appreciate that Booth doesn’t have a set core curriculum, because someone who spent five years at Goldman Sachs has different gaps to fill in her knowledge than I do. Also, the LEAD program we participate in before classes start is a chance for all members of the incoming class to think about leadership with a wide lens, one that’s expansive enough to include experiences outside of the VP – associate — analyst structure. Even during the application process, I felt that Booth’s comparatively unusual essays were a chance to move beyond retelling anecdotes from the classic corporate narrative.
While we may have a steep learning curve in certain areas, MBA candidates from nontraditional backgrounds have fresh perspectives and unique experiences to share. Booth’s approach to both academics and culture makes it clear that that’s treated as a given.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Booth students have recently decided to field a women’s rugby team. I don’t yet play rugby, which means that this has the potential to unite three of my favorite things: helping build something new, trying something I’ve never tried, and good old-fashioned competition. Let’s go, Kellogg ladies.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I spent the past four years working for the City of New York, first in gang intelligence and then in overdose reduction. This means that everyone in my former work life is hugely confused about my grad school plans. They’re more of a law and policy school crowd.
I considered law school seriously. And after spending a lot of time with brilliant, idealistic, hard-working lawyers, I still believe that a legal education is the best way to understand the ins-and-outs of the way the world works now. That’s just not the kind of thinking that I want to apply in my career.
We need people who understand the minute operations of our companies and institutions and society as they are. However, we also need people who can look at that status quo, break it apart, and rebuild the pieces into something better. I was at a point in my professional career where I felt that I needed to double down on one of those tracks. For me, the choice was obvious.
Regardless of sector, management and leadership in the modern world needs more creative thinkers and effective actors. I think those are some of the most important skills that the modern MBA education provides – it’s not just economics and corporate finance anymore.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Yale.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? Since I didn’t have any mentors or coworkers who’d played the MBA game, my priority in evaluating schools was understanding the perceptions that people within the business world held about my top programs. I had a few conversations with current students, but directed most of my questions to recent graduates who were working at firms I’d be interested in, as well as hiring managers and directors at those firms. Everyone I spoke to was open in discussing not only what they liked about their favored programs, but also the pros of competitor schools and the challenges at their alma maters.
As for assessing culture, I’m glad that I did in-person interviews wherever I could. Seeing the pace at different schools was useful to me. Plus, being in the winter garden at Booth in early February did a lot to soothe my fears about Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to have a career that requires solving increasingly challenging problems, but also constantly gives me new skills and shows me new ways of thinking. I’m also interested in trying out the brave new world of the private sector. I think that combination might put me in consulting or a start-up in five years, but I’m not closing any doors. I’m always happy when I manage to surprise myself.
Halle Morse
Columbia Business School
“Broadway actress, singer, dancer turned producer/director believes “there’s no business like show business.”
Hometown: Shaker Heights, OH
Fun Fact About Yourself: I played over 1,000 performances as “Lisa” in Mamma Mia! on Broadway
Undergraduate School and Major: Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Musical Theatre Major
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
American Repertory Theater, Assistant Director of Jagged Little Pill, the new Alanis Morissette Musical (Directed by Diane Paulus)
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Developed and launched (as production manager and associate producer) the world premiere of 3/Fifths by James Scruggs, a large-scale immersive theatre piece exploring race and privilege in America. Staged as an interactive carnival and cabaret, this innovative production enjoyed a sold-out run in NYC as well as critical success; it was selected as a “Must-See Show” by the New York Times.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Fierce. The students I have met so far possess an insatiable appetite for growth and intellect. While currently scholars first, they are perfectly suited to take on the concrete jungle of NYC as well as the world stage. Witty, thoughtful and dynamic, they are also humble, hungry and focused on their future success. They are, after all, Columbia Lions — roar!
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Location, location, location. CBS is the best business school in the greatest city in the world! I am familiar with NYC and felt certain that I could leverage my prior industry connections and simultaneously build significant relationships with business leaders and professionals, all while still in school. This degree of career access and opportunity is simply invaluable.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? One of my goals is to meaningfully engage business leaders in the arts. I hope to be a part of the great CBS tradition of putting on the Follies, as either a producer or director. I am also interested in pursuing activities with the Innovation + Creativity in Business Society, Public Speaking Association, and Media Management Association. I intend to be active with Columbia Women In Business and the Black Business Students Association. I would also love to join the Sailing Club!
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? While on a performing hiatus (following a surgical procedure), I began producing and realized that I had a passion for it. I wanted to be able to produce at the highest level and explore the option of running a theatre company someday. I knew an MBA would provide the necessary skills to take my producing and artistic leadership abilities to the next level.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Before completing a year-long pre-MBA program through Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), I was seeking MFA programs in theater management. Through researching and comparing programs, I realized the MBA would be the most valuable, as well as generalized, degree. Particularly when earned at an M7 school, the degree is suitably applicable to all industries.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? NYU, Yale, USC, Purdue Krannert, and Wisconsin’s MBA in Arts Administration
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I visited as many school events as I could, participated in numerous webinars and held dozens of informational interviews. The alumni from CBS consistently impressed me. They had an “edge” that I really appreciated. All were well connected and had personal/career values that seemed to align with my own. I also have an extroverted/outgoing personality — they made me feel as though I would fit in at CBS.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? For my first-ever producing venture, I chose The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe and took steps to obtain the rights, hold campus wide auditions, and assemble a diverse team of actors and designers. I then directed, choreographed, and performed in this colorful satire exploring themes of African American culture. The show was a “sold out” smashing success. Moreover, it was a a leadership experience that solidified my personal mission to utilize the arts as a tool for diverse voices to be heard. Although I set out to be on Broadway, I realized that my lifelong commitment to the arts was about the pursuit of something far more transcendent than just myself in the spotlight. To date, even after years of performing of Broadway, this production remains one of my proudest theatre moments.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I hope to gain traditional business experience by working in strategy at an entertainment company. Eventually, through expanding my expertise, I hope to continue producing theatre.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Leadership position (i.e. Managing Director, Executive or Artistic Director) at a National Arts Organization
Thomas Stelle
Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University
“I’m a hardworking, family-oriented person whose life is driven by a keen interest in hospitality.”
Hometown: Sag Harbor, NY
Fun Fact About Yourself: I spearfished a 250-pound yellowfin tuna off Ascension Island.
Undergraduate School and Major: Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., Literature Major
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: BBHG, Restaurant Consultant
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Several years after working at Mario Batali’s flagship restaurant, Babbo, my leadership and dedication led to the honor of overseeing the logistics of President Obama’s 14th and final state dinner.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I would say commitment is the best quality I have experienced by meeting other Johnson students. Whether it’s about Cornell, the Johnson curriculum, or the MBA culture, Cornell stands out to prospective MBA students immediately.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Coming from a food and beverage background, Cornell stood out because of classes in hospitality and real estate offered at the School of Hotel Administration and classes in entrepreneurship, sustainability and business at Johnson. All of these offerings exist within Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, which comprises Johnson, Dyson (undergraduate business), and the School of Hotel Administration.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m most excited to get involved in the Sustainable Global Enterprise Club, because this is something that has moved to the forefront in terms of creating a business and being a more responsible citizen in the world.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? After working in restaurant operations and consulting for four years, I felt as though I had reached my ceiling at BBHG and decided that in order to start my own business I needed to become more educated about the foundations of business.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? An MBA was clearly worth the investment because everything from the core courses to the more specialized electives were going to provide me with a necessary set of skills and knowledge to start and successfully run my own hospitality group.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Columbia and Dartmouth.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I approached the process of picking a school by considering “the whole package,” and not one particular aspect of the MBA program. This spans from the actual campus feel to the MBA curriculum and extracurricular opportunities. Having a strong connection to the school, a robust sense of community, and well-known entrepreneurship and social enterprise programs were specific requirements.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I can’t say that I have a defining moment per se, but I can say that my mother and father have actively shaped me into the person I am today. From a young age, they allowed my sisters and me to follow our dreams, whether that involved hobbies, education, or in our careers, with a support system that fostered passion. Through this passion, and their focus on instilling kindness, I was able to bring hospitality into my life and live out my dream of making people happy through my work.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? After graduating, I’m planning to work for an investment or private equity fund and work specifically in the sector of food and beverage, restaurant technology, and fast casual concepts. This is an emerging part of the investment world, and I think by taking my operational expertise and combining it with an MBA I will be able to approach the business in a very holistic and comprehensive manner.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, after forming my flagship restaurant, I plan to build a hybrid hospitality group with a focus on sustainability and social impact that combines restaurant and real estate investments, food production, and product branding. I’ll diversify my portfolio of investments throughout the food, wine, and hospitality industries, as well as associated markets, using these mediums to address social issues such as residential development, sustainability, and healthy living.
Irina Titkova
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
“I believe in the power of paying it forward. I’m blessed with great guides and aspire to guide others.”
Hometown: Mogilev, Belarus
Fun Fact About Yourself: I recently traveled around the globe in two days! My sightseeing involved admiring five countries, but sadly only from the airports.
Undergraduate School and Major: Brooklyn College, Business Management – Public Accounting and Finance
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: KPMG, Experienced Associate
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In college, I was hired as an office assistant at a diamond company. After some time, I noticed that the business could not grow because it was not adequately managed financially, so I offered to take on those responsibilities. As a result, the company got a substantial loan from a bank to expand inventory and even sell internationally.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? They are nice, and they have the Tuck ethos. Humble, brilliant, ambitious – and yet they come across as people with open minds, big hearts and with wonderful personal stories.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I chose Tuck because of the emphasis on global exposure, its well-organized alumni network, and career placement services. Tuck encourages students to study abroad through the TuckGO requirement, and I am interested in taking advantage of this opportunity. The strong emphasis on alumni connections and career placement attracted me as well because I am a career-oriented person. I also envision myself helping and guiding other Tuckies in their career journeys.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I want to become a member of the Consulting Club, Tuck Public Speaking Club, and Net Impact.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have always been passionate about growth and sustainability. Professionally, I have enjoyed creating value for businesses by helping them improve their strategies or making their internal operations more efficient. My experiences so far, although very enriching, were also insightful. Watching others, I realized that there are areas where I need to learn and grow more. I believe that the intense Tuck MBA curriculum, paired with perspectives from the class of 2020, is exactly what I need to improve and round out my background.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I sought advice from many professionals with an MBA degree from highly ranked schools. Most recalled their own MBA experiences as life-changing and professionally transformational. They recalled this time in their lives as a time where they could reflect and introspect, alongside brilliant people, on their strengths, weaknesses, and passions. I liked the fact that they never emphasized the job title or the money, but instead talked about the conviction they developed in their career direction and the self-confidence they gained in pursuing their own passions to make a difference in the world. I may have had a selection bias in my sample set, but most enjoyed their post-MBA careers more than pre-MBA careers.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Kellogg and NYU
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I was looking for three things: 1) Style of teaching; 2) Culture of institution; and 3) Ability to form strong bonds with peers at school. I was always interested in a small program, but one that was highly-rated. A strong focus on culture and peer networking was perhaps the most significant factors for me.
I did a lot of primary research, which included reading how schools positioned their programs, how alumni wrote about the experiences, and how the blogs reflected the curriculum and culture. I supplemented this with actual alumni interaction – meeting with as many as I could – and that perhaps helped me the most in forming my own conclusions.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? It was my decision to stay in the United States as an asylee with 400 dollars in my pocket, no connections, and poor English. Through this experience, not only have I learned the value of being able to dream with conviction, but it also instilled in me the passion for persevering against adversity and taking personal accountability for outcomes.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I am planning to work with consumer brands – companies that help transform consumer lives, either working through consulting companies, through private equity, or directly as an employee.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to work with one of the leading consulting firms, working on strategy and transformation projects that matter. I also hope to be able to help Tuck alumni and future Tuck MBA students in any way I can with their own careers.
Alexandra Herrera Flores
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
“Passionate economist and soccer player, highly energetic on gender equality and making things happen”
Hometown: Lima, Peru
Fun Fact About Yourself: I love being surrounded by people since I highly recharge from people’s energy and good vibes. That is the reason why, each birthday, I throw a huge party and sing a couple of catchy fast-paced Latin songs. Everyone has a great time and cheers me on even though I am a terrible singer.
Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad del Pacifico, Economics (Lima, Peru)
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
- Etex Group Peru (Eternit) – Product Manager, and
- Ligas Femeninas Futbol 7 – Co-Founder and Director
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Having worked five years in strategic consulting, I gained experience solving all kinds of problems and seeking for opportunities in various fields, ranging from telecommunication and energy projects to go-to-market and marketing strategies. That is how, along with a friend, we solved a huge problem in Peruvian society that had affected us all our lives: women were not able to play amateur soccer in Peru because of gender inequality and violence towards women (For example, my parents grounded me whenever I played soccer because “It is not for a girl”). This situation happened even though it is the most popular sport in Peru and almost a religion (after our World Cup classification after 36 years, the President gave a national holiday)!
Using all my consulting experience, I set up a plan to encourage women to play soccer, create a women’s soccer market, and set up a social enterprise (now on its way to becoming an NGO). This has produced an all-around women’s soccer value proposition that fights gender inequality and boosts women empowerment: Ligas Femeninas Futbol 7 (LF7). Nowadays, LF7 is the biggest women’s soccer circuit in Peru, with more than 3,500 players (one of our biggest tournaments unite more than a thousand women playing, even bigger than the National Soccer Federation)! We even have programs with Telefonica and the United States and Australia Embassies in Peru. Moreover, LF7’s profits fund “Social Academies” for unprivileged girls that boost their self-esteem and confidence through a self-designed coaching and soccer methodology. For that matter, we are UN ambassadors for gender equality in Peru. Finally, in LF7 we also invest part of the income in non-stop communicational campaigns that boost the players’ confidence and change social paradigms through our fan page with 52,000 fans.
I am very proud on having set up a social enterprise model that is sustainable, efficient, and helps to eliminate gender inequality and limiting paradigms regarding women’s roles in society, both on and off the soccer field.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I would say their real passion is to be a team player. They are the “extra mile” team players. I am aware that Fuqua is known for having a team player vision and that’s totally true, but I think the way everyone lives that is what really matters. It is not only that people just help each other and listen to the group ideas; it is that they are passionate about doing it and always looking out for new opportunities for getting things done. More important, they are always working as a family. Everyone is actively proposing activities, helping each other, listening to new ideas, and collectively enforcing them.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Duke’s sports spirit was one of my main drivers. I am a true believer that sports (especially collective sports) give you a different vision of the world. You have to learn to win and to lose; you have to listen to your teammates; and (most important) you have to help each other. Fuqua breathes sports from its curricula (highly intensive in group assignments) to its motto #TeamFuqua.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? The Association of Women in Business club, Consulting Club and, last but not least, the Soccer Club.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I worked fivev years in consulting and then worked 2 years as a product manager in a construction materials distribution company, all in Peru and, mostly, at a local level. However, I decided I wanted not only to move forward in my career, but play in the big leagues. My plan is to either get a consulting job abroad with regional projects or work in a big transnational in the strategy area. So, if I really wanted to play in the “big leagues”, I needed to go back to school to learn new concepts and analyze more business cases outside the Peruvian ones. Also, I wanted to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone and learn how to make the best out of every business opportunity. For that matter, I knew the only way to push myself beyond my boundaries and pursue my dreams was to get into a top business school and learn from both exceptional teachers and brilliant classmates.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Besides the experience of living abroad with a diverse class and having updated business education, I looked up the employment report of every business school I applied to and calculated if it was a clever investment-return decision. Also, I looked-up to the top-employers and found out if the MBA was going to be a springboard to my dream job.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? London Business School, Kellogg (Northwestern) and Anderson (UCLA).
