Meet Washington Foster’s MBA Class of 2020 - Poets&Quants

There are no sure things in life. When it comes to landing a job, an MBA from the Foster School of Business is as close to a sure thing as you’ll get.

This year, 99% of Foster MBAs had accepted a job offer within three months of graduation. The year before? The number stood at 98.1%. These aren’t placeholder jobs to cover the rent, either. They are high-paying, high impact positions, starting at $118,355 on average. That doesn’t count the $38,695 signing bonuses that three quarters of graduates received too.

THE PLACE TO BREAK INTO TECH

Why does this small school garner so much attention? Start with location. When people picture the Pacific Northwest, most imagine clean air, lush forests, and sparkling streams. In reality, tech is as popular as treks. The Pudget Sound is home to iconic brands like Amazon, Microsoft, Expedia, and Zillow. Those are just the established players. Hot on their trail is a new generation of disruptive upstarts. Think Rover (pet care), Remitley (mobile payment), Smartsheet (project management), and Zulily (eCommerce). Add to that, the Seattle area includes a sizable presence – as in 1,000 employees or more – from the likes of Apple, Facebook, Accenture, Intel, and Google.

Long story short: The Emerald City’s tech sector is flush with jobs. As incumbents and startups look to foster growth and professionalize their ranks, the Foster School is ready to help, with 60% of the 2018 Class entering the tech sector. Call it a home field advantage, one that gives tech-driven and entrepreneurial-minded students the best shot at breaking into these industries.

Interior of PACCAR Hall. University of Washington, Seattle campus on November 20th, 2013. Photo by Katherine B. Turner

“If you want to build a network of people who are currently at Amazon or Microsoft, the Foster School is a terrific environment, says James Jiambalvo, the outgoing dean in a 2018 interview with Poets&Quants.  “There are also all kinds of small companies in Seattle. And a lot of students want to be at a startup. The Bay Area is in a league of its own and then there is Boston and then Seattle. So entrepreneurship is something we also pay a lot of attention to. We have a very, very strong center, great coursework, and great experiential learning.”

MOVING FORM THE CREATIVE TO THE BUSINESS SIDE

The Pacific Northwest is also known for its free spirits, the think-outside-the-box types whose eclectic backgrounds enable them to see connections and opportunities that most miss. You’ll find plenty of such students in the Class of 2020 at Foster. Take Matt Bishop. Before he dreamed of moving into marketing to become a product manager, he was the lead singer of Hey Marseilles, an Indie folk band with three albums to their credit. Their claim to fame: they’ve played in all 50 states, even crossing the country to hit the Firefly Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival in a ten day period.

What led Bishop to the University of Washington? Strangely enough, he began identifying more with the business side of the band. So he decided to forego the creative part of writing and singing to dive head-first into the Foster MBA program.

“Stepping away from music as a career, even if temporarily, was a challenge,” he admits. “It was my identity and my community. But through the course of that decision, I really came to terms with the idea that nothing is permanent, that reality is as much a product of perspective as anything else, and that I can find my identity and use my skills in a lot of different ways. That experience has put me in a place where I feel so much more flexible, grounded, and capable to ably confront any circumstance or challenge.”

FROM DRIVING PR CAMPAIGNS TO BABYSITTING TARANTULAS

Bishop isn’t alone in making a major transformation. Barbara Sujin Lee started her career in public relations. After caring for her dying grandmother – and learning that life was too short to “play if safe” – she took a leap of faith. She declined a high-paying gig from a global PR firm to work as a lowly, unpaid research assistant…with tarantulas…in an underground lab. Ultimately, her risk paid off. Two promotions later, she was launching and managing clinical trials.

“Not bad for a humanities major,” she jokes.

Think that’s a major transition? Try being Natalie Sullivan. After graduating from Smith College, she joined the Ms. Foundation for Women, an anti-violence philanthropy in New York City. Fast forward four years and you’ll find Sullivan working as an enologist (think lab analysis) for a winemaker across the country in Walla Walla. Alas, the jobs weren’t as day-and-night as they appear, she argues.

“Through both these experiences, what’s ignited me is the work to understand the broader landscape in which one does their work, tackling complex problems, and developing strategies for change. I’ve done both these things in each industry.”

TEACHING STUDENTS THE ‘BUSINESS’ OF SPORTS

2018 Foster women’s volleyball team at Challenee for Charity

Maggie Polachek stayed in the social sector after graduating from Wellesley, finding her way to the Center for American Progress (CAP) – regarded as America’s largest progressive advocacy and research organization. As the head of the president’s initiatives, she boosted the organization’s fund-raising by 25% in 2017 thanks to a “revamp” in donor outreach. Polachek wasn’t alone in notching some big achievements before joining the Class of 2020, either. At Edison International, Marc Pujol was part of a brainstorming team whose ideas sparked a $300 million dollar electric vehicle charging project. Not to be outdone, Nathan Haley co-developed a decision support software package – one that resulted in several construction projects earning “Project of the Year” awards from industry publications.

Sometimes, the best results don’t generate such press. That was the case for Bryan Robert Salvador Smith, whose Training U event in February attracted 200 minority high school students. Salvador Smith, himself a sales manager with the PGA Tour, hosted panel discussions and breakout sessions with sports executives to encourage students to pursue a career in the field. The results, he says, were stunning.

“Following the event, fifteen students were admitted into Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with seven receiving full scholarships. I plan to host my next event in Seattle.”

By the numbers, the 2017-2018 cycle was decidedly mixed for the Foster School. Like most American MBA programs, Foster experienced a downturn in applications, going from 1038 to 934 over the past year. That said, the school boosted class size back to 125 students after the number fell to 98 with the Class of 2019.

A CLASS WITH 42% WOMEN

Class size isn’t the only area where the Class of 2020 exceeds their predecessors. Look no further than academics. The incoming class boasts a 696 average GMAT – a three point improvement over last year. Undergraduate GPAs also rose from 3.31 to 3.43. Demographically, the school’s enhanced outreach to women paid major dividends. Women make up 42% of the fall class – nearly 10 points higher than three years ago. International students also account for 27% of the class. An interesting side note: Just 26% of the class hails from the State of Washington.

As a group, the largest segment of the class – 37% – hold undergraduate degrees in STEM-related fields. Overall, engineers account for 16% of the class, with math and science (13%) and computer science (8%) also taking up major chunks. 19% of the class is represented by business majors…with the number jumping to 33% when economics majors are lumped into the mix. Humanities and social sciences also come in at a 16% and 14% clip respectively.

The University of Washington’s Foster School of Business benefits from its location in Seattle, home to two of the world’s biggest tech companies

In terms of professional backgrounds, technology again tops all comers at 29% of the class. Beyond that, the class is segmented very closely, led by financial services (12%), consumer products (10%), non-profits (10%), government (9%), consulting (7%), and healthcare, media, and manufacturing (5% each).

FOSTER JOINS THE CONSORTIUM…AND THE FORTÉ FOUNDATION

Those weren’t the only numbers that shined for Foster in 2018. The school jumped 14 spots in The Economist ranking to place 22nd, buoyed by improvements in survey scores on networking, career services, and education experience. In November, Foster ranked 16th with Bloomberg Businessweek, with its highest mark coming in compensation. By the same token, 2017 Foster grads averaged just $45,045 in debt – with only 55% even carrying debt at graduation. In other words, the school offers one of the best pay-to-debt ratios among Top 20 MBA programs – giving students a faster return on investment than similar schools.

That’s not the only big news on campus according to Dan Poston, assistant dean for masters programs at the Foster School, in a statement to P&Q, “In July, the Foster School became the 20th university to join The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a prestigious partnership of top-ranked MBA programs and blue-chip companies dedicated to promoting greater diversity and inclusion in business education and, ultimately, corporate leadership.”

Poston adds that the news came on the heels of Foster becoming a Forté Foundation member school – a move capped off by Jessica Raasch (MBA ’18) winning the Forté Foundation’s Edie Hunt Inspiration Award for her work in helping women advance into leadership roles. This partnership, Poston says, has inspired the school to “creatively rethink” the experience of women at Foster.

One first-year, Natalie Sullivan, was thrilled with the school’s partnerships with the Consortium and the Forté Foundation to further reinforce the school’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the classroom…and beyond. “I’m so excited that Foster, in addition to being a Forté school, will be joining and strengthening its connection to these national networks committed to supporting underrepresented minorities in business.”

