Hometown: Princeton Junction, NJ
Education: BA in Economics from Harvard University
Before Wharton: Bain and Company, Warner Music Group
After Wharton: Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Rani Yadav
My Story About Me
Wharton is really supportive of entrepreneurs — I’ve found amazing programs here like the Wharton Entrepreneurial Club and the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program.
Support for entrepreneurs
Right now, my long-term goal is to own my own restaurant group. But to be honest, I need to find out what my best opportunity could be, given the restaurant industry’s high failure rate. Fortunately, Wharton is really supportive of entrepreneurs. I’ve found amazing programs here like the Wharton Entrepreneurial Club and the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program, which teach you things like how to write a business plan, how to give an elevator pitch, how to think about funding. There are a number of people here who have started businesses and then sold them and been very successful.
On the benefits of trying new things
I used to perform in college as a dancer, but I’d never been involved in a theatrical production. So when I came to Wharton, I thought why not try something that is completely different, and signed up to be a writer for the Wharton Follies. The show has been a great way to meet a lot of people, especially second years, and at the same time have a fun time doing something outside my comfort zone, something I would have never considered doing before. The reward for me was the first performance when all the students came. The passion and excitement and anticipation of that show — I felt like I was part of a Wharton tradition.
Deeper connections
When you bond with people through non-academic avenues, you sometimes have a deeper connection. People go to business school to network, and you are going to get that automatically. But when you are forming relationships in a fun atmosphere, it’s more of a friendship. Those are things that last longer than superficial relationships.
My Wharton experience
My learning team is by far the most diverse team I’ve ever worked on. When we started out as a team there were growing pains learning to work together. We had to give difficult feedback to people who were not participating as much. People were choosing roles that were comfortable to them. But as we became more familiar with each other and adjusted our learning styles, we realized what people needed to work on and what their strengths and weaknesses were.
In the end, my learning team has become really close — they are not people I would have gravitated to naturally here at school—and now we are a really high-performing team. We’ve hit our stride. We feel like a family at this point. They are amazing people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