How did you determine your fit at various schools? The first and most important was to talk to as many as alumni from different MBAs I could. When having long conversations with alumni, it is easy to sense how they perceive not only their MBA but other MBAs, from both their own alumni network and what their friends have told them about other MBAs. Talking with alumni helps you shape the culture and activities, as well as the efficiency, helpfulness and resources of the career centers. Also, alumni give you a clear view on what their expectations were and what the reality was – and also on the city characteristics (especially important for internationals, like me). Also, talking to the admissions team helps you understand what is beyond the brochure of each program. I analyzed five dimensions of each of the top MBAs. That way, I decided if I fit (or not). The dimensions were: i) Academic rigor and electives, ii) Collaborative environment and classmates, iii) School spirit / characteristics, iv) Career Management Center efficiency for my career goals, and v) City life.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I would say that the thing that most defines me is that I am really passionate about projects and that I actually make things happen, no matter the problems and no matter if everyone says it is impossible.
My defining moment was quite a long time ago during my first days at elementary school back in Peru. There, at about 6 years old, I wanted to play soccer, my favorite sport, with my classmates. However, there were only boys playing and I asked if I could play. However, they would not let me because they said, “Girls don’t play soccer.” Because I felt insulted, I remember going to the teacher’s office to accuse these boys. There, the teacher tried to convince me that, in fact, “It is impossible because soccer is too rude for a delicate little girl” and that “It is better if you play with dolls or something similar so you won’t get hurt.” After that terrible day at school, I remember being really mad and willing to accuse everyone in talking with my mother. However, when I told her, I only heard “Your teacher is totally right, you shouldn’t be doing boy’s things, so you better obey.”
So, from a young age, I learned the rough way that society had several limiting paradigms for women to be successful and happy. After that, I remember always fighting with passion for any dream I had -especially regarding women’s rights, no matter if everyone tells me it is impossible. After all, I managed to play a little bit of soccer in my childhood – even though I got grounded every week for that – and ended up creating the biggest women’s amateur soccer league in Peru, where my mother (the one who used to ground me for that) now plays the “master’s tournament,” and actually perceives women’s roles in Peruvian society differently.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I want to pursue a career in strategic consulting doing regional or worldwide projects or working in the strategy division of a big transnational company (probably a retailer). Basically, I would somehow be doing consulting but inside a company. I want to work with cross-cultural and worldwide teams creating value for businesses and challenging the status-quo.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself being a director in a top international consulting firm or in a retail transnational, working with worldwide teams in challenging projects finding creative ways to improve businesses and making people’s lives better.
David R. Hinshillwood
Emory University, Goizueta Business School
“Bumbling, beardy, boisterous, and kind-hearted oaf passionate about social justice, company culture, and trash television.”
Hometown: Cherry Hill, NJ
Fun Fact About Yourself: I am an aspiring Drag Queen who goes by the name Miss Patti Archy (like “patriarchy,” which I hope to dismantle one lip-sync at a time!).
Undergraduate School and Major: Harvard University, B.A. in History and Literature & the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: PrepScholar, Inc. / Sales and Support Manager
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My most recent company, PrepScholar, is an education technology program that seeks to improve educational access at scale, and that’s exactly what I sought to do in my Sales Management role: improve our processes at scale in a way that was both lucrative to the company and helpful to our customers. Thus, my biggest accomplishment at PrepScholar was the creation, design, implementation, and maintenance of an upsell experiment that revolutionized the way we were interacting with current customers to encourage them to upsell to our tutoring packages.
By understanding PrepScholar’s “buyer’s journey” where our sales messaging stopped at purchase, I saw a huge gap where we weren’t trying to upsell our stellar tutoring packages to families who were enrolled in our smaller package (an online-only adaptive software). Singlehandedly, I was able to create a personalized email messaging that married qualitative data (like their dream college) with quantitative points (hours in the program, test scores, etc.) to point out the gap between their current scores and the necessary scores for admission to introduce and sell the benefit of our tutoring packages.
Even in its MVP stage, the upsell experiment increased company-wide sales numbers nearly 30 percent, and it’s something PrepScholar has since integrated into its core sales practices! As a self-proclaimed “scared of numbers” guy, I was not only really proud of the lasting impact my project had on the company but also the metrics-driven quantitative success of the sales.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? My classmates are a mix of many things: ambitious and talented, hardworking and fun, but most of all, I’d have to say they’re effervescent. Effervescence goes far beyond describing a tart and satisfying sip of good champagne (which I’ve learned many in the class have a penchant for!); it’s a bubbly, tingly, and even inspiring sensation that gives you a warmth in your gut and a smile on your face. From day one, the folks I’ve interacted with in Goizueta’s incoming class have given me nothing but these positive, intoxicating feelings.
However, unlike the nasty hangovers and bad decisions that can come from the effervescence of champagne, the effervescence of the Goizueta Class of 2020 has left me feeling great and thirsty for more. Besides the few folks I got to meet at the whirlwind of a Welcome Weekend, we’re all on a GroupMe where we all chat daily as an incoming class. In just one day, we could talk about the best way to politely but firmly give your notice to your employer, the World Cup, climbing mountains, and grabbing a beer. The Goizueta class of 2020 is one with diverse passions and backgrounds, but they all have some important commonalities: an enthusiastic love of business, a vivacious and alluring sense of self, and a willingness to imbibe the experience of our MBA program in a way that will last far beyond our two years together.
We have students with spouses and children, wildly successful career switchers, and international students with a zeal and excitement for business that goes unparalleled. I’m lucky to be one of the bubbles in the glass of Goizueta 2020.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? There are a lot of phenomenal things I could say about Goizueta, many of which were contributing factors in my decision to join the class of 2020. Paramount to all else was the overwhelming sense of community I felt throughout the application process, whether it was at Welcome Weekend or after formally accepting my offer to join the incoming class. Every top Business School boasts great professors, impressive networks, and hard data on success, but not every school can craft a narrative of care, compassion, and community that is so intertwined in Goizueta’s core values as an institution.
As someone who doesn’t have a traditional MBA background (liberal arts humanities undergraduate, shorter than average work experience, startup experience and young to boot), I needed a place where I would feel supported by my peers, my professors, and the administration as a whole. From my very first interview with Heather Holland where we talked about Atlanta’s drag scene and the bond she has with her daughter from watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, to the friends I made at welcome weekend with whom I bonded over the daunting and delicious cheese plate and Atlanta heat, to today where I’m still receiving invites to grab drinks (and buy microwaves) from my peers, I could tell that even in the hyper-competitive business school arena that Goizueta is going to be a place where I can simultaneously feel challenged and supported. Without community, success can feel shallow and unfounded. Thankfully, I am confident that in Goizueta I have found an institution that promotes growth through community impact (within Goizueta itself, Atlanta at large, and on an even more international scale).
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m really excited to join Emory’s Entrepreneurship Club (EVCC). I’ve always had an interest in startups – especially their conception, funding, and development – and so seeing that first hand will be extremely invaluable and enlightening as I begin the recruitment process.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? My grandfather – or “Poppo” as I call him (since I wanted him to be related to Elmo when I was little) – was not only a huge influence in my life but also a major professional aspiration for me growing up. One of life’s most bittersweet ironies is watching a man who was the COO of a cancer research hospital battle cancer, and his journey showed me that there’s no time like the present to better yourself, pursue your passions, and make a difference. Sometimes, we don’t get a “tomorrow” or a “next time” and I want my grandfather to see my impact. So, business school, here we are!
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? There’s nothing quite like holding a $200,00 piece of paper that reads, “David Hinshillwood, Bachelor of Arts in Unemployment from Harvard University” to give you a swift kick in the butt. I value my experience at Harvard for many reasons, but most important of all, it helped show me that a liberal arts education gives you a well-defined sense of your passion and a strong voice with a much less defined career path.
My academic focus in the performances of race and gender in throughout American social and political history helped me explore my interest in people relations and the importance of contributions individuals make to shape society as a whole, but I wasn’t quite sure whether that would springboard into a role in operations, HR, or marketing. It also helped me understand my own privilege and the hierarchies I myself am intertwined in, but that still didn’t lead me to a dream career.
I’m confident that an MBA will help ground my general interests in a way that is much more focused and targeted, where I can marry my own personal core ideas and interests to a concrete career path.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to schools in the top 20 that had a strong brand identity and inclusive community located in or near major cities. Among those programs were the likes of Haas, Stern and Anderson.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? There were a couple of key factors I considered as I was finalizing my list of schools to apply to. Among the top factors were quality of instruction, average aid, class size, student-rated satisfaction, and opportunities for employment outside of traditional MBA work placements (like Wall Street, Consulting, etc.).
To assess the fit for each of these factors, I used a mix of school-specific and national resources. I began by enrolling in the ROMBA (Reaching Out MBA) email list and ruled out any school that didn’t have a ROMBA affiliation. From there, I spent time on the websites of each school to which I was interested in applying to look at their course offerings, read up on professors, and scanned their list of clubs and activities to see where I thought I could find my community and make the biggest impact. I then began reaching out to school networks based on my interests (LGBTQ activism, rugby, marketing, hospitality and startups) to discuss any present opportunities and what it was that made them love their school. I chose this specific route because these students were the ones actively involved but could also speak candidly about their experience. Thankfully, each school also has extensive records of where students are placed by company, industry and role, so I could see which schools sent MBAs to work in tech or startups and begin finalizing my list from there.
After I gleaned all the information I possibly could from school websites, I began using outside sources: US News and World Report Rankings, Poets&Quants, and Clear Admit to start understanding where each school fell in the Top 20; what students loved about their school; and how long it took for them to pay back their MBA. I knew I wanted to go to a prestigious university but I wasn’t going to spend upwards of $200,000 to enroll at a school with a great name that wasn’t the right fit for me.
Lastly, and this is probably my biggest recommendation: interview your interviewer. If you make it to the interview stage of the application, you should be determining fit as much as the interviewer is: ask what’s hard about living in that city, what a day-to-day is like, and what makes them unique. The interviewer will likely have crafted answers, but it’s illuminating to see what a school representative decides to highlight.
Ultimately, it was schools with a strong sense of activism, community orientation, and small class size that made the cut.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Wow, talk about a Jerry Springer moment! The biggest defining moment in my life so far has been coming out of the closet and living my truth as an out and proud gay man. Though society is making huge inclusive strides to protect the rights of LGBTQ-identified Americans, I’ve experienced first-hand the hate, fear and body-shaming that gay folk face, and so coupling that with a somewhat conservative-minded family, I was nervous to live my truth.
Like the aspiring businessperson I was, I wrote an email addressed to my entire family so no one would be mad they weren’t told first, and also so that I could more eloquently put into words feelings that had been dormant since I was a pre-teen.
Common themes throughout my life are to live with authenticity, challenge the status quo, and do work to support my communities, and coming out was a culmination of those three ideals. Through coming out, I was able to more deeply understand myself and what set me apart as an intellectual, a businessperson, and a human being. Since coming out, I’ve joined Boston’s gay and inclusive rugby team to challenge myself physically and mentally while also building a network of support; I began doing drag to challenge the conception of fragile and toxic masculinity; and I proudly do charity work to raise money for HIV/AIDS research and other issues plaguing gay America. Coming out allowed me to understand my impact and challenged me to continue to live my life with truth, integrity, and a sense of purpose, and you all better be sure I’m bringing my gay down to Goizueta!
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I’m obsessed with the power and success of the sharing economy (AirBnb, Uber, Lyft, etc.) because it synthesizes a lot of my interests: strong company culture and brand identity, hospitality services, and a people-helping-people approach where folks are sharing a part of themselves (whether it be their car’s backseat or their spare bedroom) to form transient but still impactful connections. I’d love for my post-graduation career to start at a company in this sector. Ideally, I’d love to join the Marketing division of one of these companies to continue to brand and market these services to help connect people on an individual level while being part of the initiative to ensure that these tech startups-turned-institutions are here to stay in a safe and legal way.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I have this crazy gay dream of opening an LGBTQ chain coffee shop and bar across America’s most gay-friendly cities. Think of it as Starbucks’ flamboyant younger brother with beardy bearistas and beartenders who have an intimate knowledge of service, craft cocktails, and culturally-aware coffee. It would be a company obsessed with community, whose patrons could feel comfortable regardless of race, gender and size, where a portion of the profits are donated to initiatives like the Trevor Project and the HRC, and you could walk in at noon to a re-run of RuPaul’s DragDrag Race and a Golden Girls themed night starting at nine.
HA! In all practical seriousness, waking up from the idyllic dream above, in 5 years, I hope I will have gotten my feet wet in small-scale startups to the point where I understand what it takes to build a brand and a company from the ground up to help with in funding and starting my company. Coffee and cocktails are both social endeavors that marry my love of people, products, and culture in a way that I’d be excited to struggle and commit my life to their operation and success, but it takes experience and know-how beyond the scope of what I feel I can currently do.
Michael Cox
Georgetown University, McDonough School Of Business
“Brooklyn bred to serve; politico; convener; People fanatic, Football fanatic; non-concessionary serial social entrepreneur; #WantsCakeAndEatsItToo!”
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York City
Fun Fact About Yourself: My daughter and I went viral in a daddy-daughter affirmations video on The Scene. Check it out!
Undergraduate School and Major:
New York University, MPA, Social Impact, Investment and Innovation
Syracuse University, B.A. History, B.S. Political Science
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
- Senior Policy Advisor, New York City Mayor’s Office
- Consultant, Transform Finance
- Candidate, New York State Senate
- Assistant Director, NYU Brooklyn | Government and Community Affairs
- Special Advisor, United States Department of Commerce, Office of the Secretary
- Special Assistant, United States Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration
- Legislative Assistant, Congressman Gregory Meeks
- Teach For America Corps Member
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The most significant accomplishment of my career was working with my boss—Congressman Gregory Meeks—and the iconic John Lewis to secure about $1.5 Billion for an international economic development, human rights, and international trade package that included the Donald Payne graduate fellowship at USAID.
Normally, it is difficult to get Members of Congress to support new federal funding and 2012—during highly partisan sequestration—was no exception. John Lewis and staff, along with Congressman Meeks, myself, Congressman Elijah Cummings, and Angela Rye of the Congressional Black Caucus were able to work with business groups, education advocates and universities, and the private sector to demonstrate the benefit of this investment for fellowship awardees, our international partners, and American companies.
Nearly 7 years and more than $10 Billion later, the funding stream still exists and the Donald Payne Fellowship—among other parts of the package—has helped hundreds of students across the country pay for graduate school while they promote economic growth, international trade with American firms, and combat poverty, hunger, disease, environmental degradation, conflict, and violent extremism.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Georgetown has done a great job of assembling a really diverse set of students. It includes former engineers, techs, consultants, Peace Corps volunteers, bankers, and public sector journeymen. Like me, there isn’t a type, per se—at least not from a professional background or interest standpoint.
The clearest commonality that I have found is that McDonough students are exceptionally self-aware, driven—but not overbearing—and most of all, there is a very strong orientation toward business leadership that advances social responsibility.
When I speak with finance people, they want to understand markets and catalyze change for the greater good; multiple prospective consultants are interested in premier firms to gain insights they can use to help disadvantaged businesses or international development.
People at McDonough live out the Georgetown value: Men and women for others, and that level of selfless and audacious optimism in the concept of shared value is infectious and energizing.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I was driven to Georgetown by the overarching idea that the world doesn’t need more MBA’s who are only and primarily personally successful. Instead, it needs business students and leaders who are individually successful and who also disrupt and improve inefficient and inequitable systems across and between sectors.
I did a ton of research on US b-schools and felt Georgetown McDonough’s culture, academic training, location, and inextricable connection to businesses, policymakers, ambassadors, and trade associations was a unique.
Like Ross Baird of Village Capital wrote in the Innovation Blind Spot, ‘Business has to move toward a model of shared value as its core function,’ and I think McDonough at Georgetown is best positioned to help me do just that.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m passionate about entrepreneurship and innovations that support financial inclusion, so I am especially excited about joining the FinTech club at Georgetown, which has synergies with my entrepreneurial and social impact side.
