2016 Best MBAs: Justine Lai, Wharton
The Wharton School
“Justine embodies the message she’s worked so hard to deliver to her peers — you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to innovate.”
Age: 28
Hometown: Woodside, California
Education: Barnard College, BA in Psychology and Sociology
Where did you work before enrolling in business school?
Project Manger/Analyst in the Innovations Department at the Institute for Community Living (ICL), one of NYC’s largest behavioral health agencies.
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? co:collective (innovation & strategy consultancy), NYC — strategy intern
Where will you be working after graduation? I’ll be freelancing for the summer, working on strategy and design research projects, and then I plan to transition into a full-time strategy role at an innovation consulting firm in NYC.
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:
Co-President of the Wharton Innovation & Design Club Member of the Dean’s Graduate School Advisory Committee, a student group that consults to Wharton’s Dean and administrators on important strategic issues. Over the past two years, I have worked with Wharton’s CMO and the Wharton Entrepreneurship program on how to help Wharton grow its entrepreneurship/innovation brand and offerings. Teaching Assistant for Professor Christian Terwiesch’s OPIM614: Innovation course to support curriculum redesign Wharton Social Impact Fellow (Finance & Strategy Consultant for the FastFwd Accelerator Entrepreneurs) Wharton Social Impact Initiative consultant to USAID Development Innovation Ventures’ portfolio company BioLite, part of student team that built company-wide carbon emissions measurement model Wharton International Volunteer Program consultant, part of the student team that developed a new client segmentation and growth strategy for an Indonesian-based international microfinance cooperative William Foster McKenny Fellowship for excellence in academics, leadership, and serviceWhich academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Traditionally, Wharton has been perceived more as a “finance” school rather than as a hub for innovation — but that’s quickly changing. Although the innovation and design community has traditionally been relatively small at Penn, it grows bigger and bigger each year as more students realize the value of integrating creative problem-solving methods with the quantitative skillsets we learn at Wharton and into their everyday work and careers.
In my role as co-President of the Wharton Innovation & Design Club, the only multidisciplinary club at Penn that spans across all schools, particularly Wharton, Integrated Product Design, and Engineering, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside an amazing group of fellow board members to help students build skills and careers related to innovation and design thinking, expand the greater innovation and entrepreneurship community across Penn, and grow Wharton’s identity and brand as a thought leader for innovation and design. I’m particularly proud of leading teams that drove the Penn Design Challenge, a month-long challenge where student teams used the design thinking process to solve a problem for American Express; the launch of our Wharton Innovation & Design Blog with over 1,000 views; and designing/teaching large-scale design thinking workshops and competitions across Penn.
My role on the Dean’s Graduate School Advisory Committee (DGSAC) where I work with Wharton’s administration has allowed me to expand this work to help shape the strategy and policy of how Wharton and Penn grow their entrepreneurship and innovation offerings over the coming years. The work of my DGSAC Entrepreneurship team also helped spur the re-launch of Wharton’s Entrepreneurship website and led to the first Wharton Entrepreneurship “design hackathon,” where students used the design thinking process to come up with new ideas for how Wharton can reimagine its Entrepreneurship program going forward. They presented their final vision to entrepreneurship faculty and staff, who were blown away by their insights and ideas.
I chose to come to Wharton because I felt that it would be personally transformative — but I also felt I could contribute to the growth of the school, as it aggressively grows its offerings across entrepreneurship, innovation, and social impact. One of Wharton’s best qualities is that students are encouraged and supported in making an impact on the school itself, and it’s been amazing being part of that community.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? In my job prior to Wharton, I was responsible for developing government-funded training and consultation programs for managers of New York State’s mental health clinics. One-third of these clinics were on the brink of closure, and we had been asked to provide new services that would help these managers turn around their organizations.
Based on client feedback, I led the development of an entirely new consultation model, serving over 150 individuals and 50 organizations in the initial launch. Based on its success, two years later, this model has now been expanded to serve the entire mental health system in New York State.
I’m passionate about helping organizations transform and pursue new opportunities for growth — this experience was incredible because it gave me the ability to impact numerous organizations serving some of the state’s most vulnerable communities.
Who is your favorite professor? Professor Sarah Rottenberg, of Penn’s Integrated Product Design program — through her classes, I’ve gotten to work on design research and strategy projects for General Mills and Penn Medicine. She’s been a fantastic mentor and advisor to me in building out my design and innovation skill sets, and helping me place them in the context of my greater Wharton education.
At Wharton, Professor Saikat Chaudhuri taught one of my favorite classes, Managing Strategic Partnerships. He really pushed us to think rigorously about how we could be creative in creating new partnerships and business models, and was personally invested in the growth and development of his students’ analytical capabilities over the course of the class. He’s also been a great advisor to myself and the Innovation & Design Club in his role as the Executive Director of the Mack Institute for Innovation Management.
Favorite MBA Courses?
Managing Strategic Partnerships with Saikat Chaudhuri Negotiations with Cade Massey Product Design with Karl Ulrich Global Supply Chain with Marshall FisherWhy did you choose this business school? I loved Wharton’s entrepreneurial and student-driven culture, where I felt I could play a role in shaping the school. Wharton also provided the perfect balance of being a competitive environment that also emphasizes collaboration, where I would be challenged and grow both personally and professionally. And, I knew that Wharton’s academic rigor and focus on analytical methods would provide a great education where I could better combine my soft skills with in-depth technical abilities.
What did you enjoy most about business school? Being surrounded by the smartest and most talented peers I’ve ever met who keep me on my toes and challenge me on a daily basis to redefine my personal best.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? Figure out what you want and go for it. Having passion coupled with strategic focus, analytical ability, and an ability to work with people is what truly makes a good leader. Hard skills can make you successful in the short-term, but if you don’t have the passion, big-picture vision, and people skills, then you won’t succeed in the long run.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? Given the overwhelming number of opportunities and time commitments, it’s incredibly difficult to use business school as a time to “find yourself” and figure out what you’re truly passionate about. The best advice I got before school was to figure out what I wanted out of my MBA before I even started, so I could make sure I achieved my goals rather than getting distracted along the way.
What was the hardest part of business school? As a non-traditional student coming from nonprofits and academia, it was tough initially to adjust to both the culture and the academics at Wharton, where the assumption is that you have a certain baseline business understanding. Talking to fellow students at other business schools that cater more to non-traditional students, I think it could have been an easier adjustment — but I feel that having to adapt was a valuable learning experience, which has prepared me well to enter the private sector and pursue my long-term goals.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Above all, Wharton students have passion, grit, and aren’t afraid to work hard to achieve their goals. Tell stories that highlight how you share these qualities and characteristics.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…in my first job as a research assistant in Mount Sinai Hospital’s psychiatry department, I loved creating billing systems to turn around our struggling clinic and hated writing papers for publications — a bad sign for an aspiring clinical psychology PhD, but great for a potential MBA.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…still on track to achieve the same goals — but at a much slower pace. I’ve already tried out all the other dreams I had and this one fits best!”
What are your long-term professional goals? To lead an organization that works across the private and public sector to create new products, services, and business models that provide novel solutions to significant societal challenges.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents have been a tremendous inspiration to me as immigrants who escaped China’s Cultural Revolution and built personally and professionally successful lives for themselves in the US. They’ve always pushed me to be the best I could be, but also trust me to follow my gut and follow my own winding path — even if they disagree.
Fun fact about yourself: At 18, I planned to become a professional ballet dancer.
Favorite book: Pride & Prejudice, Give & Take
Favorite movie: Inside Out
Favorite musical performer: Adele
Favorite television show: Sherlock
Favorite vacation spot: Stockholm
Hobbies? Ballet, jewelry design, photography, travel
What made Justine such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Justine Lai isn’t afraid to reinvent the wheel — in fact, she thrives on it. At a school renowned for its prowess in qualitative analysis, she created her own major in innovation management and has made an impassioned case for increasing the emphasis on intrapreneurship for MBA students.
Throughout her career, Justine has focused on the training and development of social intrapreneurs to drive organizational innovation and foster creative problem solving. She’s put this experience to good use as co-president of the thriving Wharton Innovation & Design Club, raising awareness about design thinking and its role in driving innovation. She’s been an invaluable asset on the Dean’s Graduate School Advisory Committee in shaping Wharton to become an educational leader in entrepreneurship and innovation. In this role, she has helped to organize university-wide design challenges, launch a new health care innovation challenge, and develop workshops to teach skills that can help any student innovate within their chosen industry and function.
She’s been an invaluable asset on the Dean’s Graduate School Advisory Committee in shaping Wharton to become an educational leader in entrepreneurship and innovation. Most importantly, Justine embodies the message she’s worked so hard to deliver to her peers — you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to innovate.”
Howard Kaufold
Vice Dean of the MBA Program
The Wharton School
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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The Wharton School
“Since 18, I’ve worn a uniform to school or work every single day. When I got to school, I had to buy a whole new wardrobe and choose what I wanted to wear. Believe me when I say, it took a lot of adjustment.”
Age: 30
Hometown: Setauket, New York
Education: United States Naval Academy, BS Economics
Where did you work before enrolling in business school?
US Navy Nuclear Submarine Officer
Goldman Sachs
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Google, Electronic Payments Team, Mountain View, CA
Where will you be working after graduation? Expa, Operator in Residence
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School
Co-founder, Wharton FinTech (the first student-led FinTech initiative). Coming off performing the first Bitcoin market diligence at Goldman Sachs, I wanted to get more involved with FinTech on campus. When I began school, I realized that more needed to be done to make FinTech synonymous with Wharton. Together with my colleagues, we built Wharton FinTech into a significant academic voice in the industry. We publish original content on our blog, host industry leaders every week, and I’ve had the honor to speak internationally on FinTech and millennial consumer preferences for financial services. Partner, Dorm Room Fund (student-led venture capital firm backed by First Round Capital). Led social-media and content marketing initiatives. Performed diligence and participated in investments in student founders. Consultant, Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Committee. Works on Penn-Wharton China Center Implementation project and Wharton Entrepreneurship program redesign project.Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Co-founded VetTechTrek, a 501c3 veteran service organization. VetTechTrek works with industry leaders to provide a baseline for veterans transitioning to technology. Together with my roommate and best friend from the Naval Academy, we partnered with 50+ leading tech companies to host high-impact, immersive recruiting and networking events for 150+ military veterans and spouses. We recently launched Project Standard to build a digital library of educational content geared toward military transitions and has been referred to as the “Khan Academy for Veterans.”
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Mission Officer of the Deck on submarine deployments. As tactical strategist and ship navigator, I led my team on secret submarine missions in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. We broke through the polar ice cap, surfaced at the North Pole, and conducted vital national security missions.
Who is your favorite professor? Professor Stephen Sammut, Management Department, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management MGMT804. Prof. Sammut cares deeply about educating students and having an impact on their careers. We have spoken many times about venture ideas I’d been thinking about and he’s coached me through a lot of decision points through life. His class is the reason I want to be in and around early stage ventures for my career.