Cherry blossoms on the UW Quad. Photo by Katherine B. Turner/ UW

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING NOT OVERLOOKED

Along with that, Poston adds that the program has revamped its alumni directories. Based on feedback from students and alumni, the school added more robust functionality to better connect the Foster community and boost networking opportunities in the process. “Early this year, the Alumni Engagement and MBA Program Offices partnered to launch the Foster Alumni Network, an online platform for Full-time and Evening MBA students and alumni,” Poston writes. “Because the directory is opt-in, everyone joining is excited to (re)forge connections. The network continues to grow in numbers and should prove to be a great benefit to the classes of 2021 and 2022.”

To break into blue chip firms – let alone the tech sector – students need experience. That’s one reason why Foster provides an intensive portfolio of experiential learning opportunities – an area that Poston believes is sorely underrated at the school. One of his favorites is the Board Fellows program, where MBA candidates serve as non-voting board members at local non-profits.

“Student fellows attend monthly board meetings, join a board committee, complete a board-level project, and participate in seminars taught by UW Evans School faculty,” he explains. “It’s an incredible opportunity to make an impact in their community while learning about the intricacies of being a board member and developing leadership potential.”

NOT YOUR TYPICAL MARKETING PROJECT

Dan Poston

The Applied Strategy Project is another experiential staple at Foster. A required first-year course held during the winter quarter, the Applied Strategy Project matches 5-6 member student teams with companies. Like a consulting assignment, students conduct research, develop strategies, and pitch their recommendations to senior leaders at their firms. For students, it is a way to make an impact and apply what they learn to a real marketplace issue. In the process, the project requires team members to practice soft skills such as adapting to different work styles and building consensus. In the end, the course serves a dual purpose. Students can build relevant, resume-ready experience to make it easier to transition to different roles or industries. At the same time, the project prepares them for the all-important summer internship that follows.

Overall, MBA candidates are eligible to complete up to three projects during their two years. In recent years, student projects have covered areas such as developing employee retention plans, mapping customer journeys, and evaluating manufacturing and distribution processes. Not surprisingly, the roster of Applied Strategy Project partners includes the area’s big names – Amazon, Boeing, Starbucks, and Nike – not to mention plucky startups. However, the list also includes some unexpected partners, such as the National Park Services, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Seattle Opera.

Three years ago, Melissa Young, a 2018 Best & Brightest MBA with P&Q, partnered with Amazon nearly three years ago, focusing on embedding the firm’s sustainability credentials on their business platform.  “We created a white paper detailing a recommendation and strategy that we presented to several cross-functional teams at Amazon,” she says. “It was a great success and is being implemented today on their platform.”

2,000 EXECUTIVES VISIT FOSTER EACH YEAR

In an October blog post, Mukund Rajasekhar, a second-year who completed his Applied Strategy Project with Google last winter, observed that it was far more than a hum-drum marketing project. “Through the project I got to wear many hats; from consulting, when we were researching, digging for data and providing recommendations; to operations when we went about planning the project timeline and deliverables. One of the more challenging aspects of this experience was scoping the project and deliverables…I learned to prioritize and execute on the fly, a skill that I have used both at school and in my summer internship at Amazon.”

These project not only help students get exposure at top firms, but also build networks within them. Bryan Robert Salvador Smith, for one, has been impressed with the extensive web of relationships that Foster has with Seattle employers. One reason for that, says Dean Jiambalvo, is the number of executives who come to campus each year.

“We have something like 2,000 business execs on the Foster campus. A lot of it is judging competitions and executives coaching students. I have an advisory board of 60 people. The masters of science and information systems has an advisory board. All of the centers have advisory boards. When you roll it up, there are more than 300 adviser board members.”

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: CAREER AND LIFESTYLE

MBAs at Gasworks Park

If you ask the Class of 2020 for Foster’s biggest advantage, they would undoubtedly cite Seattle. Matt Bishop, for example, reveres the Northwest, particularly its “sense of community, its culture of openness and curiosity, and the ingenuity found in the business community.” In contrast, Natalie Sullivan believes Seattle’s greatness stems from the wide range of industries that’d “be at my fingertips” while she studies at Foster.

“Given Seattle’s eclectic range of industries, it attracts a student body reflective of that breadth, from social impact gurus to policy wonks to data analytics geniuses, you can find someone cut from each type of cloth at Foster.”

A dynamic nightlife, a thriving cultural scene, an outdoorsman’s paradise – these are just a few of the features that distinguish Seattle…along with the rain and the coffee shops. In Forbes’ 2017 ranking of “The Best Places for Business and Careers,” Seattle ranked third in the United States. This quality of life is one reason, Dan Poston explains, why Seattle ranks as the fastest-growing American city since 2010.

FOSTER MBAs SCALE MOUNT RAINIER

“While these trends aren’t necessarily in our pipeline,” he admits, “they are indicative of the thriving business ecosystem in the Northwest that continues to grow and benefit our MBAs. From sports apparel and outdoor (Nike, Adidas, REI) to gaming (Nintendo, Valve, Big Fish) to tech (Amazon, Microsoft, T-Mobile) retail (Nordstrom, Starbucks, Costco) and startups (Adaptive Biotechnologies, Leafly, Moz), our MBAs profit from their surroundings.”

Of course, all work and no play makes for dull MBAs. Here, there are plenty of activities and scenery to clear the mind and stir the spirit. A land of hills and lakes, Seattle offers something for everyone: biking around Bainbridge Island; running the Issaquah Alps’ rustic trails; kayaking through Lake Washington; snowboarding down the Silver King; or backpacking through The Enchantments. The best part, writes Mukund Rajasekhar, is that students can escape the “hustle and bustle” of Seattle without traveling far.

Exhibit A: Mountain climbing. Each year, Foster’s Outdoor and Sports Industry Club (OSIC) organizes a climb to the summit of Mount Rainier, which towers over the region at 14,410 feet. “This year the summit was successfully attempted by 10 students from the class of 2018 and 2019,” writes Rajasekhar in his blog. “The climb was the culmination of a year of intense training and preparation…Not many men and women can boast of walking on land higher than the clouds, and these students earned it!”

STARTUP CENTRAL

Entrepreneurship is the natural extension of the region’s bohemian ethos – and Foster maintains a surplus of resources for students looking to explore the startup scene. It starts with the Arthur Burke Center for Entrepreneurship. Nearly 30 years old, the Buerk Center offers an array of coursework and coaching to sharpen students’ entrepreneurial instincts. Aside from hosting competitions in environmental and health innovation, the center sponsors the Dempsey Startup Competition, which has awarded over $1.4 million dollars to 167 student companies over the past two decades. In addition, the school houses the Jones + Foster Accelerator, which provides mentoring, workshops, and even funding to student-led companies.

Shobhit Gupta, a self-described “Adventurer – Seeker – Artist,” has already leveraged the Buerk Center to make inroads. “Seattle has a burgeoning ecosystem for young startups like Flyhomes, Elfbox, etc and I am stoked to be in touch with a couple of them,” he says.

Similarly, Marc Pujol, a Berkeley native whose passion is transportation infrastructure, is looking forward to the center’s Environmental Innovation Challenge. “With my background in energy and a special interest in clean energy-powered infrastructure, I’m looking forward to getting on a team with other Washington students to advance ideas that help make communities more sustainable,” he says.

GO SMALL OR GO HOME

Alas, the biggest ideas often originate from the smallest corners. For the Class of 2020, Foster’s small class size offers a decided advantage over larger counterparts. Maggie Polachek was drawn to the “Foster Fit,” which is epitomized by the school’s “We > Me” philosophy. “Foster students live and breathe that mentality – that we are always stronger together than we are on our own,” she observes. “I knew that I wanted to pursue my MBA at Foster because I believe Foster’s ethos of collaboration is critical for future leaders to embrace.”

Ciro Eduardo González Peña witnessed the power of this philosophy first-hand as an applicant. During his campus visit, he saw a degree of closeness and trust between faculty and students – one that deepened engagement and learning. That’s an outgrowth of class size, says Alexis Goodrich, a marketing manager who believes Foster’s smaller community demands greater accountability from students.

“Everyone knows each other, helps each other, and learns from each other on a more meaningful level,” she writes. “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.”

The intimate size also fosters deeper relationships, says Kirsten L. B. Franko, a transportation engineer from Wisconsin. For her, the real benefit lies in how the Foster community truly simulates what they need to do after graduation to be successful.

“Our future careers will necessitate that we work successfully with our colleagues and clients. Having this opportunity to work with diverse groups, throughout the next two years, is a bonus.”