One of the special things about Georgetown is that it is so well connected to industry trade associations and policymakers—the Fintech club is no exception and recently collaborated with FINRA to explore business opportunities and policy considerations for innovations in financial technology.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? When I led Government and Community Affairs for NYU Brooklyn, the university was awarded valuable real estate by the City of New York to develop a $350 million science and innovation corridor.
The University was obligated to partner with women and minority owned firms, and after evaluating 115 lines of business NYU and its construction manager could only identify less than 10 lines of business where contractors anticipated bids from women and minority owned firms, in New York City!
The lack of women and minority firms was shocking to me and I knew what I was witnessing was an end result of the inequitable education system I observed as a Teach For America Corps Member serving Brooklyn.
I realized I could not count on regulations, incentives, or public investments to do this important work anymore. Instead, I committed to creating the type of company and value—through advisement or entrepreneurship—that I wanted to see, and I realized that a MBA is uniquely positioned to help me achieve this goal.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I actually made a financial model and a personal roadmap to look at b-school return on investment—the investment in school is worth it!
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Tepper; Johnson
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized culture, location, reputation, as well as access and support that would be available to me. Additionally, I did not want to be removed from my network for two years so I sought schools near population centers where I have been and where I see my career taking me.
Similarly, I wanted a campus and collegial environment, but as an older student I wanted to be at a university that would not constrict my networking to primarily MBA’s and undergrads, which I found to be the case at some of the more rural schools.
Lastly, I wanted to be at a place whose ethos was to build business leaders who sought to solve problems in the world and wanted to explore innovative ways to do so. When I spoke with Senior Associate Dean Prashant Malaviya about my long-term interest in Private Equity with an impact thesis, he was incredibly attentive and asked what he and the school could do to help. Others just mentioned that I an interesting idea.
Bonus: I love Georgetown’s focus on partnering with the Consortium and growing its footprint on campus.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The defining moment in my career was when I ran for New York State Senate in my hometown of Brooklyn. After witnessing income inequality, failing schools, and a local economy that rendered 45% of New Yorkers near or below the poverty line I knew I had to run. The campaign was the culmination of my experience as a TFA corps member, congressional staffer, and Obama Administration official working on economic development. While I was witnessing how ill-suited our political and governmental systems are to solve problems, I simultaneously began to feel empowered to solve the problems in my community on my own.
I pitched my case and raised multiple tens of thousands of dollars every month from donors of all sizes ranging from my mom to Steve Jobs’ mentor, famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist Arthur Rock. With money in hand, I had to develop marketing material, hire nearly 30 staff members, secure office space, dissect data, keep raising money, meet voters, and manage team dynamics.
While I ultimately didn’t win the campaign, I garnered nearly 5,000 votes against a 32-year incumbent. I believe my run led to a movement within the old guard to begin to listen more closely to their constituents as opposed to resting on their laurels. As I think through my next steps in life, I know an MBA will help me address the challenges I’ve faced and have seen so many in my community face and improve my management skills so I can tackle the next set of problems I seek to change.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? After I graduate, I plan to celebrate—then go into management consulting. Later in my business career, I plan to launch a private equity firm with a social impact thesis and at some point in the future I would love to hold elected office.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years I see myself with a family, in a great life-rhythm, contributing to an awesome consulting firm.
Daphne Pham
Harvard Business School
“Curious about the world. A bit idealistic. Unapologetically ambitious. Also a self-proclaimed fashionista and skincare expert.”
Hometown: I’m from Hanoi, Vietnam, but I have spent the majority of my adulthood in different parts of the world: Western Massachusetts, New York City, London, Bangkok (Thailand), and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).
Fun Fact About Yourself: I have a certificate in wine tasting, even though I am slightly allergic to alcohol.
Undergraduate School and Major: Mount Holyoke College – Bachelor of Arts in economics and mathematics.
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I started my career in investment banking in New York, advising media and telecom companies. After two years in finance, I went to Bangkok, Thailand, to work for Lazada, one of Southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce companies (ultimately acquired by Alibaba). Then I was recruited as Uber’s first employee in Vietnam. When I left Uber, I was a Senior Operations Manager, leading Uber Vietnam’s national operations team and managing over 150 employees and contractors.
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was at Uber from the first day we launched in Vietnam to the last day, when we sold to our regional competitor (Grab). Therefore, I was able to see both the joys and pains of starting up and scaling up a business, one that faced significant challenges of difficult regulatory battles, frequent press attacks, and hostile incumbents.
To be in the frontline of such a business is not for the faint of heart. I still remember some of our toughest days, when we had to calm our anxious/angry driver partners, who were worried about our legality; persuade our friends and families that the news they read was not entirely true; and, yes, convince ourselves that we were doing the right things. Disruptive innovation is never easy, after all. We also had many problems that were unique to a developing market: extremely low car ownership and a lack of solid payment infrastructure, for example.
To solve those problems, my team and I couldn’t stick to an US-centric playbook; we had to be agile in adapting to the local market’s needs. I led a few major launches that were tailored to our business in Vietnam: cash payment, which helped increase our user base massively, and partnerships with financial institutions to let drivers easily borrow money to buy vehicles (before us, no bank was willing to do so). Those initiatives paid off, helping our business grow to be Uber’s third largest market in Southeast Asia. But in all of this, the achievement I am really most proud of is my journey from being an individual contributor to being a leader, with the accompanying development of my “soft” skills and emotional intelligence as well.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? As I write this, I have not started school yet, so my sample size is rather small. I have met only around 10 of my future classmates, but they have all impressed me with their intellectual curiosity.
They are also very different from each other in terms of backgrounds, work experiences, and perspectives. I guess I have always heard about great diversity at HBS, and my experience so far clearly attests to that claim.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Frances Frei, one of HBS’s faculty members, came to Uber in 2017 as SVP of Leadership and Strategy. She organized a corporate training program via HBX, an online learning platform that simulates the case method experience of an HBS classroom. I attended a few sessions and immediately fell in love with the discussions, the energy, the intellectual vitality coming from the best minds sitting in the same room. To me, it is an extraordinary learning experience compared to a traditional lecturing style. I also read quite a lot, and many of my favorite books were written by HBS professors (Nancy Koehn, Bill George, Clayton Christensen), so I’m really excited to learn from them as well.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? It is so easy to have the infamous FOMO at business school. I have browsed through the list of student clubs, and there are so many things I want to do and participate in. However, I am most looking forward to activities at the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship because of my interest in startups and technology. I’m also very interested in the Retail and Luxury Goods Club.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? To be honest, for a long time, I had not seriously considered getting an MBA. In the world of entrepreneurship, the value of an MBA is often underrated. If I want to start something, isn’t it better to just start it rather than to go to school? But after spending a few years at one of the most prominent startups, I became more aware of my shortcomings as a leader. I am not interested in building a 10-employee company, but an organization with lasting impact, and to achieve that goal, I need to understand what makes great leaders and great organizations. I hope that the HBS experience will be transformational, helping me gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to run a successful business, grow tremendously as a person, and build a strong lifelong network.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? / Where do you see yourself in five years?I try to keep a very open mind about my future plan after graduation. However, at the moment I can see myself doing my own startup or joining a very early stage one, ideally in Asia.
Chen Kossover
HEC Paris
“A creative free-thinker, fascinated with the potential of collaboration.”
Hometown: Rishon LeZion, Israel
Fun Fact About Yourself: Trained and competed in 110-meter hurdles as a teenager with my school gymnastics team
Undergraduate School and Major: Tel Aviv University, double major in Law and Economics
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Associate, Labor and Employment Law Department, Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal – one of the leading and largest law firms in Israel
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: As an employment lawyer, I am most proud of my pro-bono work on behalf of low-wage workers. In one case, I represented an elderly employee at a bakery who was wrongfully dismissed and deprived of his basic employment entitlements. This case was especially challenging because the client was only fluent in Russian and we had to communicate through an interpreter. I helped this worker enforce his rights and noticed the immediate impact of winning the case on his sense of dignity and self-worth.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Balanced and down-to-earth. The conversation with fellow classmates at HEC Paris is very open. It seems we all share the feeling that the MBA experience is a personal adventure and not just a professional opportunity.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The sense of community. HEC Paris is unique and one of the few top MBA programs in the world to have such a small annual intake of 250 students, divided into two classes, January and September. This, together with the fact that 92% of the students in the program are international (and therefore will share the adventure of moving to another country together with me) creates a close-knit community, which I believe will help me find a sense of belonging and provide me with the best opportunity to grow as a person. Equally important for me was the location. I am excited to immerse myself in the French culture and I wish to join the thriving Paris startup scene.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to the HEC SEED 2019, an annual entrepreneurship summit
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? The need to challenge myself outside my comfort zone after having received enough real-life experiences and lessons in my current profession.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I think there are many factors involved in this decision. I will only truly be able to answer this question a few years after the program, but I can say it was more of a gut feeling.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I visited the school, reached out to as many alumni as possible, and read a lot on Poets & Quants.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Around the age of 10, my younger brother was born deaf. This has helped me better understand the challenges that we face as a society and the urgent need to address them.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? Combine my insights as an employment lawyer with the disruptive power of technology in order to level the playing field of job search. On a personal note, I hope to be lucky enough to visit each one of my friends from the program in their home country.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Working as hard as I can, using the knowledge gained at HEC Paris to make a global difference.
Ali Alamein
IESE Business School
“A refugee aiming to use his second chance at life to make a difference.”
Hometown: Shepparton, Australia – originally from Karbala, Iraq
Fun Fact About Yourself: When I was 15 migrating to Australia, my family and I stayed in Indonesia for about three months. In this time, I made friends with an Indonesian man who taught me how to play chess even though we didn’t speak each other’s language. In the couple of years that followed and after arriving in Australia, I went on to win a number of titles at school, club and state levels.
Undergraduate School and Major:
Bachelors of Engineering (Civil) and Science (Operations Research) at the University of Melbourne
Post-graduate Certificate in Business at Monash University
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: WaterNSW, Asset Planner
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I have been fortunate to have had a well-rounded career in engineering and project management practicing in all areas of engineering projects including asset management and planning, design engineering, project management, and construction and commissioning. This has allowed me to work on many large water infrastructure projects both for large engineering consultancies and government statutory corporations.
I am proud of the fact that I have also been fortunate to live within some of the impacted communities and see the impact of my work first-hand – building communities and contributing to the sustainable future of water, agriculture and the environment.
This well-rounded career, along with my obsession for optimization, has put me in many positions where I have been able to suggest and implement both project and organizational changes that have resulted in many improvements and efficiencies at an organizational level.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I attended the IESE Assessment Day in Singapore, where I met some of my future classmates. This ultimately played a big role in my decision to choose IESE. Spending a day with the other candidates was very exciting. Amongst other things, what stood out was the diversity not only in terms of where people came from but also their career profile, age and gender. Everyone was very smart, friendly, open, genuine, and keen to be there and contribute. Also, another thing that has since impressed me is the willingness for everyone to help and share. For example, two of the students that I have never even met volunteered to travel to the other side of Barcelona to inspect a flat for me while I am still in Australia.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? There’s a long list! My future classmates, the fact that IESE is amongst the top MBA schools in the world, its location, the focus on general management, and in particular the case study methodology.
For me, IESE and Harvard particularly stood out for that very reason. Just to know that, by the end of the first week, I would probably have to go through over ten case studies, it is very exciting. I am a practical person and I believe I will learn best in a case driven program where I can break down complex problems, prioritize what is important, and find the optimal solution. I think it will be particularly interesting to see the diversity of opinions and learn from my classmates in the process.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? As a Barcelona FC fan, it is hard to ignore the fact that our campus will be a short stroll from the Camp Nou. I am looking forward to attending games and be part of the experience.
Some of the alumni also mentioned one of their projects involved working with Barcelona FC and that prospect is very exciting.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have always been interested in going back to university and furthering my business knowledge. I considered two main factors in deciding if this is the right time.
Firstly, in terms of my personal life, we had our first son last year and it made us evaluate what is currently important to us. Certainly doing an MBA in Barcelona and also being only a couple of hours away from Paris and Milan (especially for my wife), was on top of the priority list now before having any more kids.
On a professional level, I believe I have obtained the technical knowledge and can only go so far in the interim in achieving my long term goals in engineering. An MBA will allow me to develop my management skills and business acumen, along with helping me to build on my strengths and potential to achieve these goals.
I also believe it is the right time for me to expand my network, giving me greater access to some of the greatest minds and many future CEO’s. This will provide me with new information, perspectives and innovative ideas, and give me a greater appreciation of what people are doing globally.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment?Purely from a monetary perspective, it is a decision that is hard to justify, especially in the short term and given my specific circumstances. However, this is the biggest investment I have ever made and the decision hasn’t come lightly.
What I believe will make this investment worth it is the whole Barcelona experience, the network and relationships, the confidence, the intellectual rigor, the business acumen, and the world of opportunities that an MBA at IESE will bring with it to help me optimize my skills and ultimately make a meaningful difference and impact.
The question is whether there is a cheaper way of achieving all these benefits and for me I don’t believe there is.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley and London Business School
How did you determine your fit at various schools?I shortlisted using some specific Go/No Go criteria then used other factors in developing a multi-criteria analysis to evaluate fit. These include:
- School reputation/ranking and quality/style/focus of teaching
- Location
- Length of course
- School culture – collaboration and industry experience
- Diversity (nationalities, gender, age and career profiles)
- Experience/advice from friends
- Target school for top companies i.e. MBB’s
- Career services, job placement/internship opportunity
- Corporate social responsibility
- Availability of financial aid and scholarships
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I have had a number of defining moments including the biggest one, which is my family’s migration to Australia as refugees fleeing risk of persecution from Saddam’s regime in Iraq in 2002. Australia gave us a second chance at life and we have all done our best not to waste this opportunity.
More recently though, earlier in 2017, I became a father and it has been life-changing. Most of all in my outlook – I am now so devoted to someone else’s well-being; it has made me realize that while my journey has been a struggle, it has mostly been about me: proving as a refugee I can be someone. Well, now I realize that I can start giving back, not just as a role-model, but as someone who dedicates their career to improving the world. The sacrifices my family and I made can’t compare with the sacrifices the Iraqi people have made to destroy evil, like ISIS. For years, Saddam murdered and terrorized many intellectuals and people with a vision for the nation, leaving a leadership vacuum in Iraq. I believe an MBA at IESE will help me become one of the leaders Iraq needs to re-build.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I am certainly keeping an open mind, but I do believe management consulting would be the best next step. While an MBA will help me carve out the first few steps to the rest of my future and achieving my long term goals, I believe pursuing a career in management consulting will better position me to further develop and practice the business knowledge and strategic thinking I will gain at IESE at an accelerated rate.
I love problem solving and I believe management consulting at an MBB is the best place to be exposed to a variety of business problem solving. The variety of business challenges that will come with management consulting will expose me to many industries and functions. This will open new doors and provide me with world class network of colleagues and clients.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I would like to use the MBA and work as a management consultant as a platform to obtain a management role in a global assets and infrastructure firm. However, it is hard to say what the future brings especially given I am about to embark on a journey that is likely to lead to a substantial transformation and expose me to a world of opportunities. I may even end up pursuing my other dream of becoming a CEO of a not-for-profit organization dedicated either to refugee’s affair or providing clean water and sanitation to third world countries.
Jasson Muir Clarke
Indiana University, Kelley School of Business
“A Fulbrighter and communications specialist who believes strategic decision-making is key to happiness and well-being.”
Hometown: San José, Costa Rica
Fun Fact About Yourself: I was terrified of the town name – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch – until I learned how to say it correctly. If you see me around, ask me how it’s pronounced!
