10 Amazing MBA Women To Watch

Steffi Rebello / University of Toronto (Rotman): Picture this. You’re 22 years-old and you’ve just earned your bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. Better yet, you land a job with a dream company like General Electric. There’s just one hitch. GE isn’t going to bring you along slowly. Instead, they’re giving you the proverbial baptism of fire. You’re going to manage a team of 50 people…in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. One more thing: You’re a woman and most of your reports are men who are older than you are.

No problem, right?

That’s Steffi Rebello’s story. In her first job, she was shipped off to Germany to manage a newly-acquired, highly unionized site. The transition may seem daunting on the surface, but Rebello had always welcomed the opportunity to become a leader. Turns out, this fish-out-of-water tale has a happy ending too. “I focused on my targets and did not give up. Within six months, I was able to deliver and change the perspective my team and manager had of me,” she recalls. “Additionally, I set up the Women’s Network to help women (and men) to network and take on leadership positions.”

Indeed, this Abu Dhabi native plans to continue stepping out of her comfort zone at Rotman, a cosmopolitan program renowned for using design thinking to craft innovative solutions. Not surprisingly, this doer hopes to put what she learns there to work…immediately. “After my first year of business school, I would like to look back on the new topics I learned through class, the wide variety of clubs, and my cohort and be able to say I used those topics to tackle real world problems,” she says.

Adi Rajapuram / UCLA (Anderson): Most first-years come to business school hoping to build a network. Adi Rajapuram had something more profound in mind. “I was looking for a class of individuals with whom I could form my own company.”

Rajapuram is a natural entrepreneur, someone who describes herself as a “philosophical daydreamer navigating a pragmatic world, working to turn her passions into reality.” A master of seven languages, she takes her greatest pride in the act of creation – which is often coupled with an act of service. Her volunteer work with the Rape Crisis Center of San Antonio, where she designed a “Start by Believing” campaign to encourage victims to come forward, is an example of that.

“From designing the social media campaign to representing the organization at local health fairs, I saw the direct impact my words and actions had,” she says. ”I am able to educate others, inspiring hundreds of people to pledge their support in believing sexual assault survivors.”

What is Rajapuram’s secret to getting into a selective MBA program like Anderson? Do your homework. “Get to know the programs front-to-back,” she advises. “By the time my interviews rolled around, I could tell my interviewer so much about the school’s unique programs, its resources through special on-campus academic centers, and what I would change about an on-campus club that it felt I could have been representing the school myself!”

DON’T MISS: 10 Women From the Class of 2018 To Watch or The Pioneering MBAs in the Class of 2019

Here is a sample of other women from the Class of 2019 who are poised to make a big difference after earning their MBAs (if not before):