Favorite MBA Courses? Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management MGMT 804, Capital Markets FNCE 738, Venture Formation and Initiation MGMT 806
Why did you choose this business school? The hardest decision I ever made was to leave the military because I could continue to have global impact while serving my country. When I met the members of the Wharton Veterans Club on my admissions visits, I saw that they shared my same vision. That’s how I knew Wharton was right for me.
What did you enjoy most about business school? Wharton gave me time to think.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? No matter your background, business school offers students the time, resources, and credibility to set your aims high and achieve your goals.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? Coming from the military, everything was new and shiny for me at business school and I explored a lot of different career paths before I found my niche. I was surprised at how focused many of my classmates were returning to their previous industry rather than pursuing something along a different vector.
What was the hardest part of business school? Since 18, I’ve worn a uniform to school or work every single day. When I got to school, I had to buy a whole new wardrobe and choose what I wanted to wear. Believe me when I say, it took a lot of adjustment.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Business school isn’t an automatic rocket ship that takes graduates to the moon. It’s more like the fuel inside the rocket. It still requires a spark to ignite… and that comes from you.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I started to daydream about problems I wanted to solve outside the Navy, but didn’t know where to start.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…underwater, driving a submarine.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? One entrepreneur I admire is Marc Benioff, Founder and CEO of Salesforce, who has made decisions to pull back Salesforce business in US states that do not support equal rights for its citizens.
What are your long-term professional goals? I want to ensure every military veteran has the information and tools needed to find and pursue the career and life path they are most passionate about.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My father has been self-employed for almost his whole professional career. His reputation is built on hustle and measurable results. Whether he intended to or not, I believe his work ethic and commitment to providing for his family on his own is why I want to start and grow my own businesses.
Fun fact about yourself: I completed two marathons in one week because I made a scheduling error.
Favorite book: Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
Favorite movie: The Big Lebowski
Favorite musical performer: Phish
Favorite television show: Seinfeld
Favorite vacation spot: Hawaii
Hobbies? I am an avid (albeit amateur) yogi.
What made Steve such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“During his 6 years as a nuclear engineer in the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Force, Steve Weiner gained plenty of experience growing and leading diverse and highly technical teams in ambiguous environments. He caught the FinTech bug as an intern at Goldman Sachs and saw an opportunity to put his unique skill set to use.
Steve has continued to expertly navigate uncharted waters as a Wharton MBA, cofounding the first-ever student-led FinTech initiative and funding student ventures on Penn’s campus as a partner with Dorm Room Fund. Most impressively, Steve has managed to impact thousands of fellow veterans in making the move from the military to the tech industry – all while excelling in our full-time MBA program. Last year, he cofounded VetTechTrek, a nonprofit that provides service members with career transition resources, guidance, and opportunities to network with some of the top tech companies and startups.
Steve is not only making a difference on a personal level – he’s helping to make major strides on a national level. He has been pulled into policy discussions in Washington on diversifying the tech sector and expanding the GI Bill to be able to apply funds to start a business and is helping policymakers to re-imagine the way veterans transition when they return to the workforce.”
Howard Kaufold
Vice Dean of the MBA Program
The Wharton School
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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MIT, Sloan School of Management
“Business school gave me a new medium to discover myself, reassess my personal and professional priorities, and really push myself to do more…I feel as though MIT Sloan has helped me lay another brick in my road of self-discovery every day.”
Age: 28
Hometown: Jamison, Pennsylvania
Education: B.S. Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University; Class of 2009
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Submarine Warfare Officer, USS Louisville (SSN-724), United States Navy
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Parthenon-EY; Boston, MA
Where will you be working after graduation? Hive Maritime, Inc.; CEO
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:
MIT Sloan Veterans Association Co-president MIT Veterans Club President Admissions ambassador First Year orientation pilotWhich academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m exceptionally proud of the progress my team and I have made developing our startup, Hive Maritime, into a promising new business. All of the cofounders had just come from the military – we had zero experience starting or operating a business. We’ve worked very hard to develop and get our idea off the ground, and I’m really thrilled with our progress.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Earning my submarine officer qualifications in the US Navy is, and will likely remain, the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my professional life. It took me nearly 3 years from the time I entered the Navy to complete the rigorous training cycle, become a skilled operator of the ship’s nuclear reactor, learn to drive the boat on the ocean’s surface and at depth, and understand all the systems, valves, procedures and people that enable such a complicated piece of equipment to operate. Being pinned with the coveted ‘gold dolphins’ of the elite submarine service is a badge of honor and something I will never forget.
Favorite MBA Courses? Competitive Strategy, Game Theory, Entrepreneurial Sales
Why did you choose this business school? My wife and I were both looking to go to schools at the same time and, after a significant amount of time apart and a lot of time away from home in the service, we prioritized being in the same city. Boston offered both of us great academic options, and MIT, in particular, sold me on their entrepreneurial spirit, truly unique class culture and dynamics, and their intrinsic link between business and my technical background. I feel very privileged to be a part of such a stellar group of individuals and an even more impressive collective; I smile every morning when I put my Grad Rat class ring on!
What did you enjoy most about business school? Business school gave me a new medium to discover myself, reassess my personal and professional priorities, and really push myself to do more. I’ve always been a relatively driven and ambitious person, but business school developed by personal and professional skills, and boosted my confidence to the point where I realized that I could really have long lasting and widespread impact. I feel as though MIT Sloan has helped me lay another brick in my road of self-discovery every day, and that is certainly what I have enjoyed most about my experience.
What was the hardest part of business school? The transition from military to civilian life was abrupt. I went from a submarine of 150 mostly introverted people to a banquet hall during my class orientation with 400 bubbly extroverts with interesting stories and ambitions, all of whom seemingly always wanted to chat. It was a lot to take in and was pretty overwhelming. It took some time to readjust and feel at home in that environment.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Talk to students before you apply. Everybody in the class will respond to a cold email from a prospective; willingness to help is in our blood. MIT Sloan is a truly unique place and a highly collaborative environment, and it is not for everybody. Understanding our student body and our culture will help you determine if it is the right fit for you and help you to tailor your admissions essays once you learn what we’re all about.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I was working on Thermodynamics homework set in my junior year of undergrad. Although engineering was interesting, I knew then that I wanted to manage and lead teams, not just sit at a desk and crunch numbers.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…500 feet under the surface of the Pacific Ocean.”
What are your long-term professional goals? I’m passionate about bringing disruptive technology to archaic industries. My cofounders at Hive Maritime and I have a profound vision for the future of autonomous oceanic shipping, and I want to be at the heart of using technology to revolutionize how this industry operates.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? I’d like to thank my parents, first and foremost. They’ve given me their unending support, pushed me to work hard and do my best in all I do in life. They worked hard to provide me with a solid educational base and an understanding of world culture. And tey made sure that I appreciated the simple things in life. They have believed in me every day of my life, told me that I could when others said that I could not, and pushed me to find and perform at my limits. For this, I am eternally grateful. I would not be where I am, or the man that I have become, without them. I’d also like to thank my submarine brothers from the USS Louisville. We made it through some very tough, exceptionally stressful situations together and learned a lot about ourselves along the way. When times got tough, they believed in my abilities even when I doubted, and supported me as coworkers, friends, and brothers. Hooyah.
Fun fact about yourself: I used to make my own surfboards in high school.
Favorite book: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Favorite movie: Casino Royale
Favorite musical performer: Taylor Swift (and I’m not remotely embarrassed by this fact either)
Favorite television show: House of Cards
Favorite vacation spot: South island of New Zealand
Hobbies? Skiing deep powder, triathlon, hiking, surfing, travelling fitness, and general adventuring
What made Brian such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“When Brian Kirk was on active military duty as a US Naval submariner, he noticed that cargo ships were often stalled in their journeys for days at the major canals. When he arrived at MIT Sloan in 2014, he partnered with classmates to create Hive Maritime. Hive Maritime uses a predictive analytics and optimization platform to streamline transportation in the maritime shipping industry, addressing an issue that costs billions in fuel, demurrage and other operational expenses annually.
Brian majored in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State and spent 5 years as a Submarine Warfare Officer in the Navy before joining MIT Sloan in 2015.”
Maura Herson
Director, MBA & MSMS Programs Office
MIT, Sloan School of Management
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
“I’ve benefited from meeting and learning from people who are more than one-dimensional, who have stories and ideas that contradict what one might expect, and who harbor great depth, curiosity, and kindness.”
Age: 29
Hometown: Midland, MI
Education:
University of Pennsylvania, BA in Philosophy, Politics, Economics (PPE) and Spanish Relay Graduate School of Education, MSEdWhere did you work before enrolling in business school?
Achievement First Charter Network (via Teach For America): Founding Teacher (I helped found a charter school in Brooklyn, NY and taught 1st, 3rd, and 4th grades.) Achievement First Charter Network: Dean of Academic Culture (I managed, and coached a portfolio of two grade levels and 12 teachers — as well as leading culture development and adult morale for the entire school.) Teach For America National Corporate: Director of School Systems Leadership (I helped build a leadership pipeline program to support TFA alumni in pursuing systems leadership roles.)Where did you intern the summer of 2015? American Express; New York City
Where will you be working after graduation? American Express; Manager, Human Capital (I’ll be entering a global rotational leadership program focused on human capital strategy.)
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School
Co-Founder/Co-President, Wharton Human Capital Club Co-Director of Student Ambassadors, One for the World (I co-manage a team of 16 students to educate and motivate classmates to participate in One For the World — an organization and movement that educates MBAs on effective giving, and encourages them to give 1% of their income to charities.) Facilitator, P3: Purpose, Passion, & Principles (I facilitate a nine-week program designed to provide a structured way for students to gain a deeper understanding of their own definitions of success and happiness and how these relate to their professional and personal goals.) Student Life Fellow (I advise, mentor, and support a group of 18 first-year students regarding their Wharton experience.) Welcome Committee (I help plan and facilitate admit student weekends and serve as a primary “face/voice of Wharton”.)Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? One of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had in my whole life has been starting a club while here at Wharton — about something I really care about. After working in education, I realized that people are truly the most important asset in an organization — and knew I wanted to work in helping organizations build systems and structures to get the best out of their people. I realized that learning about drivers of motivation, recruiting tactics, talent management, etc., were not just personal interests but completely in the domain of why my peers invest in MBAs — because they want to go out there and lead. So, myself and a similarly passionate classmate and friend, Mike Lemmons, decided to start a student group to fill this “white space.” We hoped it would generate more of a dialogue — one that we certainly wanted to participate in.
Eight months later, Wharton Human Capital Club is run by six board members, has 280 members, and generates numerous events that have drawn in 50-100 students (as well as monthly newsletters and book club dinners so we can all nerd out on interesting articles together). Just last week, we had an event with Patty McCord, former head of talent at Netflix (famous for the Netflix Culture Deck), that multiple students told us was “the best event I’ve been to here.” (All credit goes to Patty on that.) Moreover, last summer, as Mike and I frequently hopped on calls to dream about what this club could accomplish and set our mission and goals, we talked about Patty being on the top of our “wish list” of who we could bring in and learn from. And then, it really happened.