What led these professionals to enter business schools? Which programs did they also consider? What strategies did they use to choose their MBA program? What was the major event that defined them? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the in-depth profiles of these incoming MBA candidates.

Student	Hometown	Alma Mater	Previous Employer
Matt Bishop	Snohomish, WA	University of Washington	Hey Marseilles
Kirsten L. B. Franko	Madison, WI	University of Wisconsin	HNTB
Ciro Eduardo González Peña	Monterrey, Mexico	University of Texas	Monex Corporate Banking
Alexis Goodrich	Mercer Island, WA	University of Southern California	Creative Market
Shobhit Gupta	Lucknow, India	Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology	Poletalks
Nathan Haley	Houston, TX	Princeton University	McDermott International
Maggie Polachek	San Anselmo, CA	Wellesley College	Center for American Progress
Marc Pujol	Berkeley, CA	University of California, Berkeley	Edison Energy
Aaron Sachs	East Brunswick, NJ	Boston University	ThoughtWorks
Bryan Robert Salvador Smith	Jacksonville, FL	University of Miami	PGA Tour
Barbara Sujin Lee	Los Angeles, CA	UC San Diego	UCLA Health
Natalie Sullivan	Santa Cruz, CA	Smith College	Figgins Family Wine Estates

Matt Bishop

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Reflective, creative Northwesterner who believes in the power of empathy and vulnerability in all things.”

Hometown: Snohomish, WA

Fun Fact About Yourself: Voting member of The Recording Academy. Travelled to all 50 states.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Washington, English Literature

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Hey Marseilles, lead singer

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Playing Firefly Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival, all in a ten day period, and driving from San Diego to Rhode Island in three days to make it happen.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why?  The Foster classmates I’ve met seem ambitious, curious and accomplished, but also grounded. That combination of characteristics seems to reflect the Northwest ethos well.

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 love Seattle, even as I’ve traveled elsewhere extensively. The Northwest’s sense of community, its culture of openness and curiosity, and the ingenuity found in the business community make it feel like an ideal environment to get your MBA. With Foster’s record of job placement success, there really wasn’t any other school I strongly considered.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? The Foster Marketing Club. I’m excited to learn a lot.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I am ready for a new challenge and excited about using different parts of my brain after years of writing and singing songs. When the business aspects of being in a band felt more grounding than the creation and performance of music, I knew I needed to do something different. Going to business school was as far on the other end of the spectrum from touring musician as I could imagine.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I decided I would only do the MBA if I could get into a program that was reputed and had a proven track record of job placement success. The back-of-napkin calculations for Foster made it a pretty easy choice when considering their placement rate and average starting salary.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Only the Foster Evening MBA. I looked at Haas and McCombs, but was applying Round III to Foster as it was, so decided to focus my energy this year on UW. I would have applied to more had I not been admitted to UW this year.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Being from the area, I actually had a handful of friends who completed the Foster MBA and they were people I respected and related to. The more I engaged alumni, current students, and faculty (and an amazingly helpful admissions staff), the more I felt at home.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Stepping away from music as a career, even if temporarily, was a challenge. It was my identity and my community. But through the course of that decision, and struggling to be the person I wanted to be while living that life, I really came to terms with the idea that nothing is permanent, that reality is as much a product of perspective as anything else, and that I can find my identity and use my skills in a lot of different ways. That experience has put me in a place where I feel so much more flexible, grounded, and capable to ably confront any circumstance or challenge.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? Part of the appeal of an MBA program was having a structured environment in which to develop foundational skills I don’t yet have and to be able to explore. So I have general aspirations in the realm of marketing or product management, but I’m intentionally making a career pivot and am very much in place of openness and curiosity.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to be at a company I love, working with people I respect and enjoy, doing something that challenges and engages me. My best guess right now is product management, but I’m very open.

Kirsten L. B. Franko

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Some people call it obsessive, I call it attention to detail.”

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have a passion for cooking. I have planned several cross-culture multi-course meals for my family and friends. I had the enjoyment of getting to plan a menu for my dad’s 60th surprise birthday party. Which to my astonishment we managed to keep a surprise!

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Wisconsin – Madison, M.S. and B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: HNTB, Transportation Engineer

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My greatest accomplishment thus far in my career has been leading the roadway design efforts for a 20-million-dollar roadway reconstruction project. It allowed me to grow as an engineer and have the autonomy to work independently on the roadway design efforts. We as a project team continued to meet all deadlines, under budget, while maintaining client appreciation and excitement for what was to come next.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why?

The classmates I have met so far have such diversity, in terms of educational backgrounds, country of origin, marital status, future goals and current employment. Everyone has such a unique background and story.  was attracted to the Foster program because it values this diversity in the student body.

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 played into my program selection was class size. Foster has a relatively small class size compared to other MBA programs. This was attractive because it will allow me to develop relationships with all my classmates. The smaller class size of Foster also supports the group learning style employed by the program. Our future careers will necessitate that we work successfully with our colleagues and clients. Having this opportunity to work with diverse groups, throughout the next two years, is a bonus to an already prestigious program.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am most looking forward to joining Women in Business. With an undergraduate and graduate degree in engineering I have primarily worked with men during my career, which holds true statistically for business as well. As a Forte Fellow, I have already enjoyed meeting many accomplished women in the business community. I am looking forward to expanding this network of powerful and driven women, through joining Women in Business.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? The decision to pursue my MBA followed my annual engineering review with HNTB, my previous employer. We were discussing 5-year and 10-year outlooks, and I began to reflect where the careers of my coworkers were at these landmark stages. I realized that I was not going to be satisfied continuing down the career trajectory I was on. My passion for my future was not in the engineering side of my career, but rather the business side. I recognized that to make this switch I needed to change my course. I began researching the idea of returning to school to obtain my MBA. The excitement that accompanied this process continued to reassure me that this was the change that I needed to make.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Getting my MBA has been a thought in my mind ever since finishing graduate school in Civil Engineering. As my professional career continued to progress in engineering, I realized to be happy in my career I needed to expand my business knowledge and work towards transitioning into a management role. I knew it was worth investing in myself and taking the next steps towards getting my MBA.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to The University of Washington in the first round and was accepted before second round applications were due at other universities. Once I was accepted, I immediately made the decision to attend based on how well the Foster program fit with what I was looking for in a school.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I considered several factors to determine my fit at various schools. These factors included: class size, variety of other clubs and organizations, class structure, job opportunities after graduation, school location, and class diversity. A big factor for me was class size, learning style and overall feeling of fit. After attending “Welcome Weekend” at Foster, I knew it was the right fit for me. My prospective classmates in attendance were all so open and accepting of everyone. In addition, the current students made us feel welcomed in both class lectures and evening social events. I could tell it was a place I was going to build life-long friendships and memories, and have a feeling of unity and family.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In the winter of 2016, I stood motionless in my parent’s kitchen as my father shared with me one simple word that shattered my world — “cancer.” A simple word that can turn your entire world on its head. My mind raced to the absolute worst outcome and the tears rolled down my face. In an instant, the value of each moment, each day, and each year became that much more precious to me. My father has and will always be one of my biggest supporters. He has constantly pushed me to be the best that I can be. He has encouraged me to live each day loving what you do, loving who you are surrounded by and ultimately loving the life you have created. Receiving the news that his life had been changed forever made me realize the value of a moment. That in every moment we should be loving what we do and that every day we should be excited for what the next 24 hours holds.

Standing in my parent’s kitchen surrounded by those I love made me realize that I needed to start making changes for myself today, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? After graduation, I plan to take a 2-year delayed honeymoon with my husband traveling through Thailand. Our careers and school aspirations along with the relocation from Wisconsin to Washington put that on hold after our wedding. We are looking forward to being fully immersed in another culture and adventuring through Thailand together. After returning I am looking forward to starting a full-time job and building a lifelong career that allows me to continue to explore the math and science technical background that I bring from undergraduate schooling, combined with the new-found business knowledge gained through the Foster’s program.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I see myself striving to find balance between working full time, beginning a family, and maintaining moments in the day for my own well-being. I believe very strongly in finding a career that allows me to have work-life balance.  Personal and mental health have long been passionate topics and factors in my life. Finding a career that encourages individuals to spend time with family, while maintaining a flourishing business, is important in my career and five-year outlook.

Ciro Eduardo González Peña

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Ciro you are an Ironman!” shouted the announcer as I crossed the triathlon´s finish line.