Undergraduate School and Major: Bachelor degrees in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Costa Rica, MA in Communication Business Management from the Distance State University, also in Costa Rica
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: World Animal Protection, Global Communications and Media Officer
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In handling media relations and communication campaigns for the promotion of animal welfare in Latin America, I’ve been able to get hundreds of thousands of people involved in causes such as the protection of the Amazon pink river dolphin in Brazil and Colombia, the fight against cruel wildlife selfies, responsible pet ownership, and disaster preparedness and risk reduction (among others).
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Collaboration is far more important for a Kelley student than individual competition, and that’s valuable because it acknowledges that we can’t improve as humans if we don’t go at it together. There are so many spaces at Kelley for students to get involved and collaborate, and teamwork is part of the curriculum from the very beginning.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Kelley’s program gives me so many options to develop different skills and bring them together in real-life projects. Kelley has a very solid certificate program in Social Entrepreneurship, which I can then combine with other traditional concentrations. There’s also the Kelley Academies, where classroom knowledge is put to use in solving real-world business problems in fields like consulting, marketing, finance and others. Plus, Kelley has a top-ranked Graduate Career Services department, greatly thanks to the Me, Inc. program that helps you build your personal brand and stand out from the crowd. That wide variety of options to gain perspective from different fields and aspects of business, and prepare myself integrally to lead businesses and organizations is why I chose Kelley.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? As one of this year’s Reaching Out MBA fellows at Kelley, I’m very excited to join Out@Kelley and help strengthen relationships between the LGBTQI+ community at Kelley, allies, and the rest of the community. I also look forward to staying connected to my roots through the Latino MBA Association.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? As a public relations specialist, I’ve always been intrigued with how strategy shapes an organization’s development and how its decisions affect it, its stakeholders, communities and the environment. There is also, I believe, a wealth of best practices and insights from the for-profit sector that other types of organizations can learn from and apply to improve their operations and make a more positive impact. My first step towards the business field was a master’s degree in communication business management, and it opened my eyes to how relevant business principles are for every type of organization, situation and process.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Deciding to pursue a second master’s degree is not easy, much less moving abroad to do so. However, I considered how the skills I would develop through an MBA can enhance the positive impact I can make in helping an organization with its community and environment – and allow me to help it be more strategic in achieving it.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Goizueta at Emory University, Questrom at Boston University, and San Diego University
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I’m currently a Fulbright scholar, so I was fortunate enough to work with Bill Kolsun, academic advisor at the International Institute of Education, during the Fulbright process for university admissions. With him, I discussed academic interests and goals, and his vast knowledge in MBA programs was essential for my shortlist. I spoke with second-year students and alumni from different MBA programs about the school culture and values, location benefits, career paths and top takeaways from their first year. Online forums and MBA program rankings were also important to determine what kind of impact a school would have on my resumé after graduation. When time came to make a decision, Indiana University was always at the top of my mind, and was decidedly the more strategic choice to make.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Experiencing bullying through middle school was an eye opener on how much impact a person’s decisions and actions can have in someone’s life. I took it upon myself to help others make better decisions to improve their lives and those of other people through having the best information possible, which is why I became a journalist and specialized in science journalism. Thereafter, I decided to also help organizations make better decisions to improve the world, which is why I got involved in the not-for-profit sector and corporate social responsibility. Every decision has the potential to bring happiness to someone, so why not strive to make the most of the next one we make?
What do you plan to do after you graduate? After graduation, I’m looking to return to Costa Rica and work with businesses and nonprofits to implement social responsibility programs that tackle pressing social issues in the country and Latin America. I also plan to start a PhD in Government and Public Policy, so I can drive public-private partnerships that help improve people’s lives through social responsibility
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I plan to coach organizations in Costa Rica and Latin America in engaging productively with their stakeholders through corporate social responsibility programs and strategic communication, so that they can not only benefit themselves by acting ethically and managing their social and environmental impacts, but also create value and help bring happiness, equality, and prosperity to people.
Andrea (Andi) Frkovich
London Business School
“I am a passionate traveler, yogi and foreign language enthusiast who believes attitude determines everything.”
Hometown: Dana Point, California
Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a big Harry Potter nerd; I own and have read the entire series in English, Arabic, and Spanish.
Undergraduate School and Major:
Duke University, BA in Arabic Language & Middle Eastern Studies
University of Cambridge, M. Phil in Politics
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: United States Navy, Lieutenant. I served for two years leading diverse teams of sailors onboard a Guided Missile Cruiser before transitioning to a security position at a Coastal Riverine squadron, where I led international teams providing security for the Port of Jebal Ali, UAE.
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I consider my leadership successes serving as Officer of the Deck onboard a Cruiser as my greatest professional accomplishment. In the US Navy, the Officer of the Deck is designated by the Captain to oversee all shipboard operations; he or she is directly responsible for the safe navigation and tactical maneuvering of the ship, as well as overseeing the operations of and granting permissions to combat systems and engineering watch teams. As Officer of the Deck, I trained a team of sailors to effectively drive and fight the ship. We successfully completed two international exercises involving over 50 high-risk exercises and 120 international warships, enabling the ship to certify for deployment to the Middle East. My bridge team was also selected to execute the test launch of a Tomahawk cruise missile.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? ‘Cosmopolitan’ is the word that best describes my classmates. During registration alone, I met students from Singapore, Brazil, Ireland, Australia, and China, each with a unique global perspective and an interesting range of international experience.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? LBS’s emphasis on internationalism is ultimately what led me to choose the program. As an undergraduate Arabic language major, I have always believed that travelling and learning from people from diverse backgrounds is one of the best ways to grow, both intellectually and socially. Beyond excellent academic credentials, I knew LBS would provide me with a truly global experience that would help challenge and develop my ideas, enhance my global perspective, and help me become more socially and culturally aware.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am most excited to travel with my fellow classmates as part of LBS’s student-organised ‘Treks’.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? The military has given me extensive leadership and management experience, but I admittedly have limited exposure to the corporate world. I chose to pursue an MBA to improve my business acumen and to further cultivate my network, affording me a wider range of job opportunities as I transition out of the military.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? To decide if an MBA was worth the investment, I researched career trajectories for the industries and functions I was interested in. As an aspiring public sector consultant, I realized that an MBA can be a key credential for advancement and that it would also help me enter the consulting industry at a more senior level. This potential for accelerated career growth made the MBA worth it for me.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to Rice University (Jones), Georgetown University (McDonough), Emory University (Goizueta), and University of Texas at Austin (McCombs).
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I initially narrowed my applications down to five schools by considering the schools’ geography, job placement, specializations and target industries. Once I narrowed my list, I based my final decision on my interactions with students and alumni. LBS immediately stood out to me for two reasons: the helpfulness of student contacts and the level of enthusiasm that students and alumni displayed for LBS. Not only did my student contacts reach out to me to answer any questions, but they also followed up periodically to help with the move to London and to put me in contact with various alumni who worked in my fields of interest. The enthusiasm and helpfulness displayed by LBS students and alumni convinced me it was a community I wanted to join.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My most defining experience has been spending six months living and working in Egypt as an undergraduate. Egyptians have a saying, “ma’lesh” (which loosely translates to “Never mind that”), that they often use when plans go awry. Having a ‘type A’ personality, this saying initially irritated me. However, after a couple months of cultural immersion and one particularly rough day, I began to embrace the beauty of the “ma’lesh” mentality; “ma’lesh” wasn’t used to excuse the speaker from responsibility for the situation at hand, but rather to remind the speaker that situations tend to affect us to the extent that we mentally allow them to. I carried the “ma’lesh” mentality home with me, and since then, it has enabled me to successfully navigate a myriad of stressful and unpredictable situations with a cool head and a positive disposition.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I hope to leverage my MBA and my military experience to pursue a career in public sector consulting.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to be positively impacting government organizations and advancing along the partner track as a public sector consultant.
Laura Botelho de Carvalho
The Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University
“Tirelessly passionate about life, unapologetically authentic, empathetic, avid backpacker, and brave enough to reinvent myself.”
Hometown: Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Fun Fact About Yourself: I used to live in a patch of tropical forest and had tamarin monkeys coming over every day looking for food. One year, I baked a pineapple pie for Christmas and caught one of them trying to steal it while it was cooling down on the kitchen table.
Undergraduate School and Major:
Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas) – Bachelor of Biological Sciences
Dom Cabral Foundation (FDC) – Specialization Program in Management
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: P3N Projetos Ambientais (environmental consulting firm) – Founder/Entrepreneur
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment was to have actively supported BIOMA Meio Ambiente’s restructuring. BIOMA was a small environmental consulting company where I worked, and by acquiring its first large contract, it grew exponentially in just a few months. Noticing its management gap, I took the chance and established processes and deadlines that improved the company’s productivity and product quality. Later, while working within corporate governance, I supported BIOMA’s partners in creating its core ideology, headed its first social-responsibility report and code of ethics, and prepared and collaborated in its first strategic planning. The company I originally knew was completely different when I left. Such experiences showed me that I should face professional challenges bravely and boldly, and, if I lack any knowledge at first, I am fully capable of leveling up, researching and developing myself. These experiences also taught me so much about leadership and how to be assertive while handling people in an impartial and sensible way. Finally, I learned that I can work independently and feel confident about it.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? One word describes my MBA classmates: family. It may sound weird or unusual that in an MBA environment I have found people who I already consider my own family. Despite being a very diverse group, we have been meeting each other halfway and supporting one another. I feel that such an inclusive and collaborative environment will be a key factor in our development and success during and after the MBA program.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The main factor that made me choose Desautels’ program was McGill’s culture. McGill is very serious in its engagement and commitment to society. Also, from placing sustainability in the heart of the course to reducing the negative impact of its building on the environment, Desautels deeply impressed me with its hands-on approach concerning sustainable practices. Moreover, McGill’s unique welcoming and collaborating atmosphere couldn’t be more conducive to learning.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? The McGill MBA Women’s Association (MMWA). I expect to foster relationships with other female MBAs, using the Association as a safe space to promote women’s confidence and examine facets that are not always possible to be explored in men’s settings. Through MMWA, I intend to expand my network as a woman in business and support and be supported by other women during the program. I will also pursue a leadership position to represent and assist female MBAs by helping them to find placement and by raising awareness about gender gap.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I began my career in Biology as a Botanist Consultant, working in biodiversity studies for environmental licensing and compliance. Eventually, I realized that my work was being treated merely as a bureaucratic requirement. Furthermore, beyond the salary gap, being a woman in such a predominantly male environment meant fewer opportunities, limiting possibilities and career progression.
Therefore, I took the chance to focus my work on office-related tasks, writing reports and assessing data collected by other biologists in the field. I also experimented with several non-botanical activities. For all the improvements brought out by my engagement, I was trusted with more responsibilities, which inspired me to enroll in a management specialization course. That was a turning point in my career because, even though my biology degree educated me to recognize the world as a diverse and integrated being, I lacked the managerial training necessary to meet the complex demands of the corporate environment.
Later, I joined a program focused on corporate sustainability and, by heading some of its projects, I acquired significant hands-on experience. That was when I discovered how empowering and transformational management can be: I had finally found my place. From this moment on, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in corporate sustainability, so I decided to join an MBA program.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Some might consider it a risky decision to pause your career and enroll in an MBA program. But here is what I think: an MBA program works as a “career incubator” in which, for two years, you are constantly challenging yourself, testing your limits – often out of your comfort zone – getting the most up-to-date information, networking and learning from people who have (very) diverse and impressive backgrounds. All of this effort and energy will lead you to be the best version of yourself, and the payoff will come naturally as a consequence of such large investment. Having said that, an MBA seems the perfect way to fast-track your career and help point you towards success.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I had four schools in mind, all in Canada. Besides Desautels, I applied to Rotman, Schulich, and Sauder; I was accepted in all four.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? Before applying to the programs, I focused on who I am and what I expect from an MBA. After I had my objectives and profile clearly defined, I searched for schools that resonated with my values and personality, and that could effectively support me on my career switch. As for the schools’ evaluation, I looked up the rankings, researched their websites, watched as many videos as I could in their YouTube channels, attended an MBA fair for several one-on-one interviews, and connected with current and past students on LinkedIn, meeting many of them online. Talking to alumni and current students was by far the most important and defining step, as I received many pieces of advice and insight from people who knew the most and had an accurate perspectives about the schools’ realities and cultures.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I believe that we are shaped by many experiences, but thinking of more recent ones I would say my marriage has played an important role in influencing my personality. I have deeply learned about thinking more collectively, being more tolerant, and respecting other people’s limitations and opinions. Also, it has made me even more committed to my own life, happiness and dreams with no disregard for those that are not mine. Finally, and most importantly, I learned to love by love itself.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? Now that the Desautels MBA has become a reality in my life, I see a world of opportunities that I hope to seize with an open mind. On the other hand, I do aim to work as a manager or consultant in corporate social responsibility or corporate sustainability, creating a positive impact not only on the organization but also on its stakeholders.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself working in a C-level position for a sustainability-driven company, having a fulfilling career that allows me to integrate environmental and social issues into corporate strategies.
Georgia Cassady
University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
“Hey ya’ll! I’m Georgia from Alabama, welcoming winter coat suggestions.”
Hometown: Enterprise, Alabama
Fun Fact About Yourself: In the middle of Main Street in my hometown of Enterprise, Alabama, stands the world’s first monument built to honor a bug—an agricultural pest called the boll weevil.
Undergraduate School and Major: Wake Forest University, Communication Major, minors in Journalism and Entrepreneurship
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, Washington, D.C.
Manager of Media & Strategic Partnerships
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I went in to my 2016 year-end review armed with facts, figures, and a well-planned speech. I confidently asked for a promotion, sure I would get it. And then I didn’t. My CEO said he wasn’t sure I could lead, and I needed to speak up. I took that feedback and ran with it. I asked for more responsibility and was impeccably prepared and well-spoken in meetings with my CEO. I adapted my communication style to display authority and confidence. In June, I got that promotion. I’d say this is my biggest accomplishment in my career so far because I learned the value of constructive feedback and, more importantly, earned the respect of my CEO.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? From my group interview at Ross to today, every classmate I’ve met has been a truly authentic person. I immediately felt like I was with friends on my interview day. Every conversation with future Ross classmates, even before I made my decision on which school to attend, has been open, honest and genuinely helpful. These authentic conversations and experiences with my future classmates are what made me ultimately choose Ross.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I’ve only had one full-time job since college, and it was fairly non-traditional. A key factor that led me to choose Ross was the amount of hands-on, experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Specifically, Ross’s MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Projects) program sealed the deal for me. At the end of my first year, I’ll work for seven weeks on an actual business problem for a real organization—not a hypothetical case. Having this extra work experience will give me the skills and extra boost of confidence I need going in to my summer internship and post-MBA job.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m really looking forward to the Ross Business + Impact Challenge! It will be an amazing opportunity to work with a team to solve a social challenge, which is exactly what I hope to do post-MBA.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I minored in entrepreneurship in college and always thought I’d go back to school for an MBA, but I didn’t really know when or why. After college, I knew I wanted an impactful job and ended up working in PR at a nonprofit. Through my job, I saw first-hand the impact large companies can have when they use their financial resources to improve and save lives. I loved my job and wanted to do more. I want to work in a large corporation developing and implementing impactful social campaigns. I know that in order to make that move from the non-profit side to the corporate side, there are some fundamental business skills that I need to learn. So now was the time to make the jump!
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I strongly believe the best investment you can make is in your education. I wanted to switch careers and knew I had a huge knowledge gap. The best way to fill that gap was to get my MBA. I never questioned whether it was worth the investment—I always knew it was.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Stanford GSB, Berkeley-Haas, Kellogg, Yale SOM, Duke-Fuqua, Darden, Texas-McCombs, UNC Kenan-Flagler
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized location and size of the city, class size, opportunities for social impact beyond the Net Impact club, and experiential learning. One thing I paid a lot of attention to was the other applicants interviewing with me. I knew these could be my future classmates and wanted to make sure I went somewhere I really connected with the other applicants.