What it comes down to to me is being able to find a true need in a community and build something that starts to fill that void. This club has allowed me to do that, and I’m so excited about the future it holds at Wharton after I leave.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of my proudest reflections on my professional career takes me back to my first year of teaching — the year I helped build a school from the ground up, and was pushed to redefine myself. It was not only my first year as a teacher (and a professional for that matter), but also our school’s first year of existence. I had no idea what it meant to build a school, much less a classroom, when I signed on to do Teach For America. But being charged to do something new and challenging for a very real and motivating “client” (my students) pushed me to look for solutions and ideas everywhere.
For example, I wasn’t satisfied with our writing curriculum (it was vague, didn’t give clear goals and tactics), but we had no other in-house resources. Thanks to my students, I decided to push myself to be someone who made changes happen instead of just complaining, so I took on the role of developing it for our entire grade. I dug into research in child development, best practices from other schools, and leading experts on literacy curriculum. Then each week, I churned out lesson plans that I would share with all the teachers in my grade. My revised plans weren’t perfect — but they became the foundation for how other grades in my school approached curriculum development, and created a cultural shift where teachers began to take a greater vested interest in customizing plans for our kids. This experience really taught me that a problem I want to solve can also lead to solutions for others; it prompted me to look beyond just my classroom and find ways to help build and develop systems and structures for our school.
Who is your favorite professor? Katy Milkman — her high level of preparation and thoughtfulness and strong engagement and storytelling capabilities made every class feel like a Malcolm Gladwell TED Talk. I also really appreciated how at the onset of each class session she quickly reviewed the prior class (in 5 minutes or less) — this really helped me bake in my understanding of new concepts (a great teaching best practice!).
Favorite MBA Courses? Operations Strategy, Managerial Decision-Making, Strategy & Competitive Advantage
Why did you choose this business school? My “Why Wharton” decision actually stems from initially being very skeptical of this school. As a former UPenn undergrad (back in 2004–08), I really wasn’t sure about coming to Wharton. I knew the school had a strong reputation, great resources, and would attract smart and talented people. However, I’d had the perspective that Wharton was finance-focused, the community was competitive and cutthroat, and that my nontraditional background just wouldn’t fit in. I knew I would be able to learn a lot, but I was worried that I wouldn’t also be able to contribute. However, I decided to visit during admit weekend, and was completely blown away by what I saw and felt. All the current students were friendly, curious, welcoming, and humble. When I shared my background, they found it interesting and asked really thoughtful questions. I learned there that this was a place where I could contribute, where my differences would be valued, and of course, where I would truly have the support of others around me.
What did you enjoy most about business school? Wharton (and of course, many others schools) has an indescribably special set of people. I have already seen the inimitable benefits of having a “Wharton stamp” (on my resume, in emails, in conversations). Most of all, I’ve benefited from meeting and learning from people who are more than one-dimensional, who have stories and ideas that contradict what one might expect, and who harbor great depth, curiosity, and kindness.
There’s the former-finance-something-turned-consultant who started a “book club,” where each month ladies get together to lead and have discussions about current events and social issues (think: the energy crisis, the confidence gap, etc.). There’s the former college football player who nerds out on human capital and thinking about how companies can be better to their employees. It’s a rare and special breed here — and it is the biggest thing I will carry with me when I leave.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? That you can’t slow down time. I’ve wanted to do that so badly since I’ve been here, because the experience has been amazing.
But seriously, what I’ve learned is that — given that you can’t slow down time — it’s really important to be intentional with your time. Life, like an MBA program, is fleeting and goes by quicker than we’d like. Coming here I learned about the aspects of my life and goals I have that I need to be purposeful and intentional about —as well as frameworks for thinking about what matters most to me across professional life, personal life, and community life. I see this ability to applied structured thinking to my life pursuits as one of the most self-sustaining and frequently utilized lessons that I’ve gained from being here.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? DO IT! Visit campus and absolutely talk to current and/or former students (you can talk to me!). Know what makes Wharton special — for you. Decide which opportunities you will be most zealous about getting involved with (or creating!), and what resources you will want to take advantage of (who you want to talk to, what clubs will give you tools you need, or content you are curious about) and connect with people plugged into those areas. Seeing yourself at Wharton — really seeing your life here — is a great position from which to apply.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I realized that in education, we didn’t have all the answers — and I would only start to get them by immersing myself in learning about other industries, companies, structures, and systems.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…regretting not being in business school (and bugging my friends who were/are in business school!).”
What are your long-term professional goals? To be a Chief People Officer (head of talent role) for an education organization. I think talent strategy is the key issue/challenge in educational reform, and currently we don’t have a robust set of best practices and solutions.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? Without a doubt, my family. I landed the parent lottery. I’m an only child, and my parents and I are incredibly close. While they’ve been unsure about certain decisions I’ve made (they weren’t too thrilled about TFA at first), their willingness to trust my decision-making, and throw in their support, is something I really admire, and suspect wasn’t easy. They immigrated to the United States for economic opportunity and they didn’t have the chance to experiment and test out jobs/industries/etc., immerse themselves in graduate programs, take professional risks, etc. Their sacrifices in putting aside certain enjoyments in life and working so hard is the only reason I’ve been able to accomplish anything at all.
Fun fact about yourself: I spent part of my summer before school living in a treehouse in Laos.
Favorite book:
Fiction: Too many to list but I’ll settle for Freedom by Jonathan Franzen NF: Katherine Graham’s autobiography, A Personal HistoryFavorite movie: Amelie, Spirited Away, The Lives of Others
Favorite musical performer: Alt J
Favorite television show: Parks & Recreation, Arrested Development, Modern Family
Favorite vacation spot: Australia
Hobbies? Learning to cook, adrenalin-inducing sports/activities, journaling, photography
What made Ami such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Warm, thoughtful, and empathetic, Ami is passionate about people and learning their stories. Because of these qualities, she was invited to join the two most selective groups on campus — the Welcome Committee and Student Life Fellows. Ami is no stranger to building strong learning communities.
Prior to Wharton, she helped build and refine leadership development pipelines in education as the Director of School Systems Leadership at Teach For America. Before that, she spent four years at a charter elementary school in Brooklyn as a founding teacher and then a dean. After seeing too many talented teachers and leaders leave the education field, she first realized the key impact of and need for strong talent strategy — and the analytics to drive it.
Less than a year ago, she co-founded the Wharton Human Capital Club to help future business leaders understand their workforce and teams; create systems and cultures for them to thrive in; and ultimately, help their organizations grow. Ami — and her nontraditional background — has truly been an asset to the Wharton community.”
Howard Kaufold
Vice Dean of the MBA Program
The Wharton School
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
“Darden is known to have one of the toughest MBA curricula in the country and I wanted to challenge myself to go through the grind.”
Age: 29
Hometown: Buea, Cameroon
Undergraduate School and Degree: Western Connecticut State University – BSc. Mathematics
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Sikorsky Aircraft as Senior FP&A Analyst
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Deutsche Bank – New York
Where will you be working after graduation? Deutsche Bank as an Investment Banking Associate in New York
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School? I am a mentor in the UVA-Darden Mentors program in which Darden students leverage our experience and network to help other members of the community with career guidance. I am also part of the leadership teams for the International Business Society and Darden African Business Organization. Through these two clubs, we organize and sponsor conferences and events that bring the multicultural backgrounds in the Darden and UVA communities to share our diverse experiences and help each other to grow personally, academically, and professionally.
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of Project Einstein. Project Einstein is a program that I started developing during my first year at Darden to help provide educational opportunities for children in developing countries. Quality education, which is instrumental for personal and general economic development, is severely lacking and still remains a scarce commodity to a vast majority of people in developing countries.
Project Einstein aims to provide educational opportunities in three ways: (1) enhance academic quality and performance by providing uniforms, learning and teaching material and funding quarterly teachers training programs; (2) provide transportation facilities and access to quality education by providing buses to schools and financing the cost of operations and maintenance and (3) improve economic opportunities for parents and guardians by providing farm tools and storage facilities that will help farmers market their products and employ others as they all try to generate income to support their families.
I started implementation of this program in Buea, Cameroon in the Spring 2016 semester by providing approximately 1,700 notebooks and textbooks to 150 children and teachers and a 66 passenger school bus to help children get to school. The program will be implemented on a larger scale at the beginning of new school year in August 2016, and plans to reach 500 children, 150 teachers and 150 farmers in the first year.
My Darden classmates and professors, especially Professor Bobby Parmar, continue to be great resources for the development and implementation of this endeavor. Professor Parmar’s inputs have significantly helped structure the development and implementation of the program. Every child deserves a quality education and we must use our resources to provide the facilities for children to learn how to read and write and have a chance to pursue opportunities that exist beyond what they see in their towns or villages. Like Nelson Mandela said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I would like to say Project Einstein is my proudest professional achievement as well. The combination of my professional and academic experience has given me the opportunity to put together the knowledge and resources needed to develop and execute this program.
I recently received a thank you letter from some of the children who have already received some aid from Project Einstein, and that piece of paper has given more satisfaction than any certificate or award I have ever received.
Who is your favorite professor? Bobby Parmar and Elena Loutskina
Favorite MBA Courses? Impact Investing, Global Economies and Markets and Global Financial Markets
Why did you choose this business school? Darden is known to have one of the toughest MBA curricula in the country and I wanted to challenge myself to go through the grind. The case method requires a lot of preparation before class and challenges us during class discussions to process information real time and provide a well-articulated response to the class, in a manner that enables classmates with very diverse professional backgrounds to understand and carry on the discussion. I believe this is the best way to develop skills that will help us navigate the business world.
I have always enjoyed working in team oriented environments in which people support each other develop and pursue our goals. I learned of Darden’s collaborative and supportive community during the application process and my experience has more than exceeded my expectations. I am extremely happy with the choice that I made.
What did you enjoy most about business school? The best thing about my b-school experience has been the friends I have made. It has been a lot of fun getting to know my peers through classes, recruiting, soccer, social gatherings, travelling, and all the other interesting activities we have had. My class has a wide variety of very interesting personalities and we have really enjoyed our time at school and will continue to stay connected after graduation. I have also developed some great relationships with our faculty and staff members who are always ready to support us.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? Darden’s supportive community was one of the main reasons I chose the school, but I never imagined this level of support and collaboration at every level of the community. The very collaborative attitude is shared by every student, faculty and staff, and alumnus.
What was the hardest part of business school? Getting hit in the face by the recruiting grind while trying to get a grip of the Darden curriculum and student lifestyle.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Darden is a very tight knit community and everyone is always willing to help. Ask all the questions you may have and you will get genuine answers or get direction to where you can get the best answer.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I saw the personal and professional growth opportunities my friends had after they attended top MBA programs.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…probably working at Sikorsky Aircraft. I loved working there and still have great relationships with my former co-workers and bosses.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? Elon Musk. He has an innovative mindset and continuously tries to create solutions that will significantly facilitate our future lifestyles.
What are your long-term professional goals? I would like to be in investment banking for a long time and at the same time work on projects that provide education and healthcare opportunities in developing countries around the world.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? There are a number of people I would thank for my success in life. I have been lucky to have mentors and friends who have advised and pushed me toward what I believe to be right choices. However, my mom and dad have been my super heroes from day one. They always worked very hard to provide my eight siblings and me every opportunity to succeed. My family has been very supportive and inspirational as they all strongly pursue their personal and professional dreams. My parents are responsible for putting together and coaching this team and their principles have never let me down.