Hometown: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have taken baby steps as an entrepreneur launching a real estate venture with two friends and I have started my philanthropic journey by co-founding a non-profit organization.

Undergraduate School and Major: The University of Texas at Austin, major Economics.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Monex Corporate Banking; Corporate Lending Senior Associate.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: It is difficult to pinpoint the biggest accomplishment in my career so far. In my role at Monex Corporate Banking,  I had the opportunity to lead the third largest corporate loan and to participate as the lead senior associate in the biggest loan in the history of the bank.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Accomplished. As I have had the opportunity to talk with some of my future classmates, I have realized that the common denominator is they have all accomplished a great deal. It is going to be a real honor to share the classroom with 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? The most important factor for deciding to join the Michael G. Foster School of Business at The University of Washington was the perfect fit. Foster, as a small class, has the opportunity to make your experience tailor-made. I had the opportunity of visiting Foster while I was applying and attended one class. I was amazed by the closeness of the professor with each of the students. It was amazing how this closeness made the learning experience more intimate and worthwhile. I wasn´t even a student, yet the professor dedicated her time to talk to me about my goals and what I wanted to learn. That unique moment made me realize that Foster is deeply engaged with each student which for me is the greatest learning environment.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? During my time at Foster, I will learn how to overcome my deficiencies in such a way that they become opportunities. More specifically, throughout the different cases, I will be able to learn proper strategies for structuring and financing funds. I will participate in the mentorship program that will help me learn from top executives or entrepreneurs. Foster offers a unique Angel Investing course, which I know is an opportunity that will give me a vast toolkit to later apply in my own fund. I plan to enter the Venture Capital Investment Competition, which will be a great hands-on experience to learn how to evaluate startups and invest in new ventures. I also plan on joining the different clubs such as the Finance Society and Real Estate Club.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I was presented with the opportunity to co-found a real estate startup company with an architect and an interior designer. We believed that together we had enough experience to start our own successful venture. However, we had no idea of what lay ahead.

When trying to sell our first house, we encountered several issues, such as cost overruns and buyers backing out of deals. The root of all these problems was the lack of analysis of potential buyers. Premium buyers tend to analyze every single detail because they are spending a significant sum. After these unanticipated costs, I decided to create an error database where I wrote down every single mistake made or any issue that was not accounted for in our first business plan.

After selling the house, we realized that we had to learn from our mistakes and adapt to what the real estate market was telling us and particularly to our limited funds.

If we want to turn the real estate startup company into a real estate investment fund, we not only had to learn from our mistakes but also we need a profound understanding of fundamental skills such as strategy, finance, marketing, negotiation, and regulation in order to turn a startup into a successful company. Therefore, I´ve decided that it is fundamental to pursue an MBA.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? An MBA will enhance my toolkit to apply in my future goals and, more importantly, an opportunity for me to change and afterwards to be boundless for the world and make it a better place.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Duke, Cornell and Stanford.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? The most important factor leading to my decision was culture. I was convinced that I wanted to get the most out of my MBA and to make that decision I had to research the culture each different program had to offer. In my due diligence process, I took my time to talk with alumni, current students, professors and most definitely the admissions team. Another important factor for me, as a finance guy, was the Return on Investment, which Foster has the best to offer.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? One of my favorite phrases that I have had the opportunity to hear is “Ciro, you are an Ironman” when I crossed the finish line of my first Ironman Triathlon in 2014. I have had the opportunity to hear these wonderful words three more times, most recently in California, and hopefully I´ll hear it again soon.  The most important events in my life have been fueled by self-imposed challenges that have generated amazing learning opportunities which have led to a better me. For me, it is very important to be a better person because I am a firm believer of leading by example.

To cross the swimming portion of the Ironman triathlon—2.4 miles—I had to overcome many challenges; more specifically I had to learn how to properly swim. Before my first Ironman, I had never swum more than half a mile. I realized that to successfully finish, I had to ask for help. I remember having classes at 1 a.m. because I usually got out of the office at midnight. I learned that there are many things in life that I will need help from somebody else to achieve my goal. I also learned that it is ok not to be the best in everything but to recognize your flaws and to put a plan in motion to become better.

The 112 mile bike ride is the longest portion of the triathlon timewise and distance-wise. It helped me to become a better person because it taught me the importance of patience and to enjoy the journey no matter how demanding it is.

To be able to run a marathon after swimming and biking 116.4 miles, you must listen carefully to your body and listen to that voice inside your head that tells you loudly, “You must go on.” Without these two characteristics, it’s impossible to cross the finish line.

An Ironman triathlon gave me the opportunity to experience many different feelings throughout the different stages that led me to the finish line. One of my greatest joys in life has been overcoming these types of challenges because continuously improving as a person is what has defined me.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? After graduating from Foster my short-term goal is to make the transition from corporate lending into investment banking. I plan on spending three years as an investment banker in the United States focused on Latin American deals. Afterwards, I plan to join a boutique private equity firm in a buy side role and spend two years in the job.  During this time, I will adopt a sponge attitude and absorb all the knowledge I can to later apply in Mexico and in the company I have already co-founded.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Five years after graduating from Foster and achieving my short-term goals, I plan on passionately pursuing five main goals. First, start a family which I plan on loving wholeheartedly. Second, manage my own private equity fund in Monterrey, Mexico. Third, successfully turn the real-estate startup I co-founded into a thriving Real Estate Investment Trust that yields better returns than the Mexican stock market. Fourth, expand the non-profit I co-founded to other states in Mexico. Finally, become an advocate for positive change in Mexico through social investing.

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.

Shobhit Gupta        

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Adventurer – Seeker – Artist – Aspiring character of an Ayn Rand Novel or a Tin-Tin Chronicle!”

Hometown: Lucknow, India

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love singing and break into a song in any mood! And keep dreaming of having my own band someday.

Undergraduate School and Major:

Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India

Electrical Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Founder and CEO – Poletalks

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I firmly believe that my experiences since college to build teams, experiences, and network really came together in founding my first venture – Poletalks. The journey of three years of scaling an idea to a sustainable enterprise touching 100K+ people through a team of 15 driven individuals has created memories for life. However, the accomplishment was the personal transformation – it really brought my deepest vulnerabilities to the fore and humbled me in the process. It taught me how it is all about the people at the end of the day which forms your biggest strength to prevail.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Foster is making sure that our group of 125 is a tight bunch. The career management team flew down to Bangalore, India to interact with the Asia Pacific students. The warmth, energy, and cohesion of the group was inspiring. But what really struck during our first formal workshop together was how the whole group of really smart folks from all fields was meeting you every day to discuss one project – “You”. The tone was set to be real; natural and honest in responses. This made the outcomes relevant and fun.

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 was my clear choice for the clear personalization of the program. The admission committee, professors, and welcome weekend made it obvious that these are the people who have put a lot of effort to know me (my background, aspirations and personality) and that I can trust them with two critical years of my young career. This is culture prevails even in the academic calendar where we have the chance to customize half of our program. As I said earlier, this aligned to my values of building deep relationships and taking ownership which made Foster the right place to be.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am really interested to work at the Arthur Burke Center for Entrepreneurship. Seattle has a burgeoning ecosystem for young startups like Flyhomes, Elfbox, etc and I am stoked to be in touch with a couple of them. I am also interested in the Consulting Club to meet and work with industry leaders to understand the hard questions facing their business today. In past time – I will shout out to Mt Rainer and scale it soon as a part of the Adventure Club.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I was satisfied with my work and career progression. I could see a good growth trajectory too. But, I felt a need to work at scale. The tough questions are being faced by people, organizations, and communities who are hitting the ceiling each day in innovation, operations, and culture. The MBA really brings out the people who have faced that in a room and helps you to develop a well-founded perspective. I aspire to take that for “Shobhit at scale” phase of my career post-MBA.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I could see that I lacked certain qualities to become a well-rounded manager. Be it finance, strategy or operations – the MBA serves a toolkit that helps you to structure your thought process. This makes self-learning and growth easier throughout life as you can measure the improvement in your decision-making and back it up with metrics and data. Hence, I did not take the usual route of Return on Investment or Cost of missing out two years in your career but more self-development model that made it certain that I need an MBA.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied at USC Marshall, Texas McCombs and Rotman School of Management.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized location, people, and brand in that order. I studied the placement record, alumni presence, business research statistics in terms of published papers of professors and university ecosystem beyond the B-School itself. I talked to Psychology, Petroleum and Computer Science graduates of the university in my network to understand the essence of the culture. I visited the campuses and attended classes to get a vibe of the fit. Finally, I invested heavily in LinkedIn networking over two years before applying. This helped to develop a relationship with students who became alumni and I could witness their transformation first-hand. It really helps to decide the right fit if you can see a prospective career you want to have being played out by a student currently in the MBA program.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In context of life – it goes way back to 2010 when I was out for a summer long mountaineering expedition for the first time in my life. Climbing a mountain with a group is much like life where you go up, get tired, fall and get back up but you prevail. It developed a deep sense of commitment in whatever I did post that and brought discipline and work ethic from a young age.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan to work closely in building, managing products and strategies at scale.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Probably being part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as an investor or advisor helping young startups and professionals.