What tools did you use to evaluate schools? I was a Forte MBALauncher, so I got exposure to current female students at several MBA programs through that organization. Fellow MBALaunchers were great resources, as well as MBAMission Insider’s Guides and Poets & Quants school profiles. I, of course, went to lots of MBA fairs and meet and greets in D.C. (where I was living until now).
How did you research culture? How did you know it fit your career goals? I researched culture through informational calls with current students involved in the clubs and organizations I wanted to be involved in during my MBA, like Board Fellows and the Net Impact club. I asked about their experiences at school to see if they aligned with everything I’d learned through my research. I asked if anything at the school didn’t meet their expectations, what the class experience was like, and what they would change about the program (if they could). By talking to students at each school with similar career goals as me, I learned whether my goals could be achieved through experiences and support offered at that school.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The moment that most defines my life happened my freshman year of college. It was Christmas break, and my mom had just been diagnosed with a stage 4 ovarian cyst. We were sitting in church on Sunday morning, and an extremely sad song started to play about a child whose mother was dying. All the child wanted for Christmas was to make sure her mother looked beautiful when she went to meet Jesus that night. My mom is my best friend in the entire world. Hearing this song, I lost it. And then my mom lost it. We sat in church sobbing. I’m an ugly crier, and at some point, my mom looked over and saw how ridiculous I looked. Her tears turned into uncontrollable, contagious laughter. I started laughing, and that was the moment I think I became an adult. That moment taught me that the only way to get through trials, no matter how sad, scary or overwhelming, is with a positive attitude and sense of humor. Thankfully, my mom’s cyst was benign, and she’s as healthy as ever! Now, we constantly remind each other the importance of facing life’s challenges with a positive outlook, and I know there’s nothing I can’t overcome.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? After I graduate, I’d love to work in marketing at a large, for-profit company with a strong focus on social impact. Making a difference in my career is extremely important to me, so my focus will be more on the company culture than the job function.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I see myself living in a mid-sized (preferably warm) city, leveraging my marketing and social impact experiences into a corporate social responsibility role at a social-driven company. As corporate social responsibility becomes more of an essential business function than a public relations play, I want to be a leader in helping social-driven companies be even more active in implementing creative, effective and relevant corporate social responsibility programs.
Jaime Zorrilla Sánchez de Neyra
MIT, Sloan School of Management
“A super positive smiling guy who always wants to make a difference.”
Hometown: Madrid, Spain.
Fun Fact About Yourself: Bagpiper and instagram foodie that is crazy about Japanese cuisine.(@foodin.foodout).
Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Bachelor’s degree in Medicine.
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery.
Resident Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon.
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My most significant accomplishment has been treating thousands of patients with the highest dedication. Helping others, improving their health and well-being, and educating them to have a healthy lifestyle are the most satisfying achievements so far.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why?The quality that best describes my classmates is the willingness to help each other. We have created an amazing group where everyone collaborates with new ideas and information relevant to all. In my opinion, it is fantastic to start this new project with the support of such excellent and intelligent people, something that will make this experience unforgettable.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The key factor that made me choose MIT Sloan was its collaborative environment. Being the youngest of three siblings, doing sports, and working in an operating room with multiple surgeons (even from other departments) has shown me that true success is only possible from collaboration and teamwork. I love working as a team, and it is also one of the reasons why I became an orthopedic and trauma surgeon. Collaborating with other Sloanies is going to be one of the most important factors of my experience during the program since I believe that they are one of the main assets of MIT Sloan.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Professionally, I would like to be part of the Sloan´s Healthcare Club community, where I will have the opportunity to engage and explore amazing opportunities in the healthcare sector and contribute with my medical perspective, research-driven work ethic, commitment to new ideas, and love of making new relationships. Regarding leisure, I am looking forward to joining the “Happy Belly” Club, and Water Sports Club, as I am a keen kitesurfer. Also, I would be great to infiltrate the Japanese club to keep growing my passion for their culture and cuisine.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? As an Orthopedic and Trauma Surgeon in one of Spain’s most important hospitals and after treating thousands of patients during the last five years, I realized that my real goal is to improve the Spanish healthcare system and the lives of millions of people. My experiences convinced me of my goal, but I am seeking an extreme career change in order to make a radical impact. This is why I need Sloan: its mission to train me to become a leader who can create new solutions to conventional problems in healthcare, its Healthcare Certificate and its location in the most important hub of bioscience and healthcare in the world.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? In my opinion, investing in education and training are things that I consider fundamental, even though it is a big investment. Money is important but, I think that what is more important is to believe in your long-term project, and for me, to invest in an MBA is crucial to have the credit and the knowledge needed to make the radical career change that I want.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I did not apply to other MBA programs because I was so sure that I needed Sloan. I believe Sloan will not only help my transition from orthopedic and trauma surgery to healthcare entrepreneurship, but also impact my life long-term due to two years immersed in the collaborative, innovative and impressive Sloan Staff.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? After talking to numerous post-MBAs and doing research about where is the most important hub of bioscience in the world, I decided to apply just to MIT Sloan. I was convinced that it was my best option, and I went for it. If I had not been admitted, I would have waited for the next admission round. Honestly, for me is more important to spot the school, rather than be hasty.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? When I was fifteen, I saw a motorbike accident and I felt I could have done something. After this experience, I decided to be on the frontline in helping people, so I studied medicine. Since I can remember, I love to have a positive impact on others because I feel that to help is something intrinsic to humanity. Right now, after helping thousands of people in the hospital, I decided to increase the helping influence and improve the health of millions of people outside the hospital.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I would like to take a 2-week kitesurfing vacation with my wife to unwind. This would give me the opportunity to clear my head, focus on my goals, and set my priorities.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I may establish myself as one of the members of the board of doctors of a big hospital or maybe as another member of the Health Ministry of Spain. I want to make a difference not only locally but also internationally. I think it is essential to see how other countries and industries work so that I could have more resources to accomplish my objectives. However, I know that after two years at MIT Sloan, anything and everything could happen. I want to go to MIT Sloan with a clear mind so that I can nourish from the collaborative and innovative environment. Even though I have a specific goal, I would be lying if I did not confess that I am prone to exploring other industries in healthcare.
Maya Anderson
University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School
“Decisive, pattern-loving strategizer who finds efficiencies in everything.”
Hometown: Decatur, Georgia
Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a cookbook collector who loves to experiment with making it all from scratch.
Undergraduate School and Major: Harvard University, English
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Hodges-Mace, Platform Delivery Analyst
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Working in real estate was extremely rewarding because I got to be a part of over 60 families’ journey to create long-lasting wealth. Growing up in a single-parent family, I always wanted us to have our own home. Working in real estate, this desire became more concrete as I saw the positive effect that home ownership has on both the future finances of a family as well as the freedom it allows them in their own home. I learned home ownership is not just a feeling of pride, but also can be a sound financial investment. While my family never owned a home in my childhood, getting to be a part of so many other families’ home-ownership stories, creating trusting referral relationships with them, and helping them to invest their money wisely is an accomplishment I’m very proud to have achieved.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Since I arrived on campus for my first day of Analytical Skills Workshop, my classmates have been amazing. While only about half of the class is on campus so far, we have all gelled quickly. The group is down to earth, ambitious, intellectual and helpful. They are equally like to meet you for a beer at Pantana Bob’s as to sit down with you to discuss their career experiences and industry functions. They’re as ready to start a study group as to discuss business ideas spawned by their experience on campus so far.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? As a career switcher, I was looking for an environment that would help me grow in areas that I was less familiar with. For its extremely collaborative nature, UNC Kenan-Flagler stood out to me. UNC Kenan-Flagler’s best resource is its people. From the staff I met to the applicants and other students, I could see that UNC puts together a group of MBAs who don’t just learn from the school, but also learn from their peers. And while UNC is amazingly competitive, it also doesn’t alienate students from non-traditional backgrounds. Every person, staff and classmates alike, is there to give you a helping hand in landing your dream job.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m most looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the Nonprofit Board Consultants program. MBAs serve as non-voting board members to help a nonprofit strategize to achieve a fundraising project’s goal. This opportunity will allow me to find solutions to real-life problems faced by nonprofits and improve my ability to strategize with new people to execute and achieve our goal.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been an avid learner and the kind of person who invites challenges. Working in small business was an amazing experience that allowed me to experience almost every facet of business in a few short years. What I couldn’t experience was the opportunity to tackle complicated, global business problems whose solutions could positively affect millions. I knew that I was ready to be a part of the teams developing these solutions. More importantly, I knew that I wanted to be able to spend as much time doing it as possible – so now was the best time to start. An MBA was the best way for me to have the skills needed to fast track my career to the point where I get to be a part of these projects.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? In your first foray into the world of MBA programs, you will find a lot of articles decrying the MBA as a useless degree for which the opportunity cost alone is so large it could never be worth the time. I read those articles. I did the math. Then I realized that what I was looking for was not an amount of money, but the opportunity to accelerate my career path, create an amazing network, and learn from some of the brightest business minds in the country. It is then that you realize that you can’t put a price on your MBA. If it is just a question of money, then think about this: How much harder can you work at a job you like? How much more likely are you to get that bonus or promotion when you love your role and company? Now think about lost career-long opportunity costs because of those factors and the MBA is a sound investment.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Emory-Goizueta, UT Austin-McCombs, Duke Fuqua, GT – Scheller
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I am rooted in the southeast and so location was the first way I cut down on my list. After that, it gets much more difficult to choose between all of the amazing schools there are. The secondary criterion was ranking, though only insomuch as I am on a certain career path and so needed to make sure the schools I was applying to would give me the access I needed. I used school websites; Poets & Quants, U.S. News &World Report, Bloomberg rankings and stats; and polled students. I highly recommend visiting the schools that top your list. I learned more about culture from interacting with the staff, current students and other applicants than I did from online forums. This tertiary criteria really helped me to find a school that would support me in my career path. Undergraduate and other graduate schools within the university system’s culture are also important. Try to look for a system that has the cohesive culture you’re looking for to get a better view of what life will actually be like.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Money was tight in my house growing up. As a kid, I had a chip on my shoulder about the idea of “business,” which to my young self just took money from poor people. I only ever associated money with negatives: a source of stress, something that made people do bad things, or made people unequal. To add to that, my single mother was a social worker, further fueling my belief that what was “good” was completely separate from money. Even still, I was always fascinated by business and have more than one entrepreneurial kid-venture to show for it. When it came time for me to think about what my future would look like, I felt lost between the two seemingly opposite poles: doing what was “good” or doing what would allow me to provide for the family that had sacrificed so much for me and the people around them.
In my high school graduation speech, written while contemplating my future, I wrote about my love of learning. I wrote about how amazing it was that we got to learn so many subjects at the same time in school, and how they collectively helped us to understand each one more deeply. I realized that continuing to link ideas was what I wanted to do in my life. For the next four years though, I struggled with the fact that there wasn’t any one major I could find at college that fit that broad definition. I also purposefully avoided majors or career paths I thought were “just about the money.” When I graduated, I worked in real estate because I wanted to renovate houses. I wanted to know how to fix things. I didn’t have any kind of association with working in real estate as a business career: to me, it was just another way to hustle.
A year into my career, I joined the AtlantaBen Team and Keller Williams Realty and it was there that I fell in love with business strategy. I couldn’t get enough of the big picture stuff: reading business research to improve our team’s functions; playing around with numbers to see how we could hit goals; finding the best way to invest our money; working with clients to discover how we could best fulfill their needs; discovering how to create a strong referral network; and getting the power to make some of my own business decisions and see what I could do with a little bit of money. This experience empowered me to consider an MBA, which sent me flying back to my high school graduation speech. I finally understood how to make my younger self’s dream possible: business is the opportunity to study it all, apply it and help people. That was what I wanted to devote my life to. With business, I finally understand how I can help and inspire others to see outside of their own economic barriers and create something great for themselves.”
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan to go into consulting for a few reasons: 1) It combines my love of learning with the ability to help a client solve a business problem; 2) It allows me to work across industries and functions, promising never a dull moment; and 3) It attracts like-minded co-workers with whom I hope to geek out with about cutting-edge business research. I can’t wait to contribute to a team that will help contribute to the business world at large.
Where do you see yourself in five years? There is so much strength in knowledge. As a curious person, I can’t wait to be a part of the next wave of business research. In my career, I want to help navigate the automating of jobs, devise solutions for resource allocation, educate the next generation of technicians, and inspire workers all over the world to pursue their best. I hope to still be in consulting in five years in a more senior, client-facing position. As well, I hope to be a mentor to those who work under me and to serve the community around me. With my community, I specifically hope to be a part of the discussion on addressing gentrification and creating economically viable ways to ensure there is inclusion for all socio-economic levels in the cities and towns of the future. There is so much work to be done and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.
Braden Schrock
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
“Introverted and learning-oriented Navy officer who enjoys binge-watching The Office in rare free time.”
Hometown: Farmington Hills, Michigan
Fun Fact About Yourself: I met my wife while I was on deployment in Korea! Best deployment ever.
Undergraduate School and Major: University of Michigan – Aerospace Engineering
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: U.S. Navy / Special Operations Advisor to the commanding admiral of a Carrier Strike Group
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While deployed to Korea, I led the first long-term partnership with South Korean Navy SEALs by integrating with their unit and creating a comprehensive training plan, consisting of curriculum, objectives and milestones, resulting in their increased proficiency and ability to partner with U.S. forces and guaranteeing future growth between our bomb disposal unit and theirs. It was tough because our professional cultures were so different. By fully immersing my team in the Korean training schedule, organizing informal events such as downhill skiing, American-Korean soccer games, and nights drinking soju with our counterparts, we were able to develop the relationships that enabled trust and buy-in to the new partnership.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? They truly embody the “pay it forward” ethos that Kellogg espouses. From the students who helped me with my application, to those that reached out to me after my acceptance, to the Kellogg alumni who called to tell me what a life-changing experience Kellogg is, I’ve never felt so excited to be around a group of people. I currently have the members of two separate campus clubs at my disposal to answer any questions I have – and every time I’ve asked for help, someone has been there. These are the kinds of people I want to be around, and who I want to emulate.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I’ve already mentioned it – the “pay it forward” ethos that encourages service to others and impact on the world. As an active-duty military officer, I believe in the mission of the U.S. military, and it motivates me every day. I want to work with people who also have conviction in what they are doing, and Kellogg fosters such convictions in everything they do.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Like most admitted students, I have a severe case of FOMO right now, but at the moment I’m really looking forward to the Net Impact Club or one of the 12 social impact clubs at Kellogg. I’m really excited to see how my experience in the military can be brought to bear on new situations while continuing to serve a higher purpose. My background is unique, and I hope to be able to have a unique impact!
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I’ve noticed during my career that the military suffers from certain problems that the private sector seems to have already solved. I want to learn from the best that the business world has to offer, then take those lessons back to the Navy. I jumped at the chance to continue my education when it was offered to me – I’m at the perfect inflection point in my career where with added responsibility and authority, I’ll be able to create lasting change. The MBA has no equal in terms of flexibility and breadth of experience it offers; it can be applied in any leadership situation, in any industry. Bringing a Kellogg MBA back to the military at this point in my career will exponentially increase my impact as I move forward.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? As a sponsored candidate returning to the Navy, I knew I wouldn’t be on the hook financially. However, no other opportunity exists to undergo an intensive long-term program with such an elite and diverse group of individuals. I believe that for someone who is truly ambitious, there’s no question that the investment is worth it – but the onus will be on that individual to fulfill their investment’s potential!
What other MBA programs did you apply to? HBS and Booth.