Fun fact about yourself: My full name has 26 characters
Favorite book: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Favorite movie: Brave Heart
Favorite musical performer: Don Jazzy & Mavins
Favorite television show: Game of Thrones
Favorite vacation spot: Anywhere in Cameroon
Hobbies? I love soccer…playing, watching and dreaming of owning Arsenal FC
What made Jean-Marie such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“I would like to offer my most enthusiastic recommendation for Nana Jean-Marie Menga Nkamlen (JM for short). I first met JM last year when he was a student in my first year ethics class. JM distinguished himself as a leader in our class discussions by broadening the class’s perspective as we discussed contemporary ethical issues. I heard from several of JM’s classmates that their Darden classroom experience was enriched by JM’s presence.
JM believes deeply that every child has to ability to succeed and make their mark on the world – he is doing everything he can to provide children back home in Cameroon with resources to develop their potential. JM and his brothers save the money they earn from their work to buy used school buses in the US and ship them back home, so that the children who live near their old village do not have to walk 4-5 miles everyday to get to school. To date they have bought several buses and are working on a new initiative to equip schools with new textbooks.
In his first year at Darden, JM was able to secure a coveted investment-banking job at a leading investment bank. He embodies Darden’s mission to be a leader in the world of practical affairs – he is pursuing his passion for investment banking and broadening the opportunities for children in Cameroon. JM is an inspirational person – he is successful, compassionate, and brings out the best in everyone he encounters – including his teachers.”
Bobby Parmar
Assistant Professor in Business Administration
University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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Yale School of Management
“Outstanding scholar who has earned more high honors grades in the Yale SOM curriculum than any other student.”
Age: 26
Hometown: Cheshire, CT
Education:
Harvard University, AB in Social Studies (2011)
Yale Law School, JD (expected 2016)
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Connecticut Voices for Children, Policy Fellow
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? McKinsey & Co., Stamford, CT
Where will you be working after graduation? On the Hillary Clinton Campaign’s Policy Team, and then at McKinsey as an Associate.
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:
SOM Graduation Student Marshal (MBA student with the best academic performance in the core curriculum)
Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) Venture Creation Consultant (Advisor to Yale-backed startups) (2014-2015)
Startup Law Project (Creating a program that connects the law school to the Yale startup community through an opportunity to work hands on with YEI-affiliated attorneys), co-founder (2015-)
Negotiations Core Course, Teaching Assistant (Fall 2015)
New Leaders Council (progressive political campaign and advocacy skills training program), Connecticut Chapter co-founder, Institute Director (2014-2015)
Yale Law Democrats, President (2015-2016)
Yale Political Law Society conference on “The New Normal in Election and Political Law,” co-organizer (Feb. 2015)
Yale Political Law Society, Founding member (2013-present)
American Constitution Society (progressive legal organization), Membership Development Chair (2014-2015)
Political Campaigns and the Law Reading Group, Chair (2014)
Research Assistant for Reva Siegel (researching the history and current trajectory of religious accommodation law) (2014)
RebLaw Conference, Education Panel Leader (2014)
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m proudest of the role I’ve played building community across Yale through three years of weekly potluck dinners (and sometimes brunches, dessert parties, and wine and cheese nights). I came into grad school knowing that the single most important thing I wanted to do with my time was develop real relationships with my classmates. And I wanted to meet a diverse group of people, not just those with similar interests or even those in the same grad programs. So starting my first semester, I recruited everyone I had met so far and set up a potluck schedule that mixed people from different Yale schools and friend groups for 20-person dinners at my apartment. The excellent conversation, chance to meet new people, and amazing food quickly made these dinners my favorite activity. And the dinners became something that my classmates found valuable and fun as well – they all know me as The Potluck Host.
Also, I’m very proud of having been selected to represent SOM in the SOM/HBS ice hockey game this fall, because I’ve been playing hockey since I was about 5 years old, and was excited to see my years of highly enthusiastic but only moderately athletic efforts finally pay off.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? During my pre-Yale job at a Connecticut research and advocacy nonprofit, I authored the first-ever comprehensive report on children being arrested in CT schools. It took a year of tenacity to break through barriers with the State Department of Education to get access to the data I needed and get approval to use it, with complex negotiations over what could be released under the federal education data privacy laws. Also, I convinced my bosses to let me build a data tool on our website so that parents and advocates could pull up their town’s student arrest data (benchmarked against peer towns and by racial groups to show disparities) – a huge improvement over the typical 30 page pdf data appendix we typically would release with this type of report (which I’m pretty sure only 5 people read). Access to the data has already started empowering local advocates to lower arrest rates in their schools, and publicity from the report helped lead to new laws in Hartford.
Favorite MBA Courses? Negotiations, Interpersonal Dynamics, Global Social Enterprise India
Why did you choose this business school? SOM’s focus on equipping leaders to do good in the world through business, but also social enterprises, nonprofits, and government, aligned closely with my values. I wanted to go to a business school where the students, professors, and administrators shared my drive to make the world better, and were thinking about leadership, management, and creating value in a broader way than traditional business programs. The raw case method also attracted me, because real life doesn’t give you a neatly packaged 20 page story with all the key exhibits pre-distilled. Successful leaders need to be able to figure out what’s meaningful and useful out of reams of accounts, historical data, and interviews. And they’re one of the few places to offer a 3-year JD/MBA.
What did you enjoy most about business school? My classmates. They have done (and will go on to do) great things across the world, but they are also good people who have become lifelong friends.
What was the hardest part of business school? If going to business school is like drinking from a fire hose, I was drinking from two fire hoses in balancing SOM and Yale Law School. It was hard to manage two academic programs, a double parade of unbelievable speakers and events, two sets of student groups and responsibilities, and social events with double the number of classmates, and still find time to go to the gym and sleep.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I realized how ineffective state government was at running core programs (like CT’s Food Stamp system, which had a 9 month paperwork backlog in 2013), and decided I wanted to equip myself with the leadership and management skills, and business best practices, to make government work better.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…working full time on the Clinton Campaign rather than only half time around my coursework.”
What are your long-term professional goals? I plan to spend my life focused on increasing access to opportunity for every child born in America. You’ll find me working wherever there is the greatest possibility to push ahead on this goal, so I expect I’ll have a varied career that spans the local, state, and federal levels and public, nonprofit, and private sectors. And I loved my time working on economic policy at the White House, so I certainly hope I’ll make it back there at some point.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents deserve all the credit for who I am today. Through hour-long family dinner conversations every night of my childhood that range from politics and current events to history, literature, and economics, my parents stoked my interest in politics, intellectual curiosity, and drive to make the world better. I don’t think there is anything better you can do for kids than teach them about the world and take their viewpoints seriously, because that makes them feel like they need to be well-informed and thoughtful to live up to the gravity their ideas have been accorded. And my parents practiced what they preached, modeling a life of service through their own work and community involvement.
Fun fact about yourself: I started an annual chocolate cooking competition at Yale Law School that’s wildly popular with the student attendees, but as a competitor I’ve lost every year.
Favorite book: 1984
Favorite movie: Mean Girls
Favorite musical performer: Beyonce
Favorite television show: The West Wing
Favorite vacation spot: Somewhere new and unusual
Hobbies? Running, crossfit, ice hockey, baking, cooking, travel
What made Sarah such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Sarah is graduate of Harvard University earning a BA in Social studies. She is enrolled in the accelerated joint degree program at Yale SOM and Yale Law School and is anticipated to earn both a JD and MBA at the end of academic year. Sarah is an outstanding scholar who has earned more high honors grades in the Yale SOM curriculum than any other student. Her outstanding academic performance is truly remarkable given the context of the rigor and demands of an accelerated joint degree program. She will be named our student marshal for the MBA program for this year’s Commencement on account of her outstanding scholarship in the core curriculum. She is also dedicated to improving societal issues facing India and has engaged in a consulting project for an Indian NGO through the Global Social Entrepreneurship course. Sarah choose to join McKinsey after she completes her degrees.”
Sherilyn Scully
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Life
Yale School of Management
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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Yale School of Management
“When I was much younger I would complete my homework and then rip it into multiple pieces. I was different from most children my age as I actually wanted to have even more homework, and was working under the misguided belief that more pieces of paper equaled more homework to complete.”
Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria
Education:
Undergraduate – Fairleigh Dickinson University, BSc. Electrical Engineering
Graduate – Cornell University, MEng. Engineering Management
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Business Process Management Consultant, Perficient Inc.
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL.
Where will you be working after graduation? Associate, McKinsey & Company
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School
Co-President, Education Club Co-President, Africa Business & Society Club Admissions Co-Chair, Women in Management Graduate Liaison, Yale World Fellows program Volunteer Coordinator, 2015 Yale Education Leadership Conference Content Co-Chair, 2015 Yale Africa Business Practicum Admissions Interviewer Class of 2017 Student Orientation Leader Forte Foundation FellowWhich academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? In the time I’ve spent at SOM, I’ve been privileged to be involved in so many very different initiatives and all of them have been fulfilling learning experiences for me for a host of reasons. If I had to pick one that I am most proud of, it would have to be serving as one of the Admissions Co-Chairs for the Women in Management (WIM) Club.
As part of the committee’s goals this year, we piloted the WIM Applicant Mentorship Program to provide female applicants who are typically underrepresented in the MBA applicant pool with more targeted guidance throughout the application cycle. The efficacy of the pilot program became even more apparent during the past admissions interview period where I got positive feedback from prospective students who had been connected with SOM student-mentors.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Being selected to establish and manage global affiliate operations in Nigeria and Ghana during my time at Boston Strategies International (BSI). This responsibility was given to me very early on in my career at BSI, and despite my comparative lack of experience, I successfully navigated the challenges of doing business in an emerging market.
Favorite MBA Courses? Nonmarket Strategy with Dean Bach, Integrated Management Perspectives (now Executive), Innovation in Govt. & Society with Eric Braverman, and Competitive Strategy with Fiona Scott-Morton.
Why did you choose this business school? I chose SOM because of the community of people. I knew very early on in my application process that I wanted to join a small close-knit community that nurtured in me a sense of belonging and responsibility for leaving the school a better place than I when I joined it.
What did you enjoy most about business school? I’ve enjoyed becoming more comfortable with the idea of failure as a means to stretch myself and my abilities in ways that I didn’t think possible in the past. Even more important, I’ve enjoyed being a part of a community where I can be my genuine self without the fear of constantly being judged.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? With my technical Electrical Engineering and Mathematics background, I came into business school expecting to thrive only in the quantitative courses. It has thus been pleasantly surprising to see that the classes I have especially enjoyed, where I’ve learnt the most (and which I have then gone on to serve as a teaching assistant in) have been the ones that are more qualitative in nature. This just goes to say that we should never pigeonhole ourselves in our minds as we oftentimes don’t even realize the extent of our abilities.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? My advice would be to really take the time to understand yourself and your true motivations for going to business school. This clarity of purpose seeps through in everything, from the application to your interactions/opportunities that you pursue while at school, and for me it helped serve as a North Star that kept me focused on my ultimate goals.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I realized that my then current job wasn’t leading me any closer to achieving my long-term career goals.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…attempting to start my own elementary school catering to children in underserved/low-income communities.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? Mellody Hobson, current President of Ariel Investments.
