Meet Stanford’s MBA Class of 2018

Lucas Giannini Mendonca Abreu

Stanford Graduate School of Business (Joint MBA/MA in Education)

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Citizen, husband, son, grandson, brother, godfather, colleague, classmate, and friend always trying to get better.

Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil

Fun Fact About Yourself: My significant other and I met when we were 7 years old.

Undergraduate School and Major: Universidade de São Paulo, Economics

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

The Boston Consulting Group, Senior Associate

Instituto Natura, Consultant

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: As a consultant back in Brazil, I did a project to support a group of leading nonprofits in rethinking how they approached innovation in public education. We facilitated several meetings between them and key stakeholders in the education sector, including the most senior government officials, to envision what actions they could take. As a result of this effort, a new cross-sector initiative was founded, the first of its kind in the country. I spent one year working to start the organization up, which is now fully functional and delivering promising results.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? I believe the application process is a period to self-reflect and become more self-aware. In my case, it helped me to better understand who I am, as well as why the decision to pursue an MBA (and where) was the right choice for me (which honestly wasn’t clear in the beginning). I believe that, with these thoughts and reflections, I was able to both share a more authentic version of myself in the essays and interviews and to be more assertive on why this school was the place I wanted to be.

These are answers that only you have, and I believe that they are exactly what the schools are looking for. So, my best advice is to truly be yourself throughout the whole process. This will not only help you while applying, but also when you arrive for your first day of classes, since you will know how you want to spend your time during the MBA.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? There are three main reasons why I chose Stanford. First, I wanted to explore a career transition into education, and the joint MBA/MA in Education here was unique for me to develop both the business, interpersonal, and technical skills I needed.

Second, the decision to do a transition in my career is one that I wanted to reflect about more deeply, in terms of what it meant for me as a person and a professional. The application process was the first step on this personal journey, and I believe the school has a unique culture, strong curriculum, and great resources to support the students going through it.

Last, and most important, I chose Stanford because of what I expected (and confirmed) my classmates to be. They are a very accomplished group of young people, but humble enough to know there still is much more to learn. At the same time this is a diverse student body, with various interests, degrees, and backgrounds; we share the same commitment and support each other to go down this journey: discover our passions, develop the skills we need, find the roles we want to play, and luckily be a change agent for what we believe in.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? One of the reasons I came to business school was to find out the answer to this question. Some months in, I still haven’t found it. So, my two best guesses right now are:

• Lead a low-cost and high-quality early child development program in Brazil.

• Produce animated movies with meaningful stories that connect and make people grow.

If I am lucky enough, maybe I can put these two pieces together!

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? I would like for them to say that I helped them make the most out of these two years. We are just a couple of months in this experience and I already feel very fortunate for what we have shared together. It is a real privilege to enjoy their company and learn from their experiences on a daily basis. I hope I can give back somehow, especially by making our community even more diverse, inclusive, and fruitful.