Nathan Haley

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“My best ideas start with “I’m just thinking out loud here…” Also my worst ideas.”

Hometown: Houston, TX, and a half dozen other places.

Fun Fact About Yourself: I was the first (and probably last) jazz cellist at my high school.

Undergraduate School and Major: Princeton University, Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Project Finance Manager, McDermott International

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I co-developed and implemented decision support software and processes to optimize sourcing and financing plans in parallel on multibillion-dollar engineering and construction projects. A mouthful, I know – but it was actually beautifully simple once in place, and the value it captured was well worth the burnt midnight oil. Multiple projects on which it was deployed were named “Deal of the Year” by industry publications, and my former company considers it a key competitive differentiator.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Collaborative. Everyone has been happy to volunteer their valuable time to help others find their way.

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 is a positive feedback loop between UW and the companies that call Seattle home, resulting in shared ambition, innovation, and rigor. I saw the MBA as my best opportunity to become a part of this ecosystem.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? While most of my collaborative music endeavors have been in the classical genre, I’d really like to push that envelope and see what’s jamming in Seattle.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I was at an inflection point in my industry and function – they said I could either specialize or stagnate. I picked the third option: Diversify my qualifications and open my mind to new prospects. The timing turned out to be perfect: I am fortunate to have been exposed to such a wide variety of activities since undergrad, but still have the flexibility and student mentality to address my blind spots and apply myself with vigor in new industries and functions.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? While the NPV picture was strong enough on its own, more importantly I knew that an MBA would help me realize my full professional potential faster and with more certainty when compared with another year and a half of work experience.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Booth (Chicago), Tepper (Carnegie Mellon), Jones (Rice)

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Rankings helped me form an initial shortlist (e.g. Foster’s Rankings Calculator is a wonderful initiative), but beyond that I avoided third-party research. Instead, I envisioned my desired outcome and worked backwards. Not just job title and salary, but also location, culture, lifestyle, and work-life balance. As a useful proxy, especially for locations that were unfamiliar to me, I was most interested in what alumni end up doing. Those I met were always happy to tell their stories, and statistics were available to ensure the anecdotes were representative. I kept an eye on my GMAT results to ensure I would be both (a) competitive in admissions and (b) surrounded by colleagues who would challenge me. After the decisions came in, the next step was talking to current students and asking them to be frank and critical about their experience regarding the remaining factors (e.g. facilities, living standards and so forth). After a lot of emotional investment in all the competing opportunities, I knew I had explored each to sufficient depth to be strongly confident in my choice of Foster.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Fresh out of undergrad, I started at a company that had been in essentially the same business (construction) for over a hundred years. At that time, I couldn’t imagine how I could add value to an organization that had been perfecting their execution model for a century. However, after a shockingly short period, I realized that even in the most conservative, seemingly stagnant environments, there is so much hidden value buried in neglected markets, forgotten knowledge, bloated processes, and (most importantly) disempowered people. With hard work, determination, humility, and maybe a bit of cleverness, even the greenest team members can breathe fresh life into age-old operations. This experience instilled in me the strong belief that however subjective it may seem and rare it may be, good management exists – and it can make all the difference in the world.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I have an open mind and a lot of research to do, but my current strong interest is management and operations consulting. Long workdays fly by when I’m fully engaged on tough problems, and the idea of applying general experience across diverse industries appeals to me.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Working hard, learning every day and bringing exciting projects to life – the rest is details.

Maggie Polachek

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“I am a mission-driven problem solver.”

Hometown: San Anselmo, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am passionate about summer camp! I spent seven years as a camper and three years as a counselor at Camp Tawonga, a sleep-away summer camp right outside of Yosemite National Park. I now serve on Camp Tawonga’s Young Alumni Board as a way to pay it forward.

Undergraduate School and Major: Wellesley College, Political Science

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Employer: Center for American Progress; Title: Director of President’s Initiatives

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At the Center for American Progress (CAP), the country’s largest progressive think tank and major advocacy organization, I worked with our President and Development Team to devise and implement the President’s fundraising strategy. Following the 2016 election, we needed to raise more money than ever before to ensure that we could grow and operate to meet the challenges of the new political era. We set a goal to raise our budget by 25% by the end of 2017. I created new internal processes to streamline communication between the President’s Office and the Development Team and helped to re-vamp some of our donor outreach practices. Not only did we meet our goal to raise 25% more than our 2016 budget, we exceeded that goal by $1 million. It was definitely a team effort, but I’ve never felt better about the value I added towards meeting such a critical goal.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Warm. Foster students, both current and incoming, are remarkably warm. From the moment I was accepted into the program, I received friendly emails from current students who were eager to share insights and answer questions as I made my decision. The warmth of the Foster Community was also in full display during Foster’s Welcome Weekend. I was blown away by the inclusiveness of the student body. Even my fiancé, who will be joining me in Seattle, was welcomed to Foster with so much enthusiasm. I can’t wait to contribute to this incredible 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? It really was all about fit for me. Of course, Foster’s incredible job placement statistics along with its incomparable location in Seattle drew me in, but what sealed the deal was the “Foster Fit” I felt when I was on campus. One of Foster’s mottos is “We > Me.” Foster students live and breathe that mentality – that we are always stronger together than we are on our own. I knew that I wanted to pursue my MBA at Foster because I believe Foster’s ethos of collaboration is critical for future leaders to embrace.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Women’s leadership has always been extremely important to me and I can’t wait to get involved with Foster’s Women in Business Club. We continue to live in a world where women are paid less than their male counterparts, and those discrepancies are even worse for women of color. I believe that providing support systems for women and educating male allies on the challenges that women face at work is an important step towards ending gender inequality in the workplace. As a member of WiB, I hope to work with the admissions office on recruiting efforts that target women. I am also excited to bring in women speakers from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to share their experiences and advice.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have always thought an MBA would be the right graduate degree for me. While working in Washington, D.C., I learned that while I cared tremendously about policy as an engaged citizen, my professional talents were in strategy, operations and as I say, “running things.” Eventually, I realized that I was lacking the quantitative skills necessary to effectively manage large organizations, and that the time was right to go back to school to develop that important skillset.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Foster boasts impressive post-graduate salaries and a very low debt to salary ratio, so those figures were meaningful indicators that the ROI on my Foster MBA would be high. But beyond traditional metrics, I firmly believe that taking two years to fine-tune my strengths and work on my weaknesses will empower me to be a better employee, leader, and citizen moving forward.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Berkeley Haas, UCLA Anderson, USC Marshall

How did you determine your fit at various schools? My career goals of social impact and social enterprise, while increasingly popular among MBAs, are not your run of the mill post-MBA pursuits. Therefore, it was very important to me that the school I attended had connections to local nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. I found Foster’s relationship with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to be incredibly exciting. I also wanted to be sure that the student body was socially conscious, which I was able to get a sense of through my many conversations with students at each school and by reading profiles of students and alumni featured on Poets and Quants. Ultimately, though, the best way for me to evaluate fit was to visit during the welcome weekends and Foster’s welcome weekend really sealed the deal!

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In high school, I created a club to raise awareness about the genocide in Sudan. At the time, the crisis in Darfur was at an all-time high. After learning about the issue, I felt compelled to do something. What I thought would be a club with just a few students grew into a campus movement with over 100 active members. We raised thousands of dollars to aid Sudanese refugees, and soon, even parents were reading up on the situation and getting involved themselves. What I was most proud of, however, was a mandatory assembly that our club hosted for the entire student body. We brought in a San Francisco Chronicle photojournalist who showed us the harrowing images he had captured on the front lines of the conflict. Devoting precious classroom time to a social justice issue was unheard of at my public high school, yet somehow, we convinced the principal and school administrators to break away from protocol and made it happen. This experience was a defining moment for me. As my first foray into activism, it gave me the momentum I needed to emerge as a leader in college and inspired me to find a career that channeled my passion to help make the world a better place.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I hope to work in a strategy role at a nonprofit or philanthropic organization, but would also be open to working on a corporate social responsibility or diversity and inclusion team at a private sector company.  I’m excited to explore my options at Foster this fall.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Three years after Foster, I hope to be settled into a job I love – hopefully at a nonprofit or philanthropic organization, or on a CSR or D&I team in the private sector. I also hope to be active in the Seattle community and still closely connected to my classmates who I know will be doing awesome things out in the world.