What are your long-term professional goals? To play an active role in reforming the education landscape in Nigeria and across the African continent.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? I’d like to thank God for filling me with this passion for education that led me to business school, and then blessing me with the best fiancé, family, and friends who never stopped believing in me – especially when I didn’t believe in myself.
Fun fact about yourself: When I was much younger I would complete my homework and then rip it into multiple pieces. I was different from most children my age as I actually wanted to have even more homework, and was working under the misguided belief that more pieces of paper equaled more homework to complete.
Favorite book: So many different books appeal to me for so many different reasons, and I’d be lying if I claimed to have just one favorite book. Some of the more recent books that I have read and loved include: The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into how the World’s Poorest People are Educating Themselves.
Favorite movie: A Few Good Men
Favorite musical performer: Asa, a Nigerian singer & performer
Favorite television show: The West Wing
Favorite vacation spot: Thailand
Hobbies: Visiting new cities and reading/collecting books
What made Fona such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Fona is a student from Nigeria who earned a BS in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an M.Oth Engineering Management from Cornell University prior to Yale SOM. Fona has been an instrumental student in shaping the co-curricular and extracurricular experience for her classmates at Yale SOM. She has helped leader positions in two student clubs, Education and the Africa Business and Society Club. These are professional clubs each hold large conferences attended by a significant number of students and professionals.
Fona was the driving force to start the Africa Business and Society Club. This is a new club that engages students from across the university who are interested in exploring professional and entrepreneurial opportunities, and discussing societal issues that face the many nations of many of the world’s fastest growing economies. Fona’s natural leadership skills have activated networks across all graduate programs at Yale (in particular MPH and Jackson) in order to make this club successful.”
Fona was actively engaged in the launch of the Yale Africa Business Practicum (2014 and 2015). This event focuses on bringing together graduate students from Yale SOM, other business schools and our GNAM partner schools in a full-day workshop, utilizing the raw case approach to provide solutions to real challenges faced by a business in Africa. The approach is distinct within the group of well-established Africa focused conferences and was designed to reflect the distinct approach of Yale SOM in solving complex problems. Fona’s strengths in team management made her the natural lead for marketing and engaging students around Yale and other northeast located business schools to join in this new initiative.
Additionally, Fona is one of the leaders of the Education Club. Her interest in the education sector runs deep. She is so dedicated to this industry that she’s taking an urban education class that is based out of NYC and requires her to commute back and forth every week. While she has spent most of her post-secondary education in the United States, she was raised in the primary and secondary educational systems in Nigeria and these cross-cultural experiences have provided her with a unique insight into improving education in Africa.
Fona was also chosen to serve as a teaching assistant for a Yale SOM International Experience course that travels to South Africa. The central theme of the course is entrepreneurship and involves projects with local entrepreneurs. Income inequality and the legacy of Apartheid as also explored on the trip. Fona’s efforts to assist in exposing our students to these important topics in today’s South Africa has been much appreciated by her classmates and faculty.
Lastly, Fona has also been an outstanding mentor to the classmates following her in the MBA and MAM programs. She served as an orientation leader working with the administration to assist in the delivery of the orientation programming. Fona’s stewardship of the programming set an outstanding example to the new students of leadership and dedication to the curricular, extra-curricular and extracurricular aspects of the MBA experience.
Fona is off to join Mckinsey. She chose to work at McKinsey post-graduation because of its thought leadership on societal issues on the continent, including education.”
Sherilyn Scully
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Life
Tiffany Gooden
Director of Community and Inclusion
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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New York University, Stern School of Business
“I want to bring more interesting and diverse stories to film and television.”
Age: 30
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
Undergraduate School and Degree: Ithaca College, BFA in Acting
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? I worked as an actor in theater, television and film. I have performed at Tony Award-winning theaters like the McCarter, Long Wharf and Hartford Stage. I was in the off-Broadway musical Silence! and have appeared in shows like Louie and The Americans.
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? I spent my summer internship at Women Make Movies, which is a non-profit film distribution company that specializes in the educational distribution of documentary films by and about women. My summer project involved collaborating on a cross-functional team to research new markets, develop an outreach strategy and negotiate sales of the award winning films Dreamcatcher, Private Violence and Regarding Susan Sontag.
Where will you be working after graduation? I am currently seeking opportunities in film distribution.
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School
Recipient, Ronald E. Blaylock Scholarship
Fellow, Stern Leadership Fellows
Fellow, Social Impact Internship Fund
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of the work I’ve done as a member of the marketing and distribution strategy team for the independent film CRONIES, by Michael J. Larnell. The film was executive produced by Spike Lee and was completed while Michael was still a directing student in the grad film program at Tisch. CRONIES premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to Tribeca, BFI and the Chicago International Film Festival. After Sundance, Michael opted to distribute his film independently in collaboration with the NYU Production Lab, an incubator for filmmaking talent on campus. The NYU Production Lab approached the Stern School of Business with the opportunity to add students to the project in the form of an experiential learning program, the Stern Signature Projects, offering participants a high impact role and real-world experience.
Recently, the entire team had the opportunity to speak at SXSW in the “90 Minute Film School Panel” and share our experience with innovative distribution alongside industry experts.
One of my goals post-graduation is to work on a team of passionate creative professionals helping talented storytellers find their audience. This project has been an incredible launching pad. We are doing more than consulting—we are actually executing the strategy we’ve created together and then sharing that strategy with the indie film community. It has been wonderful to see the value of an MBA in the creative space and the places where my unique skill set is filling a need for filmmakers and producers.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? In my professional career I am most proud of the entrepreneurial endeavors I’ve taken on before and during my time at Stern. I have a production company, Little Red Ro Productions, through which I’ve produced several short films. While at school, I co-created the Little Bright Notebook, a project design tool for creative types and entrepreneurs, along with my classmate Lenore Champagne Beirne. Stern does a great job of creating a diverse and interesting class of students each year. Our collaboration is a perfect example of two people with wildly different backgrounds and areas of expertise coming together to build something that helps the broader creative community. I’m not sure we would have crossed paths were it not for Stern.
Favorite MBA Courses?
Gary Faber’s Movie Marketing course is a must-take for anyone interested in working in film.
Dolly Chugh’s Leadership In Organizations helped prep me for my summer internship experience and see ways to craft the role that would provide the most value for both myself and Women Make Movies.
William Silber is also a fantastic teacher who manages to bring a touch of poetry to Foundations of Finance.
Why did you choose this business school? NYU Stern was the only business school I applied to – which was risky but I knew I wanted to attend an institution that adopted a holistic approach to developing its students so that I would be surrounded by and learn from talented, well-rounded, creative individuals.
What did you enjoy most about business school? Aside from working on the CRONIES distribution team, I really loved my experience with Leadership Fellows. It’s a program for a small number of second- year MBA students that has helped me form what I think will be lifelong bonds with the other participants. Leadership Fellows doesn’t really focus on developing leadership skills. It assumes you have them (demonstrating that is part of the selection process) and then works to help you manage the challenges leaders typically face personally and professionally through meetings with high-level executives and mentorship with a CEO. It also helps you create a guide star for your career based on your passions and skill set.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? How quickly we as students can transform into the best versions of ourselves.
What was the hardest part of business school? Finding balance while juggling multiple projects and opportunities.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Be yourself. Don’t let your GMAT score do all the talking. Stern cares about the whole person.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I realized there were things I wanted to do with my life that I couldn’t realize without further education and solid business skills.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…prepping for an audition.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? Shonda Rhimes. She’s a creative genius with a strong business sense and an inclusive approach to storytelling.
What are your long-term professional goals? I want to bring more interesting and diverse stories to film and television.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My mother for providing unconditional love and support. She also did an amazing job of cultivating creativity – and grit – in all of her children.
Fun fact about yourself: For fun in the late laughs I sang in a country, rock and blues band called Take My Lips.
Favorite book: How could I possibly pick one? Last summer, I read the Star Side of Bird Hill and it really stuck with me. I’ve been recommending it every chance I get.
Favorite movie: Harold & Maude
Favorite musical performer: The queen: Beyonce. Of course.
Favorite television show: Of all time…The Wire. Of the moment…Unreal
Favorite vacation spot: Ithaca, NY (If you go in the winter, pack a shovel.)
Hobbies? I love board games and often host game nights at my house. Favorite games include: Splendor, The Resistance, 7 Wonders.
What made Ronica such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Ronica (Ro) Reddick is a second-year MBA candidate at NYU Stern. Ro came to graduate school with a simple mission: bridge the gap between the creative and business side of the entertainment and media industry by fueling it with a transformative business education. Over the course of her degree, Ro has wasted no time unlocking her potential by participating in and building various experiential learning programs. She started her program off by securing a Social Impact Internship Fund (SIIF) award which supports 1st year, full-time MBA students who wish to complete a summer internship working at the intersection of business and society. She spent her summer at Women Make Movies, a non-profit media arts organization which facilitates the production, promotion, distribution, and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women, where she worked on Outreach & Distribution.
Now in her second year, Ronica is leading a team on a Stern Signature Project (SSP) with NYU’s newly created Production Lab- a cross-school initiative that educates and assists NYU filmmakers as they transition from student to film professional. This inaugural project has culminated with her and 4 team members presenting at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX on how to develop disruptive distribution strategies for independent films.
Before NYU, Ronica spent over a decade in the performing arts where she worked as an independent actor and singer, performing in numerous television and film projects such as Sex & the City 2, Louie, The Americans as well as 300 performances of the Off-Broadway show Silence! In 2012 she founded Little Red Ro Productions, a production company which is dedicated to telling compelling and engaging stories from an African-American perspective.
Ronica earned her BFA in Acting from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. In Ronica’s free time she volunteers for Vocal Ease, a non-profit volunteer singing organization that provides live entertainment for New York City seniors in hospitals, senior centers, and nursing homes.”
Bryan Ramos
Associate Director
Office of Student Engagement
NYU Stern
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis
“If we gave away an MVP for the class of 2016 – Allison would be the runaway winner.”
Age: 27
Hometown: Springfield, VA
Education: University of Virginia, Bachelors of Arts in History and Spanish
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Army Civilian, Department of Defense
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Walmart in Bentonville, AR
Where will you be working after graduation? Walmart, Associate Marketing Manager
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:
Olin Marketing Association – President 2015-16; First Year Officer 2014-15
Olin Women in Business – Vice President of Admissions 2015-16; First Year Representative 2014-15
Center for Experiential Learning – Consulting Team Lead 2016
Communications @ Olin – Ambassador 2015-16; 2015 MBA Round Table Symposium, Curricular Innovation Speaker
Olin Admissions – Admitted Students Weekend Co-Chair 2015, Student Ambassador 2014-2016
Disabled Athlete Sports Association – Volunteer Instructor 2014-2015
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I lead Olin’s initiative to retarget the admissions approach to female recruitment, increasing the enrollment rate from 28% to 40% in one year.
