Meet Indiana Kelley's MBA Class Of 2019

Amy Ying Liu

Indiana University, Kelley School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I am a forever glass half-full kind of girl.

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Fun Fact About Yourself: I spent the last year traveling and volunteering in Asia. I was lucky enough to spend some time in China, Japan, and Thailand.

Undergraduate School and Major: I received my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014.

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: I worked as a business planning assistant at AmTRAN Video Corporation from 2014 to 2016.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: When I first started working at AmTRAN Video Corporation, I noticed that AmTRAN struggled with order fulfillment. Problems with order fulfillment were caused by a lack of communication between AmTRAN’s logistics and sales departments. Each department maintained separate documents detailing the same information that was vital to both operations. To remedy this weakness, I spent a month working with the logistics and sales teams to create a shared forum that each department could update in real time. This saved both teams not only time from updating the same repetitive document but also money from correcting the same careless mistakes. I am proud that I made such a meaningful impact on AmTRAN’s productivity less than a year into my employment at AmTRAN Video Corporation.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? My advice to future business school applicants is to remember that an admissions interview is a dialogue not a monologue. Although your interviewer may use your application materials to strike up a conversation, this is not an invitation to repeat what you wrote in your application verbatim. Remember that your interviewer is trying to see if you are a good fit for their MBA program. Therefore, before your interview, research as much as you can about the MBA program you are applying for, think about a few stories you definitely want to highlight in your interview, and write down a few specific questions you would like to ask your interviewer. After your interview make sure to follow up with a short, thoughtful thank you email.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Indiana University’s abundance of internationally-focused programs was the key factor that led me to choose the Kelley School of Business as my full-time MBA program. I gained a preliminary understanding of international business studying abroad in Beijing, China. At Beijing Normal University, I was chosen to host a series of cross-cultural exchanges. My finesse in organizing these exchanges led Chancellor Henry Yang to ask me to work with him as a University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) representative at Peking University (PKU). While studying at PKU, I helped the CFO of the Beijing United Family Hospital, Walter Xue, improve his English. When I returned to UCSB, I collaborated with five classmates to produce a manual on business communication that highlights the business styles of the six largest economies in Latin America. After college, I spent a little less than two years working for a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company. I just got back from volunteering at Ouyang Yu Experimental Middle School in Hunan, China.

A degree from the Kelley School of Business represents a natural continuation of my pursuit to understand and excel in international business. I plan on graduating Indiana University with not only a MBA in Marketing but also a Certificate in Global Business Achievement. Hands-on learning courses, like the Kelley International Perspectives, will leave me abundantly prepared to work for a major international corporation. I look forward to giving back through GLOBASE where I will help entrepreneurs from emerging economies conquer their unique business challenges. I know that the Kelley School of Business will teach me the skills to thrive in the global market.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school? I believe content marketing, a type of marketing that strategically distributes interactive, interesting, and relevant content to attract a loyal audience, is the future of marketing. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 76 percent of business-to-consumer businesses used content marketing in 2015. 50 percent of these businesses planned on increasing their 2016 content marketing budget. However, only 37 percent believed their 2015 strategy was effective. Clearly, businesses need experts in this field. Success after my first year of business school would be an internship at an international corporation where I could gain hands on experience crafting a successful content marketing campaign.