How did you determine your fit at various school? I was fortunate enough to visit all of the schools I applied to in the spring before application season. Each school had a distinct flavor with the tours and other events put on for prospective candidates. In the end, I went with the school that seemed like the biggest challenge for me. Coming from the military, I am used to taking charge and directing things to get done in order to accomplish the mission. At Kellogg, my methods will be challenged by the unique collaboration-focused style of learning. I think the best fit for any aspiring MBA candidate is the one that will help them grow the most and address their weaknesses as a leader. This realization became clear to me during the application process – one of Kellogg’s essay questions focused on how I intend to grow at Kellogg.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I have never had such a moment! Instead, I’ve been shaped through an evolutionary process, gradually learning about myself through successes and failures. However, one moment that sticks out is when I read The Armed Forces Officer, a book first published in 1950 which lays out a foundation for thought, conduct, standards, and duty for U.S. military officers. The authors contend that all good leaders must engage in three things: self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-criticism. This can be applied to all areas of life, not just leadership, and I think back to it often.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I will return to the Navy to take on tough problems that my unique Kellogg MBA education will enable me to solve. MBAs are rare in the military, and I’ll bring perspectives and experiences back to the Navy culture that could not be learned anywhere else.
Where do you see yourself in five years? As the Executive Officer of a bomb disposal unit in the Navy, pioneering new ways of doing business and making a lasting impact for our nation’s defense!
Nica Langinger
New York University, Stern School of Business
“Social justice-minded Slytherin with high standards for both self and country.”
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Fun Fact About Yourself: More than half of my wardrobe is thrifted!
Undergraduate School and Major: Stanford University, B.A. International Relations ‘12, M.A. Latin American Studies ‘12
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Snapchat, Senior Business Operations Specialist
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Growing Snap’s first B2B support team from 1 to 40+ employees and launching live chat support for our advertisers.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Clear-eyed—they know what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’re working toward.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? A major selling point for me personally was Stern’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. I chose to interview during Stern’s Diversity Weekend, where I got the chance to meet current members of AHBBS (Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students). Their deep love of Stern and the close-knit family they built there was both palpable and inspiring.
My incredible interviewer, a Stern alumna who now works as a senior director at Planned Parenthood, shared with me the many opportunities Stern students have to pursue social impact as a career. I left our conversation feeling inspired and energized to follow in her footsteps.
During that weekend, I also learned about the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management—an amazing organization committed to increasing the representation of Black, Latino and Native leaders in business—and was thrilled to hear that Stern was one of their 20 member schools.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Aside from my core curriculum, I’d say I’m most looking forward to improving my Portuguese and participating in Stern’s “Doing Business in…” program in Brazil.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? After six years working in enterprise technology and digital advertising, I was eager to make the transition to a more mission-driven industry and function.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed school and new experiences. When I tried to imagine what my top regrets would be at age 80, I knew they would have certainly included not taking these pivotal years to dedicate to self-improvement and exploration.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Columbia Business School
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I definitely factored in location—living in a diverse and vibrant city was a top requirement for me. Being a SoCal native, the prospect of East Coast weather was a bit scary, so I made sure to visit New York in various seasons to get the full picture of what I was in for. Finally, I made a point to connect with current MBA students who shared similar backgrounds and career aspirations in order to get a feel for the kind of community and professional network each school offered.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The 2016 election definitely changed me. Though painful, it forced me to reassess many of the truths I held about my country and the role I played within it. Seeking work-life confluence became my primary focus, as I could no longer justify sitting in the sidelines as the most marginalized among us were left behind by both the public and private sectors.
I have a lot of hope for 2020, our graduation year, and fully intend to apply my learnings to make this country the absolute best it can be for all who call it home.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? While I’m open to a variety of paths, I’d like to work in DC for a few years as a political consultant, campaign manager, or lobbyist for progressive policies.
Michael Wall
University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business
“Father, husband, student of leadership, and dedicated teammate.”
Hometown: Scituate, MA
Fun Fact About Yourself: I learned how to fly planes before I learned how to drive a car
Undergraduate School and Major: Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Mechanical Engineer in the U.S. Army
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In October of 2017, I helped establish the headquarters for the US Army Corps of Engineers recovery efforts in Puerto Rico following hurricanes Maria and Irma. Being able to deploy within the United States and serve Americans was a unique opportunity that I will always be grateful for. Beyond the service aspect of my time in Puerto Rico, I gained a much better understanding of how the nation responds to a natural disaster and an appreciation for how large and complex the national response framework is.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? My classmates are outstanding teammates. We have people from all over the world converging on the small city of South Bend and there is an abundance of support from within the class to ensure that everyone is set up to succeed in the program.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I settled on Mendoza because it the service-oriented approach to business. I don’t think there’s a program that does a better job of delivering the MBA coursework while also encourage a mentality of service to the community.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to participating in the MBA Veterans club. It’s an opportunity to stay connected to the military community and help other veterans through the process of transitioning into civilian life.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I chose to pursue an MBA at this point in my career because I saw the program as a great capstone to the transition between military and civilian life.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I see an MBA as a long-term investment in my career. When I look at the opportunities that are immediately available after graduation, it is tough to justify the cost of two years of school. When I look at where I want to be in ten to fifteen years, I see that having an MBA is increasingly important and the investment is easily justified.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I moved with my family, so location and cost of living were very important to me. I also looked for programs that included the families of the students in the program because my family is just as committed to our time here as I am. As for career goals, I looked at job placement, salary, and companies that recruited from the school to judge if the program would help me accomplish my goals.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment was my time spent as the leader of a combat engineer platoon
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I am pursuing a career in management consulting after graduation.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I plan to be leading a team of consultants.
Kory Li
Rice University, Jesse H Jones Graduate School of Business
“Loves tough challenges and attacks it with passion and a smile. Former athlete.”
Hometown: Buffalo Grove, IL, but I’ve been traveling the country since graduation
Fun Fact About Yourself: In 2015, I oversaw the production of and taste approved one in three Bud Lights sold in Texas.
Undergraduate School and Major: Washington University in St. Louis – Chemical Engineering and Finance
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Anheuser-Busch Inbev – Senior Key Account Manager
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: After some early successes working with our innovations and brewery management teams, all on the supply side of the business, I was offered a promotion into another business unit – commercial sales, leading a team within our National Retail Sales division. My time up to this point was either at our headquarters in St. Louis or at our brewery in Houston – both very well-structured positions with daily access to all my direct reports. My new position was not only out of a home office, but also my team was scattered throughout Northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii. I was tasked with creating and implementing a business strategy to turn around the largest and worst performing retail chain in an extremely hostile business environment for big beer.
Coming in with no sales experience, my first six months was like drinking water from a fire hose. However, after multiple deep dives into the market and meetings with the retailer’s senior management, I was able to identify key levers that drove both our businesses and create a targeted approach to maximize exposure of our brands while simultaneously maximizing the retailer’s return on investment across their entire beer portfolio.
Within 13 months, I was successful in my mission. In fact, the retailer’s performance led the West Coast for an entire quarter. In addition, my “playbook” has since been taken and implemented in other struggling chains with strong initial results.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? The energy that my classmates bring makes the program seem less like an MBA program and more like a unicorn startup about to IPO. From successful entrepreneurs to consultants for NATIONS to former professional athletes, everyone here has already accomplished what most people would be happy with in an entire career, and they’re just getting started!
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? After spending the first five years of my professional career jumping from city-to-city (I still have boxes from my first move somewhere in my closet), I knew that I wanted to settle down in Texas. When looking at graduate programs, I wanted one that was both academically rigorous and offered a strong alumni network. Rice had the perfect combination. Not only is Rice indisputably the premiere learning institution in Texas, but also it has one of the strongest alumni networks nation-wide. I know that what I will learn in these next two years will be able to propel me into a great second career and that my network will allow me to prosper for many decades to come.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Outside of the amazing professional clubs at Rice, I’m excited to represent Rice as a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Committee Member (largest rodeo in the world!).
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I feel like I’ve learned as much as I can in my current position and want to take my learning to the next level. I believe that an MBA exists to fulfill that exact need. A Rice MBA will “fill in the gaps” to allow me to take my learning and apply them to a larger challenge.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Getting an MBA is no small investment. Between the costs of attendance and the opportunity costs associated with missing two prime income earning years, the total cost of an MBA can balloon into well over a half million dollars. However, if you consider the post-graduation salaries of Rice MBA grads and the expansive network that comes with attendance, the 5-year ROI is almost certainly positive.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Texas A&M Mays School of Business, Harvard University
How did you determine your fit at various schools?
- Current student engagement – speaking with students outside of the admissions office and seeing how many are actively engaged. This is typically a good indication of future engagement as alumni
- Backgrounds of matriculating students – how many engineers, consultants, etc. – and their desired post-graduation career.
- Poets and Quants posts.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The most defining moment in my life was when I made the leap of faith and accepted the position in sales. Up until that point, even though I always thought I pushed the boundaries, I followed a rigid career progression – graduated college with an engineering degree, got a job at a big company, and followed the typical career track for an engineer there. I never branched out or took big bets on myself.
However, this changed when I decided to take on the new, intimidating challenge of not only moving business units, but to one that came with a giant target on my back. A key driver of this change came from three key questions I asked myself:
- Will I learn something new?
- Is this challenge worthwhile?
- Will I have fun?
This mentality shaped how I perceive everything from that point forward form training for a marathon to applying for an MBA program.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan on making a career switch into investment banking or private equity.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Trying to learn as much as I can about the financial world and leverage it in advising companies on how to best meet their short- and long-term goals. And of course, making new friends.
Anson E. Fraser
University of Texas, McCombs School of Business
“Level-headed Caribbean-American lacrosse player with a passion for how technology is shaping society.”
Hometown: Summit, New Jersey (NJ)
Fun Fact About Yourself: I was born in Trinidad & Tobago, an island nation in the Caribbean, but I never got my sea legs. To this day, I get seasick on boats in open water.
Undergraduate School and Major: University of Notre Dame Bachelor of Arts in Film, Television, and Theatre
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Envestnet | Portfolio Management Consultants (PMC): Associate Vice President, Investment Product Manager
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The biggest accomplishment of my career so far was initiating and delivering a project to decrease the time needed to produce quarter end marketing materials that include portfolio performance figures. In my last role, I oversaw the performance calculation and verification process for over a thousand portfolios with $15.5 billion in assets under management. The painstaking process involved numerous teams and often took more than 45 days to complete. Through documenting the steps each team was responsible for, identifying redundant steps, and then restructuring the process I was able to hand off a set of instructions that were used to automate the process. That change not only decreased the time to publish our marketing materials by over 80%, but also mitigated the risk of human error in the process.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? The quality that best describes the MBA classmates I’ve met so far is… Selfless. From the time I submitted my deposit, to preparing for The Consortium’s Orientation Program (OP), and throughout the first few weeks of life in Austin, my McCombs classmates have gone out to their way to share words of wisdom, help with interview prep, and make themselves available whenever I need assistance. During the admissions process, the reoccurring comment I heard about McCombs MBAs was, “They’re very friendly.” That comment wasn’t a stretch of the truth if anything it was an understatement.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The connection to the city of Austin was the key factor in my choice of McCombs for my full-time MBA. It was important to me because I wanted my MBA experience to be different from what I had as an undergrad in South Bend, or as a young professional in New York City. Austin is a vibrant city where it’s never hard to get outside, even in the winter months, which was also very appealing to me. With all the companies that are deciding to headquarter – or open an additional office – in the Austin area, there is also no shortage of networking opportunities. Additionally, now that Rowling Hall is fully operational, the talks we have lined up to connect with Austin based businesses are being released. Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Block-chain, and Crypto-currency are a few of the topics that will be covered at events this fall that I’m excited to attend.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I have two: McCombs Board Fellows and The McCombs Graduate Consulting Group. Board Fellows because I’m a product of the work and generosity of non-profit initiatives. The opportunity to pay that forward while learning how a non-profit operates is one that I don’t want to miss. The McCombs Graduate Consulting Group because of the exposure to a myriad of problem-solving techniques. Regardless of the industry or position, I’ll go into it having a diverse set of problem-solving tools will be an important part of a successful long-term career.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Accelerating my career to the next level was what led me to pursue my MBA at this point. When I say “next level”, I mean the point in my career where I’m setting the vision for the initiatives I take on and having profit-and-loss responsibilities. To get to that point, I knew needed to learn some foundational aspects of managing a company that I didn’t have the opportunity to learn as a Film, Television, and Theatre major at Notre Dame.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I know a lot of people created spreadsheets to quantify whether an MBA was worth the investment, but I never got that detailed. I understood that I would be giving up a salary for a couple of years, but I also would be expanding my skill set and knowledge base, and that would ultimately make me more valuable when I finished my program.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? UCLA (Anderson), UC-Berkley (Haas), UNC (Kenan-Flagler), USC (Marshall)
How did you determine your fit at various schools? To evaluate my fit at various schools, I signed up for EVERY event in the NYC area attended by an admissions representative of the schools I wanted to attend. I knew I wouldn’t be able to visit all the schools I would apply to so it was important for me to do in person research before committing to visit a school. I also reached out to friends, coworkers, and acquaintances who attended my target schools to get their opinions about whether the culture and values mentioned online and in marketing documents was in line with what they had experienced. I knew it fit my career goals because of the percentage of students it places in consulting, tech, and private wealth management. Those three areas are the ones that interest me the most. Once I defined my target areas, it was easy to rule out any school that didn’t have a good record of placing MBAs in those areas and seeing them go onto successful careers.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment happened in the winter of 2000 when I decided to play lacrosse. For most people, deciding to play a sport isn’t one that sticks with them. For me, a black male, it changed the trajectory of my life. Lacrosse doesn’t have a reputation for being the most inclusive of sports, although it’s made great strides in recent years. When I talk to people who don’t know much about the sport, their comments usually revolve around it being elitist and overwhelmingly white. Yes, I have experienced that side of the sport, but I also experienced the side of the sport that is a community that takes care of their own. I experienced the Summit Lacrosse Club granting me a scholarship to play my first year of lacrosse when my parents couldn’t afford it. That year of lacrosse developed my passion for the game and propelled me to an academic and athletic career at the University of Notre Dame that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I also experienced what is happening with Harlem Lacrosse, a non-profit helping at-risk youth in cities throughout the country, by teaching them the game of lacrosse and providing academic support. The experiences I’ve had through lacrosse (the good and the bad) have made me a stronger person by challenging me and made me a more thoughtful person by showing me that sports can change lives. That’s why I look back at my decision to play the sport as my defining moment.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? After I graduate, I plan to take a position that keeps me close to the Financial Technology industry. The intersection of finance and technology, and how to combine the two to create better financial outcomes for investors has kept my interest for the last four years, and I’d like to get back to it. Whether that means working on strategic issues for a large tech company that is building out their financial services support model or working as a private wealth associate to create a business plan for my practice is something I plan to figure out over the next year.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I see myself working at the same employer I joined after graduation and beginning to take on a role involved in managing my division.
Sophia Duncan
University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management
“Quirky, curious, softhearted nerd obsessed with food, the outdoors, and social justice.”
Hometown: Newton, MA
Fun Fact About Yourself: I love to go on long canoe trips. For our honeymoon, my partner and I went on an amazing 25 day canoe trip in Wabakimi Provincial Park in Northern Ontario and brought all our own dehydrated food.