When I joined Olin, my class was 28% female, resulting in over half the core teams only having one female. I wanted to change that. I wanted to implement the personal touch Olin had the ability to offer, especially females.
During my free time, I reached out to prospective students, offering to share my personal experiences. I was talking to at least three people a week, telling my MBA story and answering questions about Olin.
Through Olin Women in Business, I pushed for a new Vice President position to work with the admissions office. I joined the executive board in this role, and I forged a connection with Admissions to emphasize this focus. Last spring, I also co-chaired our Admitted Students Weekend. I stayed in touch with those students over the summer, and was proud to see the female enrollment jump to 40%.
This year, every core team had two female students. To this day, I continue to work with Admissions to make 40% a rule, not an exception.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am proud of my experience last summer with Walmart. My project revolved around in-store strategy to better serve customers through events. I developed an event execution playbook for store managers, which saved labor hours, drove product sales, and increased customer engagement.
I presented this to the marketing executives at the end of my internship, and they immediately implemented my playbook across the 4,500 Walmart stores. They extended me a full-time offer with the marketing department the next day.
Working for Fortune 1, it is a challenge to find a way to add value. I was proud I found a way to do so, and I am pleased to be returning to Walmart upon graduation.
Favorite MBA Courses?
Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior – This class explored the consumer decision-making process through case studies and class experiments. In a similar vein to Freakonomics, we read Nudge and Mindless Eating, which lead to conversations on appropriate times to influence, as well as factors marketers need to keep in consideration. I consider this class influential to my marketing career, and how I will shape my strategy in the future. I will resort to these classes and examples as guidance for my career decision-making.
Competitive Industry Analysis – This case-based class mixed strategy and economics to review business interactions. We reviewed Michael Porter’s 5 Forces to understand the competitive landscape in industries. This class helped me gain a general knowledge of factors influencing a plethora of industries, such as irrational behavior, company commitment, and entry and exit. Overall, this class taught me forces outside of financial statements to consider in business interactions.
Why did you choose this business school? Olin is the only top tier business school with a class size less than 200. This small setting creates an unmatched personal touch and opportunity for lasting impact. I wanted to make a mark on my institution during the short, two-year timeframe.
Beyond that, St. Louis is an established city, yet it has a small town feel. The business community is highly accessible through Olin, and I was attracted to the combination of the burgeoning startup scene and fortified marketing powerhouses.
What did you enjoy most about business school? I have enjoyed the opportunity to make a real and measurable difference in my community. My Olin career has been marked by two consulting projects through our Center for Experiential Learning. My first client, a microbrewery, implemented my social media marketing strategy immediately upon my recommendation.
Based on my performance, I was hand chosen to lead a team for my second project. Currently, I am conducting digital marketing experiments for a media company looking to expand into another industry. I manage five team members and make recommendations directly to the company CEO.
What was the hardest part of business school? Time management is the hardest part of business school, and is crucial to achieving your goals. You have to prioritize what is important to you. I try to balance my time into thirds: 1/3 classes, 1/3 job hunt, and 1/3 networking.
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Olin wants to see you are interested in not only it’s program, but St. Louis as well. Olin has a small program that leaves room for impact, and St. Louis has a great startup scene and local business opportunities. If you really want to make a difference, Olin is will give you platform to do so.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I saw the opportunity to accelerate my career and gain managerial experience. I realized the impact I could make would be magnified if I went to Olin.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…back on Capitol Hill working for a congressional office or public policy institute.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? On a broad level, I admire Sheryl Sandberg. We both have strong ties to Washington, DC, and she is a strong advocate for women in business. She is an empowering role model for both succeeding in the business world and managing the work/life. I want to follow her example both personally and professionally.
On a more local level, I admire Orvin Kimbrough. Orv is the President and CEO of United Way St. Louis. He is a champion of overcoming adversity, advocating diversity, and serving philanthropic causes. I had the pleasure of meeting Orv in one of my MBA classes, and he inspires me to invest in my community and use my talents for the greater good.
What are your long-term professional goals? I want to be an innovator in my marketing career. I am passionate about the customer, and I want to creatively serve him or her. In the long term, I want to be a marketing executive and find a way to truly add value for my customer and my organization.
I am also motivated to make a better tomorrow. I want to be an advocate for diversity in the workplace and building up my community. I want to use my talents to create a lasting impact.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My older brother and his wife were huge proponents in pursuing my MBA. My sister-in-law would spend late nights grooming me for interviews, and my brother bought me a flight to visit St. Louis within hours learning I was accepted at Olin.
Fun fact about yourself: I am an avid traveller. I have visited 54 countries across six continents. My next goal is all 50 states!
Favorite book: The Giver
Favorite movie: Life is Beautiful
Favorite musical performer: Dave Matthews
Favorite television show: Chopped
Favorite vacation spot: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Hobbies? Exploring cities, speaking Spanish, community volunteering, cooking new recipes and skiing different mountain ranges.
What made Allison such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“Allison Campbell comes with our very highest and strongest recommendation. If we gave away an MVP for the class of 2016 – Allison would be the runaway winner. In any case, she will be the most decorated member of the graduating class when it comes to awards and recognitions. In light of all of this – she remains the most level headed and unassuming member of the class. Her personality is sparkling and engaging without becoming overwhelming.
Her contributions to the school, to her classmates and to the entire Olin community are legendary. Way too many to recount here. Let it suffice to say that she has left a huge mark that can be accurately described as a legacy. The entering class this past fall featured 40% women. The first time in Olin history that we hit the 40% mark. The primary architect of this achievement was Allison. As part of her leadership effort with the Olin Women in Business (OWIB) group she took the lead in personally contacting, befriending and mentoring every admitted female applicant for the entering class of 2015. The results speak for themselves. And her efforts have become the benchmark for all affinity groups in helping out the admissions effort.
In her spare time she was a leader in so many other ways. She was president of the Olin Marketing Association, officer of several other groups, leader in the Experiential Learning arena, and contributor to community and social support efforts. She is the real deal. The total package. I would love to have a few Allison’s in every class.” — Joe Fox, Associate Dean, Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management
“Imogen has been a joiner from the moment she stepped off the plane from London. She is a natural leader and most enthusiastic supporter of anything anyone on staff or faculty asked—and many things we didn’t.”
Age: 27
Hometown: London, UK
Education: BSc Physics, Imperial College London
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Assistant Buyer Women’s Accessories, Urban Outfitters Europe
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Deloitte Consulting LLP, Atlanta GA
Where will you be working after graduation? Senior Consultant, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School
President, Women in Business Association
Admissions Ambassador
Leadership Development Guide
Peer Coach
Executive Women’s Think-tank
Forte Ambassador
Dean’s Scholar
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am really proud of the success of the Women in Business Association (WBA) under my Presidency. Along with an incredible board of women, I worked to raise the profile of the club in the school and engage the wider Vanderbilt community in our activities. The WBA is now the most active club at Owen, with an average of one event a week, including speakers ranging from entrepreneur Shan-Lyn Ma to Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon! In addition, we have invited our male students to join us at our Lean In circles, which has been a great success. And we’re attracting attendees from other graduate schools such as engineering and teaching. Another area we have developed is our undergraduate mentoring by partnering with undergraduate women to set up an Undergraduate Women in Business Association, focused on networking and professional development. Overall I am incredibly proud of the impact that the WBA has made at Owen this year and am excited to see where our next president takes the club in the future!
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Before coming to business school I spent 7 months working in emergency hydraulic engineering. Following 5 years working as a buyer for Urban Outfitters Europe, it was a scary career change but it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. I went in to the industry knowing nothing and worked on projects ranging from fraud detection to managing the build out of their new office space. I had to learn quickly, be extremely adaptable and prove myself to a team of knowledgeable engineers. Being successful in that environment and being praised for my work there is still something I am incredibly proud of. It was this experience that made me bold in my choice of business school and inspired me to try a consulting internship over the summer.
Favorite MBA Courses? I particularly enjoyed Corporate Strategy, and a lot of credit has to go to Professor McCann for making the course so enjoyable. He encouraged us to think critically about the decisions companies were making and wasn’t afraid to push back on our ideas and explanations. The course gave me a high level perspective on how big corporations operate and how easy it is to fall in to a false line of reasoning. Professor McCann was witty and energetic despite having taught the class 3 times already that day and it definitely increased the caliber of participation and learning.
Why did you choose this business school? You will hear this a lot at Owen, but it is ALL about the people. I had visited several business schools and none of them had the level of community that I saw at Owen. The staff, faculty and students were relatable and made a huge effort to make me feel welcome in the environment. Moving thousands of miles away from home is a daunting prospect for anyone, but the atmosphere at Owen convinced me that I would have a support network here.
What did you enjoy most about business school? I have enjoyed the opportunity to take risks at business school. You are able to try new things in a low impact environment, surrounded by people that want to help you. I have developed skills to apply to new and ambiguous situations whilst being in a supportive environment with few consequences.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? I have learnt a lot about my leadership style at Owen. Through the Leadership Development Program, my leadership roles and peer feedback, I have learnt what is powerful about my style and how to leverage that to my advantage. Understanding that leadership development is a continuous process that needs to be proactively pursued has been a big lesson and is something that I will take with me as I continue in my career.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? The most surprising thing was that it is really fun! I have had an incredible time. I have travelled to new countries, made life-long friends, taken on new challenges and I genuinely makes me happy to be here. When I look back at all the amazing experiences I’ve had, it is hard to believe that they have all happened in 2 short years.
What was the hardest part of business school? Time management has been the hardest part of business school for me. I love to be involved and my schedule is always full. Learning to say no was a challenge for me, as was learning to delegate. There are so many opportunities that you need to be thoughtful about where you put your time and effort. Making a large impact in a few areas was more important to me than being spread so thinly that I couldn’t make an impact anywhere. I would like to say that I have now mastered time management but unfortunately I’m still working on it!
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? I would encourage applicants to be themselves and leverage their background. Owen is a community and welcomes students from lots of different backgrounds in to the program. Don’t be afraid that your background isn’t corporate or that you don’t fit the mold of a business school student- everyone is welcome. Some of the strongest insights I’ve heard have come from students with non-traditional backgrounds.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I learned how many opportunities there were to learn and explore different business functions.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…in London, probably working in merchandising for a major retailer.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire ?I most admire the entrepreneurs in our class, especially my friend Blaque Reilly owner of Portmanteau Jewelry Collection. Not only does she excel in her school work, she also finds time to run her business and be connected to the maker’s movement in Nashville. She flawlessly moves from creative tasks to business tasks and consistently impresses me with her capacity for social venture, despite her packed schedule. Being able to see the time and effort that goes in to launching a business has given me new respect for entrepreneurs in all sectors of business.
What are your long-term professional goals? My goals center around what I want to be able to give back throughout my career rather than on a specific career path. I want to make sure that I am still involved in organizations that support women in business, I want to continue the mentorship chain by mentoring young professionals and I want to be a trusted and valuable advisor to my colleagues. I am also interested in building an environmentally sustainable workplace and am trying to make my daily decisions more environmentally aware.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My sister for persuading me to go and get my MBA and the staff at Owen who convinced me that Owen was the place for me (Tami Fassinger, Irisa Treijs and Christie St. John). They had faith in me that I never could have had in myself.
