Hometown: Washington, DC
Education: BA, Brown University, dual concentration in Political Science and American Civilization
Before Wharton: Sales & Marketing, Liz Claiborne corporate and a mid-sized fashion start-up; own consultancy, helping emerging designers with distribution and strategy.
After Wharton: General Management
Professors here are also very accessible. I’ve spoken to many of them about projects I may be working on this summer and asked for help with resources.
Learning teams
Coming into business school, I felt like I was entering another country where people were speaking another language. I didn’t know what an income statement was, what a balance sheet was. I ran my own small fashion consulting business before coming here, and my biggest client had four employees. In my industry, I never worked with a person who had an MBA.
Being on a learning team with people who have done private equity, finance, and consulting expanded my horizons. They really helped me get acclimated, and they’re now some of my closest friends.
360 Feedback sessions
We have these 360-feedback sessions twice a year, and the feedback from those four people is probably the most valuable feedback I’ve ever gotten in my life. The constructive criticism is incredibly insightful. It’s taught me about myself—made me aware of things in myself I’ve never been able to see because I never worked in a place where feedback is part of the culture.
A good kind of intensity
Wharton has a reputation for intensity, which is true, but it’s a good kind of intensity. People are always looking to help each other and support each other. And the school does a great job fostering a collaborative environment instead of a competitive environment.
On being involved in the community
One of the things I regretted about undergrad was not forming lasting relationships with professors or the administration. When I arrived at Wharton, I decided to make that a priority. And coming from a nontraditional background, I wanted to make sure that the interests of people with nontraditional backgrounds were represented in the core and certain academic programs. I wanted to make sure there was a voice for those people. So my main focus in terms of extracurriculars has been working with the administration on academic initiatives as a cohort academic representative.
Domino effect
When I took on the responsibility, it was purely for me, because I wanted to develop the relationship with the administration. I had no idea of the domino effect it would have on everything else in my life and how doing something I was passionate about would garner respect from other people. Having worked hard to serve my cohort, I know that I can call anyone in 10 years. The takeaway is if you are building a network based on your own self-interest, it’s pretty transparent. Find something you are passionate about and you want to work hard at, and the rest will flow naturally from there.
Even when interviewing directly against my friends for the same jobs at the same office, I always felt like we were on the same team.
Accessible professors
Professors here are also very accessible. I’ve spoken to many of them about projects I may be working on this summer and asked for help with resources. It’s a very back-and-forth relationship, much more of a peer/colleague relationship than I ever expected. They want to learn from you as much as you want to learn from them.