Undergraduate School and Major: Wesleyan University, History
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Milton Community Youth Coalition, Youth Programs and Food Access Coordinator
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While managing a farmers market in rural Vermont, we more than doubled our vendors’ total sales from the previous season, and increased federal food benefit redemption by low-income community members by 172%.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Approachable. The classmates I’ve met so far have such impressive accomplishments and backgrounds but are still so approachable, friendly, and interesting to talk to.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Class diversity was a huge factor for me. Coming from three years living in Vermont, which is certainly not known for its diversity, working with and learning from diverse peers was a big priority. When I visited Rotman and sat in on a class, I was particularly struck by students’ diverse backgrounds not just in country of origin but also in work experience and career goals.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to joining Rotman Net Impact and also getting back on the soccer field.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I felt I was learning a lot in my day to day work, but needed a serious skill boost to move forward in my career. I considered Planning and Public Policy programs but decided that an MBA would be the best fit and would provide essential leadership and financial skills as well as a greater degree of career flexibility.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Primarily, I spoke with mentors, family friends, and acquaintances in fields that I’m interested in. I also looked at school salary reports.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Yale School Of Management
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I wanted to find both academic rigor and a supportive community. I knew I wanted to get a strong foundation in classic MBA skills like finance, accounting, management, etc., but also wanted some flexibility to learn about my specific career priorities. I looked at Poets and Quants, spoke with admissions and with current students, visited a class at Rotman, and did a lot of online research to determine which schools would be a good fit. Finally, I put a lot of thought into school location and how that fit with my partner’s and my plans for the future.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I spent 2013-2014 in Morocco on a Fulbright Research grant. My focus was on traditional food and ideas about authenticity, and I traveled around the country learning from farmers, rural cooperatives, home cooks, chefs and restaurateurs. I loved speaking Moroccan Arabic, and spent most of my time asking taxi drivers, elderly ladies, and anyone else who would listen endless questions about food. That year really shaped my world view, solidified my interest in working with rural communities, and strengthened my ability to adapt to a different environment, to work independently, and to forge a network in another language (and often with shaky phone reception).
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan to work in a non-profit or social enterprise focused on social and economic justice.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to start my own non-profit or consulting organization in Ontario. I plan to work with community members and farmers to facilitate equal access to food and land while building strong, just rural communities.
Katharine Hawthorne
University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business
“I embrace contradiction as a finance professional and artist, physicist and dancer, quant and creative.”
Hometown: San Mateo, CA / Singapore / Wayzata, MN
Fun Fact About Yourself: I have a dog named Vesalius who takes himself very seriously.
Undergraduate School and Major: Stanford University, BS Physics
Most Recent Employer and Job Title:
Tiedemann Advisors, Impact Investing pre-MBA intern
University of California, San Francisco, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Senior Contract Manager
Professional dancer & choreographer
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Finance by day, dance by night. For the past seven years, I balanced full-time employment at UCSF with dancing 40 hours a week. At UCSF, I managed the financial and contractual aspects of more than a dozen clinical trials. In my life as an artist, I ran my own dance company and performed professionally with 10 dance troupes in North America, Europe, and Asia. I consider my greatest achievement to be thriving in these disparate contexts.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Change-makers. Of the classmates I’ve met thus far, I’ve observed a shared awareness of society’s challenges and a motivation toward affecting positive change.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I had an exceptional interview experience at Haas. I felt seen, understood, and valued, and I greatly admired my interviewer, who was the kind of purpose-driven professional I hope to be.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? International Business Development (IBD) is an applied innovation course in which students undertake a consulting project in a developing country. Many Haasies cite it as a highlight of their MBA experience. I am passionate about sustainable economic development and excited to apply my MBA coursework in a real-world context.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I retired from dancing in December 2017. Dance taught me how to lead, inspire collaborators, and connect to audiences. I decided to attend business school to build on these leadership skills and to further my interests in finance and data science.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I always knew I wanted to pursue graduate education, and I’ve been saving for it since I first began working at age 18.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? In addition to Haas, I focused primarily on international programs (INSEAD, LBS, Oxford Saïd, etc.).
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I wanted to find an environment where I would both be challenged and supported in undertaking a personal transformation. With a strong student-driven and entrepreneurial culture, Haas is a “choose your own adventure” kind of place, which resonated with me. Berkeley’s commitment to social action speaks for itself, and when considering my future career goals in impact investing, Haas stood out for its connections and resources.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I lived in Singapore at the turn of the millennium, a time and place that imprinted on me the values of multiculturalism and optimism. Eight years later, I returned to Asia and lived in Beijing for six months prior to the 2008 Olympics, another time of dramatic transformation. Skyscrapers and mass transit lines appeared overnight, and my fellow students on the Peking University campus dreamt of ambitious futures. These formative experiences abroad shaped my values of connecting across cultures, seeing the big picture, and thinking globally.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? Impact investing. As a financial manager at UCSF, I gained experience with government and philanthropic funding, which motivated me to explore other methods of financing for social impact and systems change. My pre-MBA internship at Tiedemann Advisors exposed me to the exciting solutions currently on the market. As the field of impact investing grows rapidly, I look forward to being involved in its evolution and hope to someday run my own impact fund.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself seeking solutions at the intersection of finance and social impact. I hope to make a contribution to the impact investing field, connect with communities in need across the globe, and continue my development as an empathetic and effective leader. I look forward to starting a family and enjoying life with dogs, books, and travel.
Amanda Sol Peralta
UCLA, Anderson School of Management
“Endless reservoir of curiosity, often found advocating the importance of pop culture and teenage fandoms.”
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Fun Fact About Yourself: Most of my summers growing up were spent braving the winter with my extended family in the Chilean countryside. I got sent to the local public school to take classes a grade level up and “build some character.” In retrospect, not only did these summers help me keep my Spanish fluent, but I got to experience the magic of two recesses per day #priorities.
Undergraduate School and Major: Duke University, International Comparative Studies Major
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Product Marketing Manager at Jopwell, a diversity recruitment startup with clients including Spotify, Lyft and BlackRock.
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At a previous early stage startup, I received feedback in my performance review that I wasn’t engaging enough with the revenue-generation side of the business. Given our challenges with product-market-fit, I realized “it’s not my job” wasn’t a good excuse. Instead, I quickly read up on pricing and monetization strategy and proposed a research sprint to investigate our clients’ willingness to pay. Our CEO signed off on the project and I was able to lead our whole team in a coordinated effort to interview industry decision-makers to better understand their budgets. The results helped clarify our strategic direction as we prepared for acquisition. I’m most proud of how I took initiative to solve a problem outside of my scope and made a tangible impact.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? My Anderson classmates strike a perfect balance between savvy and social. They’re gregarious while still being thoughtful, driven while still caring about others. I’ve also noticed that we all really value the privilege of living in one of the best cities in the world, where excelling as a professional isn’t at odds with caring about your health and lifestyle.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Anderson was the perfect place for my specific career goal to transition into tech-entertainment. My experiences at startups taught me how technology could be a vehicle for change, but I had struggled to incorporate my passion for online communities and pop culture into my career. I knew I needed to deepen my entertainment industry knowledge and experience, while expanding my entertainment-tech network. Los Angeles-based Anderson was a leader in each of these spaces. Top that off with arguably the best career center in the country, and it was the clear right choice for me. Ultimately, I have a really specific vision for how I want to create an impact. I believe that pop culture can be a force for unlocking community, belonging, and identity for marginalized young people. The technology and entertainment firms in this space have the opportunity of building tools that allow us to bridge these differences through community. I needed to be at the right place to achieve this vision.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m excited to get involved in the Student Association. I believe higher education institutions like UCLA Anderson play a huge role in shaping the future, and will enjoy being at the center of the conversation for how the school can best drive impact.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I knew I wanted to shift my career more directly toward my calling as I mentioned above, but I also realized there were a lot of competencies (like leadership development and data analytics) I needed to fill out first. As a first generation college graduate, I learned a lot about professional paths in my first few years out of school. I realized that given the chance, I could take advantage of graduate school in a way I didn’t know to do as an undergraduate student, when I was more focused on expanding my worldview.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I focused on finding and speaking to students and alums who got jobs at companies and in roles that I was targeting, and incessantly asked them how the degree supported their career advancement. That, and I worked hard to bolster my application to improve my chances of receiving a merit scholarship.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I was California focused, so I applied to UCLA Anderson, USC Marshall, Stanford GSB, and UC Berkeley Haas.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized career goal fit, industry network, location and lifestyle, and values fit. I conducted research primarily by going straight to the source, exhausting my network with anyone I knew who attended my target schools and asking them about their experiences. Programs like Management Leadership for Tomorrow really helped me be rigorous in this pursuit.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Choosing my undergraduate school was a defining moment for me. While I was lucky to have a plethora of pretty amazing choices, I listened to what made sense to me. I know not everyone would have made the same choice, but at Duke I found a school that challenged me while allowing itself to be challenged by me. I also got to be part of a scholarship community where I met many of my best friends and learned to engage in difference. That choice allowed me to continue to make choices using my own internal compass, something I learned from my father growing up.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan to work at a company playing a role in the evolution of the creator-fan relationship, whether more strictly in technology or in entertainment. Some target companies include YouTube, Instagram, The CW, Spotify and Netflix.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to have taken on a more decision- and strategy-heavy role at an entertainment-tech company. I also see myself taking on a role as a thought leader advocating for how this space can create positive societal change and help us bridge difference.
Tina Cook
University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business
“I am an emerging marketing professional committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Fun Fact About Yourself: I played Dora the Explorer in Dora’s Pirate Adventure, Live!
Undergraduate School and Major: Northern Kentucky University; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theatre Arts Performance
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Chrysalis (Nonprofit organization in Southern California), Volunteer & Program Director
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At my most recent employer (Chrysalis), I spent nearly four years building and leading the volunteer program that provides a large percentage of client services at the organization. Through a series of promotions, I moved through the ranks from a supporting role to director and am proud of the caliber of volunteer training, engagement, and programming that emerged during my tenure.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Fascinating. At Marshall, there are people from all walks of life with very unique backgrounds. From a cryptocurrency pro to a former jazz singer to a prosecutor – I didn’t expect such a wide variety of experiences. It keeps discussions rich and lively!
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The sense of family. The Trojan network is a unique thing at USC. More specifically, I couldn’t help but notice that in every interaction with current students, alumni, faculty, and staff, there was a real sense of pride and belonging to the family that is the Marshall School of Business. B-school is meant to be rigorous and challenging but having a support system of peers who genuinely want to see you succeed helps give you the extra boost on the days when it’s hard to tap into that energy on your own.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m most looking forward to informational interviews and networking events with professionals who are working in marketing. I am a function-switcher, so I’m eager to learn from as many folks as I can about what life is really like as a marketer.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Throughout my career I have had the opportunity to explore many different interests. When I stopped to really think about what energizes me the most, I realized it was storytelling. I want to leverage my storytelling abilities as a marketer in the private sector. In order to do so successfully I knew I needed the quantitative and analytical skills that an MBA program would provide. Additionally, I’m fascinated by competitive strategy and I’m looking forward to leaving b-school with real frameworks and applicable skills that will allow me to pivot and accelerate in my career.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? An investment in yourself is always worth it. For me, it’s as simple as that. I believe in myself and know that to get where I want to go this is an important step.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? UCLA Anderson, UCI Merage
How did you determine your fit at various schools? Besides the usual suspects like rankings, and articles from Poets & Quants, I visited each school I applied to and spent time on campus with students. I visited classes and attended diversity events. Culture fit was of upmost importance to me, and that’s challenging to measure in stats and rankings. It’s really a feeling and when you know, you know. At Marshall I found that fit.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? One of my defining moments occurred on Friday, September 26th, 2014. I had just started working at Chrysalis and the team was visiting a correctional facility to gain deeper insight into the population we served. As we walked through the facility that day, we encountered a group of female inmates in a support group session finding courage and strength in their commonalities. We observed a classroom of male inmates practicing computer skills. We met a teacher who comes to the facility weekly to teach courses for inmates working towards their GED.
That day, a fundamental view I held was challenged and it altered the trajectory of my life. People make mistakes, that’s true. But we are also all a product of our socio-economic circumstances, and we don’t all receive the same opportunities and privileges. If we are to progress as a society, and strive for true equity, we must first accept this truth.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? Brand Management
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I see myself as a Senior Brand Manager at a tech company that cares about doing good in the world, where I get to think creatively and work with inspiring peers each day.
Curtis Duke
Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management
“Passion for the outdoors, sucker for Broadway and everlasting devotion to my brothers in arms.”
Hometown: Morristown, Tennessee USA
Fun Fact About Yourself: I have the world’s greatest dog. She is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon whose name is Daisy Duke, and she pretty much goes everywhere with me.
Undergraduate School and Major:
Sewanee: The University of the South, majoring in Physics
Missouri University of Science and Technology, MS in Geological Engineering
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: United States Army, Project Engineer
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Hurricane Irma and Maria caused utter devastation throughout the U.S. territories in the Caribbean in late 2017. I was selected to manage operations on St. Thomas and St. John, USVI. By the time I was returning to the Corps of Engineers District in Saint Paul, MN, our team (the Corps of Engineers and contractors) had removed over 100,000 cubic yards of debris, installed more than 2,000 temporary roofs, and installed a multitude of generators for critical public infrastructure. I was so thankful for the resilience of the local community and the volunteers who raised their hands to help. The public/private partners executed the mission with extraordinary operational efficiency.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Personable. I do not know how the admission team differentiates personality by looking at resumes and reading applications, but I would love to be a fly on the wall. From Welcome Weekend through Orientation, the creativity, intellect, and empathy was utterly apparent through the thousands of messages flowing through our online community.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The alumni network was completely outstanding. It revealed the true nature of the school and the vibrant and expansive network of truly genuine people with complete loyalty to their school.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Without a doubt, the Turner Family Center of Social Ventures. The breadth of initiatives and experiences highlighted by the current students during Vanderbilt’s Discover Weekend was incredible. I cannot wait to augment my education with involvement in a social venture of this magnitude.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? During a counseling session with a Veteran mentor, I was anxiously describing my love for the Army while cautiously alluding to my desires step away after almost 10 years. I was pondering what it meant to step away. This mentor, whom I had only known for a short time, suggested pursing an MBA while still maintaining purpose by volunteering within the Veteran community. That was it!
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Anything worth having takes time (and money) to achieve. Being worth the investment was never a thought that crossed my mind.
What other MBA programs did you apply to?
University of Texas, McCombs School of Business
University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management
University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I looked at a variety of factors, including geolocation (to be near family after 10 years), relationships and correspondence with alumni, Veteran presence, class size, and office of admissions communication. Owen fit all these factors, and the care and diligence in interactions with peers, alumni and admission officers was utterly stunning.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? It was certainly not a specific moment, but more of a timeframe. At age 23, I was a platoon leader for a route clearance platoon in Iraq for about 7 months. What defined this time was the professionalism and poise of the soldiers (age 18 to 35) and the amount of knowledge I gained from my commanders, peers, and, especially, the soldiers and noncommissioned officers within my platoon. They imparted me with wisdom, experience, and really knowing what it means to be a leader.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I want to work in finance with a focus in renewable energy.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Career-wise, I wish I knew! I will always be involved within the veteran community. I hope to on the board of a local veteran nonprofit in my spare time away from my career.
Carissa Sanchez
University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
“Tohono O’Odham woman blazing her own trails – not only in hiking, but also in life.”
Hometown: Three Points, Arizona
Fun Fact About Yourself: As a kid, I raised pigs for auction and received my first lesson in accounting/finance – my step-dad taught me how to calculate profits based on my costs (building a pig pen, food and medication purchases) and my revenues (price per pound I was able to sell my pigs for at the county fair). I was hooked.
Undergraduate School and Major: Yale University – Mechanical Engineering
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Arconic – Continuous Improvement & Lean Leader
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While on my rotation program, I realized I enjoyed engineering data and experiments, but what truly fascinated me was when challenges arose in the production of our product; people needed to be coordinated, and hard decisions needed to be made. I wanted to stretch myself, so I pitched to a VP that I do my next rotation as a production supervisor. It took some convincing, and I was warned that I would be thrown in the deep end, but I decided to jump. I won’t pretend I broke any records (supervisors that have been there for decades will always know far more than me), but I’m proud I had the courage to jump into that leadership role, and the rewards were great – I learned the ins-and-outs of how production works; the high intensity and pressure challenges they face (like when your machine breaks down or your employees need to face disciplinary action); and how to earn the respect of people with far more expertise and skill than me such that they were still willing to follow my lead and allow me to do my part to make their jobs better every day.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Each of my classmates I’ve met so far has been extremely willing and excited to authentically engage with others. It’s been an honor to get to know people whether it’s hearing about someone working ski patrol in the Alps; classmates offering me wonderful advice when they’ve gone through the same challenges; or learning proper swim techniques and drills from a very patient classmate who swam in college and is willing to coach us aspiring triathletes.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I’m an Arizonan who has lived/worked/studied in CT/ TX/ MI/ IN/ NJ, and I’ve learned I want to get back to the southwestern portion of the country (ideally Denver or Texas). UVA was the perfect balance for me to try living in a new region (the mid-atlantic/south), and use Darden’s strong network connections to recruit into Colorado or Texas firms (we have a surprisingly large number of alumni in those areas!)