Marc Pujol

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Loyal and honest; love traveling and eating amazing food; Niners, Giants and Warriors, oh my!”

Hometown: Berkeley, California

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m half Catalan on my father’s side, and I took advantage of the summer between work and business school to get married at our family’s house outside Barcelona this past July.

Undergraduate School and Major: B.A.s in Political Science and Economics from University of California, Berkeley

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Edison Energy, Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In early 2014, when I was with Edison International in Los Angeles, I worked on a project focused on searching for new growth opportunities in the regulated utility and non-regulated power sectors. This was four or five people sitting in a room a couple hours each week brainstorming around some specific topics with which we each had varying levels of expertise. Two of those initiatives became real projects – one became a $300 million effort to deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure to Edison’s on behalf of Edison’s utility customers. The second became a new Edison subsidiary focused on investments in the water sector. Both turned out to have positive and continuing impacts on the people involved as well as on my own professional growth, and I’m proud to be able to say I was involved in the genesis of those efforts.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Humility, which was a quality I required in a business school. I want to be with classmates that appreciate not just their potential as leaders but also the opportunity to learn from past MBA graduates and experts in business, regardless of background and education.

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 for me was actually location. My wife and I had already decided to move to Seattle for her work, so I was most likely either going to elect to pursue an MBA at Foster or find a job at a Seattle-area company. I also grew up outside San Francisco, so it was important for me to go to a school with a strong west coast presence. The combination of the strength of Foster’s program and the opportunities available in the San Francisco and Seattle areas ended up being a perfect fit for me.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m really looking forward to the Environmental Innovation Challenge hosted by Foster’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. With my background in energy and a special interest in clean energy-powered infrastructure, I’m looking forward to getting on a team with other Washington students to advance ideas that help make communities more sustainable.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? For me, it was as much of a life decision as it was a decision to go back to school and get an MBA. My wife graduated in May 2018 from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and we were planning to move to Seattle for her to begin working. Consequently, I was either going to find a new position in Seattle or go back to school for an MBA of my own. I had always wanted to and expected that I would get an MBA, but I had enjoyed my work and wasn’t ready to leave in prior years. The move to Seattle offered an excellent opportunity to take advantage of our moving situation by pursuing an MBA at Foster.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? As a “Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis,” I of course began with a few spreadsheets based on some simple assumptions. However, I didn’t want my spreadsheet speculations to affect my willingness to at least apply, so I mostly reserved judgment on the value proposition until after I had applied, been admitted and done the school-specific review of the investment requirement and expected salary after graduation. Foster offered an excellent combination of investment and employment prospects, as well as all the intangibles of the experience and education, so it ended up being an easy decision for me to pursue an MBA.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Stanford GSB and Berkeley (Haas).

How did you determine your fit at various schools? My priorities were the following, in this order: (1) people, (2) employment, and (3) location. To gauge cultural fit, my primary objective after being accepted to Foster was to talk with as many prospective classmates as possible during Foster’s welcome weekend. Luckily, Foster’s small class size meant I could not just get a sampling of the people and culture, but that I could actually meet a significant share of my future classmates. For employment, Seattle (of course) has great, established companies, as well as plenty of earlier-stage companies and start-ups that make it hard to top in terms of employment opportunities. And location was of course key, as my wife’s job was taking us to Seattle, and being on the west coast is a priority for me.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The most singularly defining moment was when I met my future wife; my relationship with my wife has shaped every one of my life decisions over the last seven years, no matter how significant. Together, we’ve moved across the country twice and traveled all over the world. Her perspective has helped me make tough decisions in both my professional and personal life. We make an effort to remain our own people and maintain our own interests, but she helps push me out of my comfort zone and encourages me to tackle issues and challenges that I wouldn’t otherwise pursue on my own.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I’m very interested in private-sector participation in transportation infrastructure development. My eight years of experience with energy and regulated utilities has led me to believe there’s an opportunity to apply utility finance and clean energy to new infrastructure for people and goods movement. I would love to work for an infrastructure investment or development company that is taking a progressive view on how to advance this concept.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to be at a company that I love – hopefully the company that I began with after business school – and I hope I’ll feel that my work is contributing in a positive way to society.

Aaron Sachs

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Motivated by a challenge, inspired by meaningful work, and inclined to confront the status quo.”

Hometown: East Brunswick, NJ

Fun Fact About Yourself: Everyone has something they do to unwind. For me, it’s cooking. After a long day of work, coming home and going through the mindless motions of chopping vegetables and preparing a meal are therapeutic for me. My wife will often offer to cook for me if I have a particularly busy day to which I’ll politely ask for some space in the kitchen to unwind myself.

Undergraduate School and Major: Boston University School of Management majoring in Business Administration (with concentrations in Finance and Operations & Technology Management)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: ThoughtWorks – Lead Consultant // Product Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Forging a sense of community amongst the Product Managers at my firm was always something I took an interest in. Early on in my 4+ years at ThoughtWorks, I founded a community newsletter that collected articles and content written by North American Product Managers. After two years, we had collected over 100 articles, reached 300+ monthly average readers in six countries, and even inspired several people to turn their articles into conference talks. Based on my success launching and sustaining the community newsletter, I was elected by my peers as one of two lead Product Managers for all of North America (overseeing PMs from 6 cities) with the mission of advancing the interests and acting as an advocate on behalf of our community.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Adventurous. I’ve met so many people with different backgrounds and resumés than I have. All have demonstrated a level of adventure and willingness to take risks that I’m continually impressed by.

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 was the only school that I applied to where I got a profound sense that every member of the staff truly and deeply cares about the success of the MBA students. On my first visit, I walked into the career office without an appointment and had a long conversation with a career advisor, I attended an intentionally small-group info session where I had the opportunity to really dive into the Foster experience, and I got to spend time after that session talking with one of the assistant Deans who later continued correspondence with me over email. Even upon being accepted, I received a personalized letter from the admissions staff member who interviewed me. These personal touches and interactions assured me that Foster would take an interest in the career path that I want to forge and will do everything in their power to help me achieve my goals.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? CoMotion at UW. This program brings together students from various disciplines and offers resources and mentorship opportunities to help stimulate innovation. I’m excited to explore what opportunities might exist for a partnership between an MBA student and students from the Pharmacy or Medical schools.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? For the last five years, I’ve progressed rapidly as a Product Manager at a software consultancy building custom software for our clients. While I consider myself to be a proficient Product Manager, the best Heads of Product that I’ve worked with in my career have a deep and broad business sense that extends far-beyond the constraints of the product they’re building. An MBA was an opportunity for me to build this knowledge-base, in an environment that is free of commercial obligations, such that Heads of Product positions become available to me.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I don’t recall there being a single moment where I decided that an MBA was the right path for me. Rather, I employed a strategy often used in software design delaying a decision until the last responsible moment. For me, the decision to pursue an MBA was a journey that I took one step at a time. Ultimately, the impression that I got from Foster, the opportunities to study and do work for the pure reason that it interests me, and the experiences that I’ll gain two years removed from a commercial setting justified the time away from work knowing that an MBA will make me a more well-rounded candidate.

What other MBA programs did you apply to?

• Stanford University – Graduate School of Management
• UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business

How did you determine your fit at various schools? The decision criteria I used to select a school were not only mine. My wife will be joining me as we leave our home for the past seven years and the decision of which school we’d attend was as much her decision as it was mine. For us, we used the following criteria to decide which school to attend:

• Is the school in a city that has a strong tech industry?
• Is the school in a city that my wife could work remotely from or find other meaningful work?
• Is the school in a city that we’d want to live and explore in?
• Does the school provide individualized attention to all MBA students and take a purposeful stake in the success of each student? For me, class size factored into the evaluation of this question.
• Does that curriculum offer opportunities to apply what we learn in the classroom in ways that will affect real people, with real problems?
• Will the financials involved put us in an uncomfortable financial situation and restrict our options after the program?