Fun fact about yourself: I just finished a two-week trek across the Darien Gap in Panama- if you don’t know anything about the region, you should check it out!
Favorite book: Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Favorite movie: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Favorite musical performer: Interpol
Favorite television show: Blackadder
Favorite vacation spot: The Greek Islands, any of them. They are so beautiful.
Hobbies? Kick-boxing, horse riding, hiking.
What made Imogen such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“What made Imogen such an invaluable member of the MBA Class of 2016? A lot is expected of all Dean’s Scholars at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management—fantastic academic and leadership performance capturing the very best of our talented student body. Also a Forte Fellow, Imogen has been a joiner from the moment she stepped off the plane from London. She is a natural leader and most enthusiastic supporter of anything anyone on staff or faculty asked—and many things we didn’t. Of the attributes most in demand by employers, adaptability, passion for work, and confidence without arrogance are at the top of the list. She is the exemplar of these as an MBA graduate concentrating Marketing and Strategy to prepare for her role at Deloitte Consulting as Senior Consultant, Strategy and Operations, based in Atlanta.
Not every young woman in an MBA program would be confident hosting a one-on-one Q&A with a major film star—with years of acting training and poised to perfection. But, in her uniquely uninhibited and fun way, Imogen hosted Reese Witherspoon to discuss her passions for Girls Inc. and her new business, Draper James. Imogen, as President of the Women’s Business Association (WBA), was naturally aligned with Witherspoon’s passion for women. On campus, WBA ran Lean In Circles, with regular participation by men of Owen too, to improve communication skills and integration within the business community. Also a passionate contributor to the Global Business Association and Vanderbilt Marketing Association, Imogen has proven equally comfortable being a follower and doer to accomplish whatever the school’s or her classmates’ goals. Because her job was solidified early, she had time and offered to do an independent study to help a classmate develop a social media plan for an existing custom jewelry business. As a Student Ambassador, Imo has made tireless phone calls to admitted students and prospects, and she has served as a peer coach to first-year MBAs for the Career Management Center. Of all her attributes, a genuine, ever-present smile is her signature feature; you can’t help get behind anything Imogen is passionate to try; she is a true leader by example and positivity.”
Tami Fassinger
Chief Recruiting Officer
Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business
‘I have taught for 30 years. Ali Mehlsak is the cream of the crop. Intellectually, she is among a handful of the best students I have ever had.’
Age: 28
Hometown: Portland, ME
Education: Tufts University, BA, Political Science
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Cone Communications, Boston, MA
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? The Coca-Cola Company, Office of the Chief Sustainability Officer, Atlanta, GA
Where will you be working after graduation? General Mills, Inc., Associate Marketing Manager
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Vice President of Honor for the Darden Student Association; UVA Honor Committee Representative for Darden; VP of Conference for Net Impact at Darden; VP of Careers and Alumni Relations for Media, Entertainment, and Sports Club
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? As I write this, I am in full-time planning mode for our 2016 Business in Society Week at Darden. Annually, the Net Impact chapter at Darden brings speakers to present their ideas and insights from careers at the intersection of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
This year, we are focusing on work in innovation and design as a means for collaboration and creating sustainable change. I’m leading a cross-club team of leaders to bring a week’s worth of events to life – from FinTech and impact investing to health care and CPG innovation – and I’m excited about the program we have planned. This has been a labor of love for me since last April. To see things coming together is incredibly rewarding. There have been many highlights of my time at Darden, but this is my capstone – the thing that makes me most proud – because it brings so many people together to highlight trends and issues that can make a real difference in our careers and in our world.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Before starting at Darden I worked in social impact consulting – strategy, marketing, communications, thought leadership, and employee engagement – for companies looking to generate more social good than just profits. I had the chance to work with some amazing companies, one of them being a global hospitality company. This organization came to our agency to help build their corporate responsibility strategy from the ground up. I was an early member of the team, and ended up being one of the longest-tenured as well. My roles and responsibilities on that team grew with me as I grew in my career – working more closely with stakeholders and clients, managing work streams, and creating executive communications for the C-suite.
Today, I look at the work I produced and led on that team and I see much of it in the marketplace, taking a firm hold within the company’s culture. Not only did that client and experience shape me into the student and leader I am today, but I can see real, global impact coming from my work. It is the benchmark against which I’ll compare my future professional opportunities.
Who is your favorite professor? I don’t intend to take an easy way out of this question, but anyone who knows Darden knows that our faculty is pretty outstanding. Identifying one among them as a favorite leaves too many exceptional people out of the conversation – and too many exceptional people have left an imprint on my time at Darden to call out just one. But I can tell you what they all have in common.
My favorite kind of professor is someone who commands the case method and the classroom. She pushes students to the edge of what they think they understand, and helps them go further. He knows when humor is the antidote to tension or confusion. Most of all, my favorite kind of professor is a teacher, through and through. She loves to help us learn just as much as she loves her research, because he knows that keeping that balance is what makes the entire Darden ecosystem successful.
Favorite MBA Courses? The entire first-year core at Darden is amazing. There’s something invigorating about spending so much time with just your section and your learning team, struggling and succeeding together through seven months of three cases per day.
Second year is where the classes themselves become really exciting. My favorites so far have been: Data Science (learning to code and forecast through machine learning); Seminar in Havana, Cuba: An Economy in Transition (traveling to Havana to work with the emerging cuentapropistas, the self-employed, and learn about how Cuba’s economy is changing with warming relations with the United States); and Impact Investing (a course that challenged me in everything I thought I knew about finance and social impact, yet helped me understand how I can play a role in helping make these new kinds of financial products become common practice).
Why did you choose this business school? I applied to Darden because of alumni I had met and the school’s reputation as a place to find a unique classroom experience led by some of the world’s best faculty. I ultimately chose Darden because when I stepped on grounds and visited a first-year class, I could see all of these things coming to life before my eyes. Darden’s talking points weren’t just spin, it was real. When I interviewed for a spot in the class of 2016, I explained it this way to my second-year student interviewer:
The case I got to see was a long accounting case. Cold call after cold call, students were giving wrong answers. It was obviously a challenging day and they were struggling, but they were laughing. And they were all helping each other through the complexity of financial accounting rules – students and professor alike. This is the kind of classroom I want and these are the kinds of people I want to be around for two years. I want to be in a place where I can grapple with new ideas and ambiguity and technicalities, supported by my peers and mentors.
Darden is a hidden gem in the MBA world. While I’m of two minds about spilling the news, it should be on the short-list of every prospective MBA who wants to work hard, learn a lot, and thrive in a case method classroom, side by side with some of the warmest, smartest, and most down-to-earth students, staff, and faculty out there.
What did you enjoy most about business school? Other than being at Darden and in Charlottesville, I enjoyed these two years for the time they gave me to explore. I came to school thinking my path would be pretty direct into a corporate responsibility or social impact role. But through my classes, in meeting new people with backgrounds so diverse and different from one another and from my own, and in getting to learn and contribute at The Coca-Cola Company in my summer internship, I found that my best path isn’t as direct as I thought. In taking courses in finance and product development and through workshops in rapid prototyping and operations management, I’ve been exposed to new influences that have reshaped my vision for my career. I no longer want to sit in a job with “sustainability” in the title (just yet). Instead, I want to be in a role that is integrated into the core operations of the business, influencing from the inside out and from the bottom up.
The process of getting to this point of clarity has been my favorite part of business school – the exploration and experimentation, the freedom to ask lots of questions and meet interesting people with important insights to share.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? I’ve been surprised about how life-affirming business school has been. I expected school to be disruptive, to be exposed to new people and ideas, and – between finance, accounting, statistics, and spreadsheets – to feel like a fish out of water most of the time. I was prepared to be rudely awakened by the reality of the vast amounts of knowledge I did not yet possess.
What I did not expect is that coming through the other side of this process would leave me feeling so confident, so self-assured, and truly ready to independently execute on the goals I wrote about in my application essay. I knew business school, the case method, and the first-year core were going to break me down in some ways, but what I didn’t see coming was just how strongly they were going to build me right back up again. I’m starting the next phase of my career knowing I still have more learn, but with the tools to do that confidently and strategically, and with tact and empathy.
What’s ironic is that this is exactly why I came to Darden, and it’s exactly why our mantra is “Trust the Process.” But in a way I’m glad the repetition of that refrain didn’t ruin the surprise for me, because experiencing for myself just how well the process works is even more satisfying.
What was the hardest part of business school? Tactically, the hardest part was learning how to be a student again, and specifically, within the Darden system. Having worked for five years before starting my MBA, I was in a life groove: sleep, work, exercise, play, and relax. I had moments when I really could leave work at work and turn my brain off for periods of time. But coming back to school, I found the adjustment to student life to be a jarring one. My school days started at 7:30 and ended at 11:30, 12:30, or later. With three cases to prep every day, and not enough weekday hours to manage it, I played catch-up on weekends, meaning I compromised on exercise and relaxation. Business school can be all-consuming and it was a challenge for me to find balance.
Not everyone struggles in the same way – some of my friends managed this transition much more seamlessly – but I found it to be exhausting. There are moments of exhilaration when I had a breakthrough in a case or a model, and those wins kept me going. If I had that transition to do over again, I’m not sure I’d change a thing. It was difficult, but when I finished that first year, and the Darden core specifically, I felt like I achieved something great in the best way I knew how.
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I realized that the private sector wields the greatest potential power to create positive, sustainable change around the world.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…on one of two paths: following my creative passions into advertising or following my personal social impact mission into a nonprofit that is fighting hard to make a difference.”
Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? Bert and John Jacobs, the creators of the Life is Good brand, are executives/entrepreneurs I have long admired. The brothers became successful selling t-shirts out of their van by capturing an optimistic sentiment that customers quickly related to. In addition to the brand name, the slogan of “Do what you love, love what you do,” captured eloquently how work, hobbies, and personal values can be intertwined to make life so good. And Bert and John continued to build out their company keeping this philosophy in mind in the broadest sense. Life is Good products depicted sports, music, books, and family. Life is Good Festivals became places of pure joy for families, communities, and employees, with concerts from popular bands and artists, and proceeds benefiting first local organizations around New England. Then once the strategy became more mature, it became the company’s own foundation. Bert and John created a brand that understood and prioritized a wide swath of its stakeholders, while continuing to innovate and expand its product line and reach.
Life is Good has grown from regional start-up to become a national – even global – brand. I worked for two summers in high school and college at the Life is Good company store in Portland, Maine. Visitors from around the country and the world would flock to our shop, delighted by the clever and inspiring messaging and cartoons on the clothing, excited to see the merchandise up close, rather than buying online from far away.
Bert and John created a movement of consumers who began to see how business can care about them, about their families, and how it can simply bring joy to their lives. Bert and John have never compromised on their mission to deliver the most good they can to their stakeholders, and for that I admire them. I loved working in their store and I hope to spend my career in companies that make me feel just as fulfilled and happy as I did ringing up merchandise in high school.