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to Darden’s Outdoors Club – I’ve never spent much time in the mid-Atlantic or South regions, and I can’t wait to explore, hike, kayak, camp [insert grueling activity that requires bug spray here] in the beautiful area surrounding Charlottesville with my classmates.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I wanted to learn more, faster. I loved the content of my job, but I realized in order to take on bigger challenges that were intellectually fascinating, I needed to be at a VP level. I also recognized that in my industry, the typical path to VP required 20 years in manufacturing plants in rural areas. I wanted an accelerated growth and timeline, so I decided to pursue and MBA and catapult myself into applicant pools for jobs where I could focus on more strategy, big picture, and/or managerial roles.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? As a First Generation college graduate and a Native American, there was never a question of value of the investment of an MBA for me. I needed to do this to raise the standard of achievement for my people and prove that we’re out here, we’re smart, and we’re making things happen. It was a no brainer regardless of time or money. Fortunately, the Consortium Fellowship supports ambitions and perspectives like mine, and they’ve made the burden of this MBA investment much less overwhelming.
What other MBA programs did you apply to?
- Dartmouth Tuck
- Stanford GSB
- UT McCombs
- Goizueta
- Tepper
- UC Berkeley Haas
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? From high school onward, I knew I wanted to give back to my Native American tribe and thought I’d need to start a non-profit or become a teacher in order to make that happen. There was a moment in college when I learned that other wonderful people are already filling those needs and doing it much better than my natural aptitudes would allow, and I realized my strengths were better suited for me to climb the corporate ladder and mentor others and pull them up with me
That realization provided me the freedom to pursue career success without living on the Tohono O’Odham reservation and know that I was still doing good for my people – now I’m all about gaining the knowledge and experience to put a Native American, female face at the highest level of a corporation, where those who look like me are rarely found. And as I get there, I’ll be equipped to share my knowledge and expertise with the underrepresented minorities who will come after me.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I would love to find myself in operations consulting or a role in which I can gain practical management and operations experience (perhaps by managing a facility or P&L).
Where do you see yourself in five years? If I’m loving life at the firm I join post-MBA, I hope to be continually growing and promoting there and finding ways to mentor, give back, and train up the next class coming behind me. Ideally I’ll be in Denver or Texas, spending time with family, and doing plenty of hiking and kayaking.
Alexis Goodrich
University of Washington, Foster School of Business
Hometown: Mercer Island, Washington
Fun Fact About Yourself: I was featured on the inside cover story for Runner’s World magazine in 2015… dressed as a taco! I wish I could say it was for running a marathon but the truth is I was just a sideline participant in San Francisco’s famous Bay to Breakers.
Undergraduate School and Major: University of Southern California, B.A. Communications
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Creative Market, Marketing Manager
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I undertook Creative Market’s largest market research project, leading a deep dive into its four million members.
Energized by the opportunity to connect and listen to our customers, I led a small team that analyzed 30,000 surveys, combed through hours of customer focus group recordings and website traffic pattern data, and built marketing personas. We discovered two key customer personas, representing our highest value customers, traced their online journeys, pain points, and perceptions of our brand’s value, and identified the elements needed to build a stronger relationship with them.
Listening to our customers speak directly about the brand (albeit from behind a camera) was thrilling and there is truly no substitute for it. I firmly believe that the consumer should be central to every brand and it was well worth taking the time to listen and dig deeper into their experiences.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Foster students seem experienced yet curious. They are confident enough in their past endeavors to speak passionately about their careers, yet innately curious and eager for future opportunities.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Foster’s close knit community was the key driver in my decision making. With typically around 115 students in a class, everyone knows each other, helps each other, and learns from each other on a more meaningful level. I didn’t want to be another face in the crowd at a larger school and knew that joining a small class would mean more opportunities to step up and grow during my two years. I want to be a leader and push myself to take on new activities and skills; a small community will both hold me accountable and encourage me to accomplish those goals.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Coming from the sometimes male-dominated startup world, I’m looking forward to joining Foster’s Women in Business Club. Aside from helping me to get to know my classmates better and build a strong female network, the club also supports undergraduate business students. I look forward to sharing my past experience as a founder to encourage undergraduates and help them avoid some of the pitfalls they’re likely to encounter.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I’ve been lucky thus far in my career to have started my own company right out college and to have subsequently joined small and scrappy startups in Sydney and the Bay Area. While on the one hand this has meant experiencing the thrilling ups-and-downs that startups inevitably encounter, it also has meant that I’ve had to adapt to many of the challenges thrown at me, often learning as I go, through trial and error.
Yet with all of the hands-on learning I’ve experienced, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like to have joined a larger company early on, where I would have had the opportunity to work closely with and learn from seasoned marketing professionals. Foster’s mentorship program was a big draw for me and I look forward to engaging with a mentor in the Seattle area whom I can learn from and who can help bridge that gap.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? This question is a bit “cart-before-the- horse” since I’m not yet sure if an MBA will be “worth it”. I will say that over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know several MBA grads and it’s been clear to me how beneficial their experience has been to both their professional and personal development.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I knew I wanted to stay on the West Coast so I applied to a few schools in California, UW, and UT, Austin – since hey, who doesn’t love BBQ and live music?
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I relied heavily on school visits and getting to know both current students and alumni. I spent time scouring LinkedIn to learn about career pivots and how diverse the networks were. On a personal note, it was important to me to attend a school where students weren’t super competitive with each other. I knew I wanted to build a network of life-long friends and I wanted a collaborative school atmosphere. Asking alumni about how often they utilized their network or kept in touch with their classmates was a good indicator of the health of the community.
From a career standpoint, I wanted to attend a school where I’d interact with a diverse group of people working towards a variety of goals. Coming from the Bay Area, where everyone seems to work in tech, I’m looking forward to joining a community and ecosystem where social impact, engineering, retail, and yes, technology, share the foreground.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I started a healthcare startup straight out of college. After putting in three years of hard work, often spending weekends alone at my kitchen table, I faced the grim reality that I needed to shutter the business. Accepting that decision was only half of the battle; how would I share the news with my family and friends? What would I do next?
Accepting this “failure” and not letting it affect my confidence was difficult, yet clearly stands out as the defining moment of my early career. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I purchased a one-way ticket to Sydney, Australia and continued to push myself out of my comfort zone. I found a company I was passionate about, founders who supported my career development, and an entire new world “down under.” It’s incredible what a positive attitude and new surroundings can do!
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I hope to find a role where brand building intersects with strategic business decision making. I love working with (and for) consumers and feel passionate about landing somewhere that places high value on consumers and their experience.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself actively engaged in my growing community, working for or building a global brand and of course – waking up every day excited for new opportunities to create value while delivering a great customer experience that translates into a compelling ROI.
Felicia Kola-Amodu
Washington University, Olin Business School
“A Nigerian-raised food and nap connoisseur, always pursuing more knowledge.”
Hometown: Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
Fun Fact About Yourself: I mentally edit (grammar and spelling) all messages I get, including texts. I also did my first editing gig on a book, “30 Before 30”.
Undergraduate School and Major: Bowen University, Nigeria (Undergraduate), Indiana University, Bloomington (Graduate)
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Enterprise Holdings, Manager
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Being able to successfully cross over from journalism into B2C (business to consumer) management.
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Responsibility. My classmates have a huge sense of responsibility for each other. This has created a general sense of belonging for me and I believe, for everyone also. It’s great walking in the hallway feeling overwhelmed and your classmates call out to you saying, “We’ll get through this!”.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? There was a sense of ownership of the program and even of the student body with every single person I spoke to. I felt the most comfortable when I came in contact with Olin. The application process was not where it stopped, neither was it at the interview process. The moment I came in contact with Olin after my application submission, they stayed in contact up until now. This told me I was not just a number or just a student. I am a part of a community. I felt that way before I got an admission.
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to joining the Student Senate for the GBSA. I am also hoping to become an ambassador for Communication @ OLIN. Lastly, I am hoping to join the Admission Committee to help further expand the diversity at OLIN.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I don’t have a traditional business background. After my Master’s degree in Journalism, I went with a career in B2C. Although, I excelled in the last 3 years doing that, I knew there was a level of training I did not have to continue to excel and move wider and farther in my career. An MBA at Olin will give me that training.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? After starting a new career in sales-B2C management in 2015, my main five-year goal became “Getting my MBA”. I made that decision because I knew that was the career path I wanted to be in. I also knew I was lacking the educational training to thrive long term in that field. I knew that for my long term career goals, there would be costs attached—time, money and a lot of effort. I knew they would all be worth it in the end.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to Emory University, University of Texas, Austin, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Indiana University.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I started by looking at the school rankings for their marketing programs. I then narrowed them down by the geographical locations I was interested in. The last thing I did was to connect with some alumni, current students or other representatives of the schools. I did this through LinkedIn and attended events like Forté Women’s.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment was when I lost my dad. I had moved to the US only 6 months before. Prior to that, I was a daddy’s girl and had mostly done everything leaning on my family. Losing my dad gave me a growth sprout, mentally and emotionally. I became independent even though I still have my family’s support. I began to make use of my dad’s words, “Temi, you can do anything you set your mind to”. All those things brought me to where I am today.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I want to join a forward-thinking diverse organization, in a B2B (business to business) marketing management role.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to have been well versed in my career and moving forward. I hope to have registered and pushed forward my not-for-profit “movement,” called “Adopt A Child’s Education”.
Julia Stock
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
“Professional ballet dancer, turned petroleum engineer, turned businesswoman. I’m a poet and a quant.”
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Fun Fact About Yourself: I trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and had the opportunity to dance at the Royal Opera House
Undergraduate School and Major: Petroleum Engineer – UFRJ (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Master 2 in Materials Engineering – Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Lille
Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Business analyst at McKinsey, strategy analyst at Vale, graduate engineer at SBM Offshore
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Leading an initiative to incorporate advanced analytics in the decision-making process of an agribusiness company. The team was composed of 11 people from 4 different business areas. It was very rewarding to see the amount of change we implemented in such a short period of time, and to experience first-hand the effects and challenges of this technology. The project won a prize from the Brazilian Institute of Supply Chain, which was really gratifying and exciting.
Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Know your story and focus on your strengths. Spend time understanding the talents that make you stand out. During the Team Based Discussion, see your group members as allies. It’s a team effort and you have more chance to succeed by working together.
What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? The Lauder joint degree program. When choosing my MBA, I was looking for a way to deepen my knowledge of the African market, since it has amazing growth potential. My choice was spot on. Even before starting the MBA course, we participated in a summer immersion in which we met entrepreneurs, policy makers, politicians, PE and VC founders and even President Obama’s grandmother!
What would success look like to you after your first year of business school? Having a great group of friends and professional network within the Wharton community. Also, I want to get to know myself better and evolve as a leader by being exposed to diverse experiences.
Elizabeth Davidson
Yale School of Management
“Recovering expat and social impact wonk, endlessly fascinated by the world.”
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Fun Fact About Yourself: I have summited Kilimanjaro, hung out with 400-pound gorillas in Rwanda, swum in Devil’s Pool at the edge of Victoria Falls, and eaten more questionable street food than I care to consider from a public health perspective, but I am actually quite risk-averse by nature.
Undergraduate School and Major: College of William and Mary, Government and Middle Eastern Studies
Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Kiva, Portfolio Manager for Francophone Africa
Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At Kiva, I was responsible for managing current impact investments, as well as doing due diligence on new potential investments and proposing them to the investment committee. After over a year of pre-work and a particularly arduous due diligence process, getting a $1.2 million investment for higher education in Rwanda approved was one of my proudest moments. It was something I believed in strongly—an awesome, affordable education for Rwanda’s future leaders—and worked on for years to make happen. Passion and persistence pay off!
What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Down-to-earth but incredibly accomplished. Very diverse but all equally fascinating and easy to talk to. People who want to make a difference in the world no matter what their chosen career path may be.
Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I’ve been focused on the intersection of impact and business, and I wanted a school where that wouldn’t be looked down upon or thought of as weird. SOM totally fit the bill from the first interactions I had with students at admitted students’ day. SOM’s mission, “Educating leaders for business and society,” also speaks to this. While we get a great education in the fundamentals of finance and business, SOM focuses on holistic leadership and gives you the opportunity to take classes at any school at Yale to help round out your education. It’s not just about learning how to run a Fortune 500 company—it’s about applying business skills to become a leader in any sector you might choose or any role you might find yourself in, whether in a professional setting or otherwise.
Yale’s strong connection to Africa didn’t hurt either!
What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Ice hockey. Strangely enough, I started playing ball hockey (essentially ice hockey without the ice and skates) in Tanzania, and I’m eager to try out my hockey skills on ice.
What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I never thought I would pursue an MBA. In college, I was convinced I wanted nothing to do with anything that involved finance and actively avoided any quantitative coursework like the plague. But after graduation, finance steadily became a more and more important part of my work until it became a key part of my job. For a period of time, I even managed the accounting department of the social enterprise I worked for in Tanzania – despite never having taken a finance class. Now, I am excited to fill in the gaps of my education and build a solid foundation of finance and business skills to draw upon in the future. I actually can’t wait for accounting!
I was also at a point in my career where I was really interested in growing as a leader. So many of my friends and colleagues who got an MBA gushed about their transformational growth during business school, which is exactly what I was looking for at this point. It seemed like the perfect time to go for it.
On a very different note, I was also eager to explore what it would be like to live back at home in the U.S. again in a pretty low-risk way.
How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I love working, so this was a hard one for me, but it’s a bet on my future and a push to grow further.
I don’t have a master’s degree, and I knew I’d be closing the door on a lot of future opportunities by not having one. At the same time, I really wanted to shore up my financial and business skill sets before transitioning to any other job. An MBA seemed like the most straightforward way to do this, while allowing me to explore some other sectors.
What other MBA programs did you apply to? Berkeley Haas, Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, Oxford Said, and Stanford GSB.
How did you determine your fit at various schools? I knew I wanted a small or medium-sized program with a low-ego culture and a strong global presence. Having spent years abroad surrounded by passionate, incredible people from around the world, I knew I wanted something similar out of an MBA program. Diversity—real diversity and not just lip service—was a must. I also wanted a strong social impact program to keep a foot in that world.
Since I was abroad and not able to visit most schools, I pored over every available webinar, blog post, and YouTube video I could find on each school. I talked to a number of current students and alumni at each school I was interested in to hear more about their experiences. But ultimately, being there in person was the deciding factor. I made the time (and quite a bit of it – flying from Kenya to the US is at least a 24-hour affair) to visit a number of admitted students’ days, and Yale just felt right.
What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I moved to Tanzania having never visited the country…or anywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa or the developing world, for that matter. For someone who is so cripplingly risk-averse by nature, I still can’t quite believe I did it. Taking that leap pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that it’s almost hard to imagine just staying inside that zone anymore. After that move, I know I can tackle anything, even if it feels completely overwhelming or foreign at first.
What do you plan to do after you graduate? I’m really interested in consulting. At Kiva, my favorite part of my job was working with a wide variety of organizations, and my least favorite part was not having the time to deep dive with each to tackle the strategic challenges they were facing. I’m looking forward to getting to learn the ins and outs of vastly different companies while getting to work through obstacles systematically with them.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I would love to focus solely on consulting in the social sector in five years’ time—I just need to figure out where in the world I’d like to be based!
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