With these questions in mind, I put together an initial list of schools after having spoken with a number of recent MBA grads and current MBA students, and in doing my own research. My wife and I visited several schools and ultimately were convinced that Foster best met the criteria we put together.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Before I joined ThoughtWorks, I was working at a Management Consultancy staffed as an operational consultant helping clients achieve operational efficiencies. In reality, the work was uninspiring, and I was feeling unmotivated. On one project, I was staffed on the same client as a group of technologists from ThoughtWorks using emerging technologies in a traditional brick-and-mortar retail grocery. My mind was opened to the applications of technology that had only seemed to me to be science-fiction. Product Managers and Engineers were collaborating in a way I hadn’t seen before and customers were engaged early and often to test and give feedback. I recognized early on in my relationship that this environment was much more captivating, and I leveraged those relationships to pivot my career. Since then, I haven’t looked back, and have done some of the most exciting and fulfilling work of my career.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? One of the more interesting projects I had the opportunity to work on was at a Biotech where I was a Product Manager on a team building an application for research scientists to track the data and processes associated with the research of pre-clinical therapeutics. I had the chance to interview research scientists, observe the lab work, acquire a deep understanding of the biology behind the development of large molecule therapeutics, and ultimately turn this knowledge base into working software. I found the work to be immensely satisfying and I hope to continue on this path after I graduate. For me, without a biology background, I see myself bringing to the table an approach to drug-development that puts software first and tries to see the problem not as a biology problem, but as a technical problem to be solved with innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Where do you see yourself in five years? At this time, I hope to be leading a team of motivated scientists with diverse backgrounds in areas such as biology, pharmacy, artificial intelligence, and computer science. I envision designing candidate molecules with this team that will have been sourced from a data model, as opposed to other more traditional discovery techniques, and can be researched and applied in the more traditional drug testing modality.

Bryan Robert Salvador Smith

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Experienced professional focused on the marketing and business development of professional sports leagues and franchises.”

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have visited 23 different countries. This includes two study abroad programs and a recent six-week journey across Europe.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Miami; Marketing

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: PGA TOUR; Sales Development Manager – Digital Media

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Training U – 200 students. This past February, I organized and hosted an event for over 200 minority high school students, grades nine through twelve. I was extremely proud because this experience allowed me to use my passion about working in the sports industry to raise the awareness of exciting career options to aspiring young individuals. The forum included a panel discussion with several sports executives, career breakout sessions, and in-person networking with over ten sports organizations and multiple colleges. Following the event, fifteen students were admitted into Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with seven receiving full scholarships. I plan to host my next event in Seattle.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? My classmates have already demonstrated their willingness to be inclusive and supportive, which factored into my decision to choose the Foster School of Business. Through numerous social platforms, the 2020 class members have shared important information surrounding school schedules, housing accommodations, and this support was particularly beneficial for myself since I am moving from Florida.

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 believe attending Foster this will expand my exposure to other industries, particularly within technology. While I enter business school with a desire to further my career in sports, being located in the Pacific Northwest affords other options.  Foster has established relationships with numerous fortune 500 companies in the Seattle area, which leads to interactions that can hopefully evolve into employment opportunities. Moreover, since I have spent my entire life all on the east coast, attending Foster will enable to gain different perspectives by living in a different part of the country.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am most interested in the Diversity in Business club. I am from a bi-racial family, so I have it has always been important to me that the differences in a person’s culture or background be appreciated. Given the recent hostilities fueled by political divisiveness, I find it important to interact with efforts to improve race relations and world economics.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Over the past six years at the PGA TOUR, I developed extensive foundational knowledge about the operational, sales and marketing aspects of working in digital media. However, I want to expand my skills and take on additional challenges. As I look to advance my career, it will be essential to further refine my analytical and critical thinking skills as well as gain broader exposure to key management concepts to assume a leadership role in business development.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Despite receiving promotions while working with my previous employer, I did not believe that this fully enabled me to utilize my abilities or maximize with my compensation. When I finally decided to pursue an MBA, this seemed to the best route for me to help accelerate career advancement and by strengthening my business acumen. After graduation, I trust the investment will instantly show a return.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Columbia University, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, Duke University, and Georgia Tech

How did you determine your fit at various schools? It was a major decision for me to decide to attend graduate school after working for six years. Yet, I felt obtaining an MBA would be the best opportunity to affect the trajectory of my career. It was important to me that the class size was not too large, in order to establish relationships with all my classmates and to learn in a collaborative environment. My next determining factors were centered around location. Although I did apply to several schools on the east coast, ultimately my intention was to be located on the west coast where the professional sports industry and business, in general, appeared to be thriving. In addition, my desired program needed to be in a city in which there were well-established companies and a growing economy. Lastly, I wanted to be located in a place where there was a professional sports presence in the event I decided to continue to pursue a career in industry. Foster and Seattle was the perfect match for these needs and I believe that it establishes an environment well equipped for me to succeed.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? A defining moment in my life was deciding not to become a sports agent. All throughout high school, I wanted to emulate the lifestyle of my mentor, who was a professional sports agent. However, the summer before college, he allowed me to shadow him for two days to better understand the aspects of his job. After that experience, I realized that the job is not what I had imagined. A successful agent has to be constantly available to his/her clients regardless of circumstances. Once I recognized what would be expected of an agent, this would create challenges to maintain the type of work-life balance that I envisioned for my career. From that point on, I have looked to make my impact in the sports industry through sales and marketing efforts on the behalf of teams and leagues.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? After obtaining an MBA, I still intend to pursue a business development position for a professional sports organization. The responsibilities to create content distribution strategies that will increase revenue and grow the fan base are particularly interesting to me. I will be more closely aligned to the decision-makers and will have the opportunity to grow the value of the brand with my evaluations. Also, I can sharpen my negotiation skills, strengthen my network, and generate revenue forecasting. I will also remain open to a similar position in other industries should the opportunities in sports not materialize.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to distinguish myself by being successful in a significant business development role. Eventually, this will lead to obtaining operational experiences that will qualify me for my long-term goal, President of an NFL franchise. As the leader of the organization, I will negotiate the stadium rights, oversee operations and secure multi-year sponsors.

Barbara Sujin Lee

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, amazingly curious, energy czar.”

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I like to train rescue dogs as a hobby.

Undergraduate School and Major: UC San Diego, Linguistics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: UCLA Health, Clinical Research Associate

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: After graduating college, I started working in public relations for entertainment clients and consumer brands. The work was very fun and dynamic, but my biggest career accomplishment was actually leaving PR to pursue a career in life sciences. This was a difficult decision for me both personally and professionally; it was largely motivated by my experience in healthcare taking care of my grandmother through end-stage COPD. When she died, I realized life was too short to play it safe by not taking risks out of fear of failure – or fear of actually making a difference! So I turned down an offer from a large global PR firm (which was my dream job as a senior in college) to work as an unpaid research assistant in an underground lab with tarantulas at UCLA. Eventually, I was recruited to help on a larger research study funded by the National Institute of Health and went on to get promoted twice, to ultimately start and manage clinical trials for the department of radiology. Not bad for a humanities major.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Humility. It’s undeniable how smart, competent and experienced my classmates are, but what stands out is the level of modesty and genuine interest in others exhibited by each person I’ve met 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? It was important for me to join a program that was part of a university with a strong health and life science campus because of my interests in this area. At UW, I knew I’d have access to the both the top research professors in business as well as the health and life sciences and real opportunities to work collaboratively across these disciplines, which is not always the case for other MBA programs. UW’s strong relationships to the business community also made the decision an easy one, as my husband and I both saw ourselves in Seattle post-MBA.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am particularly interested in helping expand the diversity efforts for the program and convincing more awesome professionals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to come to Foster. Furthermore, I am looking forward to taking on leadership roles in both the healthcare/biotech and finance society.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? It was when I was working in clinical trial management that I realized I was ready to pursue an MBA. I loved working with patients and the doctors at UCLA health, but found myself finding ways to spend more time developing budgets, determining costs/risks, and negotiating budgets with the device companies sponsoring our trials. I knew then that going to business school would be the right decision at this point in my career because it would help round out my quant and finance skills to ultimately transition into a business role in the life science space.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? When I had a clear idea of what I was getting my MBA for and what role I wanted to transition into after, the investment made logical sense.  That said, I did seriously weigh the cost of attendance and living expenses against the return from the degree and used that to be selective during the application process to choose programs that were relatively affordable to attend and to live in the city the program was located in.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? USC, UCLA, Yale

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Location, class size and culture were the most important in determining fit.