What are your long-term professional goals? I’ve had one clear goal since the day I graduated from college: to lead the social impact or sustainability work within a company I am passionate about. It was in college during an internship with Nike that I learned to recognize the ways in which the private sector can influence and improve individual human lives. Whether through the core products and services of the business, the processes and procedures of the company’s operations, or the philanthropic or policy priorities, a for-profit organization has many tools at its disposal that it can use to effect change.
In my career I want to be the manager of a team that is responsible for creating good within and outside a company. I want to be the strategist and the executor, the thought leader and the early adopter. This will take time to achieve – to gain the experience and the credibility to lead such a team in such a robust way – and so it’s the North Star toward which I continue to align my decision-making.
My next role at General Mills is intended to help me continue down that path. I’ve already spent time in the impact world, particularly in strategy and communications. Now is the time for me to leverage my MBA and dive into the guts of a business; to learn how and where value is created, so I can integrate that experience with what I already know, and overtime, meld this “traditional” role with the “nontraditional” to ensure that I am prepared to reach the long-term goal that I’ve set.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? This may be a predictable answer, but I have to thank my family. The further I’ve come in my career the more I value the influence and examples that my parents and older sister been for me.
My parents – writers, readers, and leaders; curious by nature – have taught me how to effectively engage with and communicate in this world. As a lawyer, my mom taught me how to write with clarity, how to make arguments, and how to create a complete narrative. She pushed me to care more and try harder when I was apathetic or ready to give up on an assignment. By far, our biggest disagreements have come when arguing over how to edit a sentence (her) or not (me). My dad’s influence on my writing is subtler. He knew better than to get too involved in the writing/editing process with me. Instead, he led by example. The editor of our local newspaper, he frequently wrote columns that were funny, persuasive, or heartfelt. Reading his words and bantering about current events helped infuse personality into my own writing, giving me a unique voice in life and on paper.
Simultaneously, my parents were also active in our local Jewish, school, and sports communities, holding leadership roles in various organizations that set an early example for the active citizenship that runs in my veins today.
My sister, three years older, more studious, shy, and quiet than I’ll ever be able to be, was the trailblazer in my life. She had no choice but to do everything first – play with Barbies, play an instrument, go to high school, college, and then graduate school. We are different people, but my life has unfolded like hers in many ways, in large part because the risks she took and the successes she made for herself made those same options seem attainable for me.
Business school has been the most significant time in my life where I, as the younger child, have paved a new path for myself. But I’ve done so knowing that I have my family to thank for it, benefitting greatly from the patience, attention, care, and support they offered – and continue to offer.
Fun fact about yourself: A few of my friends and I hold Maine Swimming state relay records from our ten- and eight-and-under meets – nearly 20 years ago. I haven’t swum regularly since high school, and so I’m pretty sure those times would be faster than anything I could swim today!
Favorite book: I learned to love reading at a young age from my parents and my older sister. I often read voraciously, speeding through series or collections of books in the same theme. So while it’s hard to pick out a single book, I can quickly pinpoint a series. Before there was Harry Potter, there were five different Tamora Pierce collections about a young female heroine named Alanna, whose stories about becoming a knight in a medieval, male-centric world captured my attention and never let go. To this day, I occasionally scan Amazon hoping that somehow I’ve missed one of Pierce’s books so that I have some new story to devour.
Favorite movie: I’m going to fudge the rules here a bit, and say that since most epically successful Broadway shows eventually become movies (granted, usually mediocre ones), I can pick a musical rather than a movie…And in that case, it’s Hamilton: The Musical. All the hype is worth it and I am happily on the growing bandwagon. After seeing the show live, and even after dozens and dozens of listens to the soundtrack, I still get chills hearing lyrics like these coming from a strong female character: “You want a revolution? I want a revelation. So listen to my declaration: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’ And when I meet Thomas Jefferson? I’ma compel him to include women in the sequel.”
Favorite musical performer: Ryan Montbleau Band. Ryan is a Boston native whose bluegrass/Americana band often just includes him on a guitar and one other musician/singer on an upright base. It’s possible that in some small way, being a fan of Ryan’s helped me head south to Darden and to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Favorite television show: My answer is heavily influenced by proximity, but I’ve just finished Season 4 of Parks and Recreation, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed and cried more (sometimes at the same time) than during this season of television. And I like to think I’ve got a little Leslie Knope in me.
Favorite vacation spot: I haven’t lived in my hometown for more than 10 years now, and so Portland has definitely become my favorite vacation spot. My parents are still in the area and there’s nothing better than going home – even for just a weekend – to smell the ocean, take a ferry ride in Casco Bay, and eat some of my favorite foods (my Dad’s cooking and local lobster rolls included).
Hobbies? Playing soccer (I played in college), listening to podcasts (I’m pretty addicted to NPR’s Planet Money), experimenting with cooking (just like the smell of baking cookies, putting any kind of meat in a slow cooker for eight hours can both intoxicate and impress yourself and your friends), and volunteering (my passion is for sports and literacy, and I hope to get involved in these kinds of organizations when I relocate to Minneapolis).
What made Alison such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?
“I have taught at Darden for 30 years (Wharton and Carlson before, and guest taught around the world), so I have had literally thousands of MBA students at some of the best schools in the world. Ali Mehlsak is the cream of the crop. She is unbelievably bright and articulate, able to analyze complex phenomena and explain them to her classmates. She was a superstar in a recent seminar on Economic Inequality, analyzing extremely complex data sets and arguments and making sense out of them. Intellectually, she is among a handful of the best students I have ever had.
However, that only begins to tell you who Ms. Mehlsak is. She believes in her core that business and capitalism can be used as a force for good in the world. Yesterday she stood in front of hundreds of her colleagues and delivered a stirring introduction to John Mackey of Whole Foods. She has been the leader of Net Impact, organizing to get Mackey to speak here, as well as a leader of the club’s Business and Society week. In addition she is working with my colleagues and I on a “stakeholder theory” case which we will use in our curriculum. And, she has been a leader in our Institute for Business in Society’s program on Tri-Sector Leadership and public-private partnerships. Ali also has a good heart. She is organizing a fund for a recent tragedy that has affected many in our community. In short, I can’t think of a better person for this recognition.”
Edward Freeman
Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration
Senior Fellow, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics
Academic Director, Business Roundtable Institute For Corporate Ethics
University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business
“Molly is justifiably proud of her joint military experience that involved all of the service branches – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – because collaboration is imperative for her. She is that rare leader who listens and engages others in finding solutions.”
Age: 31
Hometown: Centennial, Colorado
Education: United States Naval Academy, BS in Economics
Where did you work before enrolling in business school? United States Navy, Surface Warfare Officer
Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Bank of America – Charlotte, North Carolina
Where will you be working after graduation? AT&T, Leadership Development Program – Dallas, Texas
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Senior Vice President of Leadership, MBA Association; Ambassadors Program Manager (coordinated prospective candidate visits with current students through classroom, tour, and lunch engagement); School Inc. Tutoring Program Manager (revived program and coordinated graduate business students math tutoring sessions for local 4th and 5th grade students)
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Extracurricular achievement – My team won our Spring 2016 Interterm company deep dive competition. This was especially exciting as the company was AT&T (my future employer). We crafted most creative and achievable international expansion frameworks for AT&T’s expansion into Mexico and Latin America.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I chose to volunteer for a deployment to Baghdad, Iraq and work in a joint military environment with the US Army, US Marines, and US Air Force. I was the Program Manager for Operations Security (securing sensitive, but unclassified material) and developed an inaugural Operations Security training program for Iraqi soldiers who were training along side US forces.
Who is your favorite professor? Professor Tim Gilbride – he has high expectations and pushes his students to achieve more. And I love that his classes explore how to give marketing “teeth” with numbers!
Favorite MBA Courses? Marketing Analytics, Marketing Research, Experiential Marketing (Interterm course)
Why did you choose this business school? The values and the people. Notre Dame and Navy have many overlapping values and traditions (honor, hard work, team mentality) that made the transition just “make sense” for me. I also found that everyone I met from original recruitment through interviews and campus visits were so friendly – I knew these were folks I wanted to surround myself with. Additionally, Notre Dame was a university I was very interested in for undergrad education; this was a second chance of sorts!
What did you enjoy most about business school? The opportunity to stretch outside my comfort zone – I’d gained great leadership and life experience through my time in the Navy. However, I didn’t have much experience with the private sector. Business school gave me an opportunity to “round” myself out and be a better asset to future employers.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? Reviving time management skills.
What was the most surprising thing about business school? I’d heard business school could be pretty cutthroat – we’re all fighting for the best grades and the same internships and jobs. Notre Dame wasn’t that at all – we are all striving to do our best but not at the expense of each other. Very refreshing!
What was the hardest part of business school? Reviving expert time management skills – competing group meeting schedules coupled with extracurricular responsibilities made for a very busy schedule for two years!
What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? If you get in, accept! And when you arrive in South Bend, get involved in ALL aspects of the university (both the graduate program and the university offerings). It’s been a great two years of academics, social activities, and sporting events – enjoy it all!
“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I knew I wanted to transition from the Navy but knew I needed a little more “polish” before entering the business world.”
“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…sailing the high seas, driving a US Navy warship!”
What are your long-term professional goals? Continuing to stretch myself outside my comfort zones by embracing new roles in different business units within the AT&T family
Who would you most want to thank for your success? Definitely my family – their support from the day I set off for college to today has been tremendous and second to none. They’ve celebrated my wins and helped me up when I’ve stumbled – wouldn’t be where I am without them
Fun fact about yourself: I listen to NPR’s Morning Edition everyday – is that fun? Or not fun…?!
Favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Favorite movie: The Sound of Music
Favorite musical performer: Jason Mraz
Favorite television show: Project Runway
Favorite vacation spot: Florida Keys with the family
Hobbies: outdoor activities (soccer, running, hiking); travel; spending time with my family
What made Molly such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016? “Molly fits the stereotype of the veteran MBA student in many ways. She’s highly organized and conscientious. She can adapt to last-minute changes and unexpected challenges with grace, and she’s fully committed to serving others and to performing even the smallest task with excellence. But Molly truly breaks the stereotype when you meet her. She’s gregarious, engaging and warm – not the “buttoned up” traditional MBA.
One of the ways that Molly demonstrated leadership during her time at Notre Dame included supporting admissions through arranging for student volunteers to host prospective MBA students. She had the skills to rally volunteers when necessary, but also the warmth to be a welcoming presence and “face of the program.” When she had the opportunity to go abroad for seven-week module in Chile, she came to me having already identified her ideal replacement in her role as Ambassadors Program Manager.
Molly is justifiably proud of her joint military experience that involved all of the service branches – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – because collaboration is imperative for her. She is that rare leader who listens and engages others in finding solutions.
Notre Dame has great respect for military service and a historical tie to the Navy, and Molly epitomizes the values that ND and the Navy share. Military is successful only when people work together, and yet hold themselves accountable for achieving at a high level. That’s Molly.” —
Kristin McAndrew, Director of Graduate Business Programs Admissions, University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business
DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS
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