Hometown: Fairfield, NJ
Education: Harvard University
Before Wharton: Most recently, MasterCard Worldwide (Director, Regional Marketing Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa), Goldman Sachs & Co. (Analyst, Investment Banking), Ogilvy and Mather (Brand Strategist)
After Wharton: Marketing Strategy/Consulting
Wharton was the only school that had the reputation, the reach, and focus, and really delivered on the analytics.
Bonding with 60 people
The cohort system breaks down the experience into digestible pieces, and you really get to bond with the 60 people in your cohort. I was selected to be the social chair of my cohort. It was a fun way to take on the responsibility of breeding relationships and friendships at the business school level. I also got involved in the Welcome Weekend because I had such a great experience at mine. The best part for me at Wharton is the people who I've met and the things that I learned from my peers. By working on Welcome Weekend, I wanted to make sure that in some small way, I could help fuel that pipeline.
Wharton Learning
The business practices that I'm learning, especially from professors who've had outside experience or have done extensive research, has been a great takeaway. I've learned so much – how other people work, other people's leadership styles, how other people manage people, and where other people are struggling to figure out how they get to the next level. I've been extremely challenged by my peers, no matter how old they are or what industry they've been in. I'm working on a project right now, in the cosmetics industry for L'oreal in a brand marketing role, where if I hadn't taken one of my operations classes, I wouldn't be able to approach the problem.
Learning from my peers
The most exciting thing for me when it comes to learning from my peers and mixing with them is the cross-pollination effect. Although I have a marketing and finance background, there may be someone who has a consulting background and worked on an interesting project and has an interesting take I can put to a marketing use. I'm now challenging myself to learn from other people in different fields that will help me in my career. Even in my summer internship now – I'm working in a packaged goods arena – there are times when pull something in from my conversations with friends who used to be logistics consultants. I'm learning that being in an environment that is so diverse, that cross-pollination is really beneficial.
Professors really make an impact
The Global Strategies course with Professor Mary O'Sullivan was very relevant. As a professor, she challenged our class and held us to high standards. She frequently called on people in class, so everyone had to be prepared. We wanted to challenge her back in the classroom. In the beginning of the quarter, she spoke a lot more, and she really facilitated conversation. She made us think in a certain way and equipped us with the tools, so that by the end of the quarter, she barely had to speak in the class. We had taken over the classroom and we were teaching ourselves! Towards the end of the semester, we were so well prepared with a foundation of how to think strategically, we had gotten to the level where we were engaging in complex high-level discussions about how to help businesses run and get them to the next level.