1.) Location: I wanted to go to a program that was located in a city that I could see myself enjoying living in.  Going to as many campus visits was one of the best decisions I made because it gave me a real, physical sense of the university and the communities around it. Having grown up a city kid, I knew I wanted to be in a city and this was more important to me than rankings or prestige. You go to b-school to learn, but also to network and have fun! I couldn’t see myself doing that in some of the smaller university towns I visited.

2) Class size: My undergraduate class size at UCSD was in the thousands. For graduate school, I wanted to be somewhere where I could get to know my classmates more intimately so I prioritized programs that were around 100-400 total students in size.

3.) Culture: The third and most important factor in assessing fit for me was culture. My process of determining this was a) talking to admissions staff b) talking to alumni and c) visiting campus.

A) Talking to admissions staff was eye-opening because it gave me an idea of how helpful, accessible and available the staff were. It seems obvious that admissions directors or associates would be all of that and above, but from my research they were not. These conversations gave me a great window into how involved the staff were in supporting students, but also insight into the uniqueness of each program that I later used for my application essays for each school. The more positive interactions I had with the program and staff, the easier it was to complete my application for the school.

B) I talked to both current students and alumni, but found my conversations with alumni to be more insightful. They had more distance from their MBA experience, so were more frank about the pros and cons and offered great advice on what really mattered during and after the program. I had a great conversation with one particular alumna who was working in the industry I was interested in going into post-MBA and she even offered to put in a good word to the admissions office on my behalf!

C) Visiting campus was very helpful in determining cultural fit because physically being in the environment you may move into gives you an idea of whether you can truly see yourself there. Even if there weren’t many students around because I visited during the summer, I was able to read all the flyers, notices and event postings throughout campus. Little things like what the food offerings in the cafeteria were like, or what students considered fun or social based on event posters were hugely influential in determining whether I could gel with the existing culture and people there.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The most defining moment for me was advocating for my grandmother on the day of her first operation: colon surgery. On the morning of the surgery, the surgeon reviewed the procedure details and mentioned general anesthesia would be used. I had previously consulted with specialists and knew that this would cause burden on her one functioning lung and as a result, prevent her from waking up. I first asked him to change the order to one that accounted for her history, seeking second opinions. When he refused (naturally, as he’s never done the surgery any other way), I forced his hand by organizing a call between him and her pulmonologist at another hospital – an unconventional practice due to liability risks. After the call, the order was changed to local anesthesia with sedation.  The procedure turned out to be a huge success, and the first of its kind for the anesthesiologist!

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I want to stay in healthcare and the life sciences, but am currently toggling back and forth with pursuing healthcare coverage on the investment banking side, or corporate finance/business development for a device or biotech company such as Phillips, Genentech or the healthcare brainchild of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In a recent talk to high school girls interested in studying business in college, I shared the importance of being open to the unexpected so that you feel free to change direction without feeling like everything was a loss. My hope is that I will be growing as a person and leader in the life science and healthcare business, and that I’d be recognized and respected for this.  I hope to also be expanding my capabilities globally and taking on assignments abroad in Europe or Asia. Above all, however, I hope to be living by this principle of expecting the unexpected so I can make room for surprise and adventure in my life!

Natalie Sullivan

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Strategic hustler and teammate doing whatever it takes to get good things done.”

Hometown: Santa Cruz, California

Fun Fact About Yourself: Despite being a not great singer, karaoke is one of my favorite activities.

Undergraduate School and Major: Smith College, Study of Women & Gender

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Figgins Family Wine Estates, Enologist

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: What I’m most proud is how I’ve used my passion and curiosity to find success in two industries thus far in my career. My career started in anti-violence philanthropy in NYC and pivoted to winemaking in Walla Walla, WA. Through both these experiences, what’s ignited me is the work to understand the broader landscape in which one does their work, tackling complex problems, and developing strategies for change. I’ve done both these things in each industry and look forward to expanding my skillset to do so at a greater scale.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Grounded and smart. I realize those are two qualities, but it’s the balance between these two qualities in my classmates that has so impressed me. My Foster classmates lead with their wit and humility, and leave bravado to their LinkedIn profiles.

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 was Seattle. The why is two primary reasons: 1) Seattle is an incredible city with a diverse range of industries from social impact orgs, to start-ups, to some of the most coveted employers in the world. As such, I was extremely compelled by the range of companies that would be at my fingertips during recruiting in Seattle. 2) Given Seattle’s eclectic range of industries, it attracts a student body reflective of that breadth, from social impact gurus to policy wonks to data analytics geniuses, you can find someone cut from each type of cloth at Foster.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to two activities: 1) I’m very excited to join the Consulting Society. Hearing current Foster students rave about the extent to which students teach, support, and coach one another in preparing for consulting recruiting was a top reason for choosing Foster. 2) I will also be taking on a role to support and advance issues of diversity, equity & inclusion at Foster.  This is especially exciting as Foster recently became the 20^th school to join Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (CGSM). This follows on the heels of another recent partnership with the Management Leadership for Tomorrow, an organization that helped me establish personal and career clarity. I’m so excited that Foster, in addition to being a Forté school, will be joining and strengthening its connection to these national networks committed to supporting underrepresented minorities in business.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I knew I wanted my MBA in 2011 when a colleague who had recently attained her MBA consistently asked brilliant questions. It was then that I realized I wanted to integrate strong business frameworks into my strategy development and thinking at work. For many reasons, the timeline for actually submitting applications continued to be delayed. When I pivoted from philanthropy to the wine industry, I noticed that although these two industries were about as different as they come, the same strategy questions applied in both settings, and I knew it was finally time to do this thing. Some of my fears – like being too old, too late, lacking sufficient traditional business experience – were quickly put to rest as soon as I began researching and talking to MBA students and grads about their experiences and career trajectories.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? What enabled me to build confidence in taking this risk was looking at worst and best case scenarios, alongside short- and long-term potential outcomes. Worst case: I accumulate massive debt, don’t get that dream job, and take myself out of the job market for two years at an age when I should be at the peak of my career. Even if all those things happen, I asked myself what would still be true…and would that be enough: content knowledge of finance, accounting, data analytics, marketing, enhanced problem solving skills, and an invaluable network. I also analyzed as much data as possible. What roles are grads getting upon graduation from my target schools? What are their salaries and roles immediately out, five years out, ten years? Can I get there without this degree? Can I grow in the way that I’d like without this degree?

Finally, when I decided to go for it, I hustled like wild to ensure admission at my top choice schools with the best possible scholarship package, which meant removing myself from the social circuit throughout GMAT studies, taking that test more times than desired, enrolling in classes at my local community college to fill gaps in my undergrad transcript, calling yet another current student to continue to learn about schools, participating in that admissions event even though I’d already been to dozens, and exercising those negotiation skills as soon as the offers came.

What other MBA programs did you apply to?  I only applied to CGSM schools. They included (In alphabetical order): Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, Cornell University Johnson School of Business, University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of Rochester Simon School of Business, and the Yale University School of Management.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Since I only applied to CGSM schools or schools about to become CGSM schools, this narrowed my list down to 20 potential schools. From there, as a graduate of a small liberal arts college, I know that I learn best in smaller communities, so I primarily only applied to smaller programs known for collaboration and strong community. I also knew that I wanted to minimize potential debt, so I narrowed my search to schools in areas with a lower cost of living or lower tuition. I then got on the phone with as many current students and alums as possible, attended every webinar I could, called admissions officers, read Poets & Quants profiles, and perused school blogs (which were all excellent tools in helping me determine cultural fit).

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In looking back, the moments that have been the most defining have always involved a mentor who deeply believed in my ability to think and do. When I think about my experience at Smith College, even more than the curriculum, it was the professors and peers who I engaged with beyond the classroom that propelled me forward. Similarly, in my work environments, it’s been the mentors who have gone above-and-beyond to take me under their wing and teach me what they know. One of the reasons I’m most looking forward to Foster is because I know that our small class size and stellar faculty will allow for similar experiences. For me, it has always been those deeper interpersonal connections that’s created a sense of what’s possible in the future.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I have one dream job I’m going after, three companies and roles that would be utterly amazing, and a long list of organizations I really need to get to know better. I’ll be more specific publicly once I land that dream job.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I will hopefully be three years post-MBA, employing my vast business knowledge and network to thrive in my organization and industry, learning something new every day, asking hard questions to inform strategy, working as part of a rock star team, and making positive impact in my organization and community.

 

 

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