Austin Josiah 

University of California Los Angeles’ Anderson School of Management

“Easy-going, fun-loving, ambitious, Floridian turned Californian who smiles often and has a weird sports obsession.”

Hometown: Orlando, FL

Fun Fact About Yourself: Born in Orange County, CA, 20 minutes from Disneyland and grew up in Orange County, FL, 20 minutes from Disney World.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School (B.S. Economics with concentrations in Finance and Legal Studies).

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Morgan Stanley, Assistant Vice President, Strategy and Business Management

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My greatest accomplishment thus far was creating a program to bring underrepresented minority students from my high school to Morgan Stanley for a High School Early Insights Day at world headquarters in Times Square, NYC. This event was primarily intended for high school students in the local New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas, but I wanted the opportunity to host students from my high school in Orlando, FL since I had such limited exposure to opportunities in business and finance when I was in their shoes. As much as I could, I wanted to change that for students who could potentially follow in my footsteps.

Therefore, I established a program where I hosted three students from my high school to job shadow me, meet other prospective high school seniors interested in finance, and have dinner with a few Wall Street executives. The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves as some had never been to NYC before or had even considered finance. Now, they are on track to be future Morgan Stanley Summer Analysts if they decide that it is the best path for them.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I love that all my Anderson classmates (#AnderFam) are very bright, extremely hard-working, but most of all easy-going. Everyone is so humble and willing to go out of their way to help and support each other. One of our strongest pillars is “Sharing Success” and there have been countless examples in my short three months at school where this pillar has been exemplified in my classwork, club activities, and recruiting events.

UCLA Anderson is founded on three pillars: Share Success, Think Fearlessly, and Drive Change. Which pillar resonates most with you and why? Beyond “Sharing Success,” it has to be “Thinking Fearlessly.” In many ways, business school can be a transformative experience where you’re not only learning and gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to become an accomplished business professional, but you are also expanding beyond your comfort zone to grow personally as well. At UCLA Anderson, we are encouraged to ideate and create in ways we never have before without the fear of failure. Whether it’s working with fellow classmates for Business Creation Option [BCO] on an entrepreneurial venture idea or it’s taking a course that you have no experience in despite its difficulty, thinking and learning fearlessly no matter if you succeed or not is at the core of what being at Anderson is all about.

Aside from your classmates, 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? Because of my industry passion in media, sports, and entertainment, I wanted to be in a large city with myriad opportunities to network, meet with local sports and entertainment companies, and be around a critical mass of students who are also pursuing a similar career path. What better place to do this than in the City of Angels where beyond the ten professional sports teams, there are agencies, media companies, sports start-ups, etc. that you could have the opportunity to intern with during the academic school year? Also, with the power of UCLA Anderson’s Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment, and Sports [MEMES], there are alumni connections, industry conferences, and sports-related courses where you can really delve deep into the industry vertical and develop the relationships necessary to help launch your career. Also, being in a big city where the sun is perpetually shining is and the beach is a quick bike ride away was enticing to me as well.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? As someone who has not traveled much outside of the country, one of my main goals while in business school was to broaden my international footprint. As a member of the Black Business Students Association [BBSA], I am most looking forward to the ten-day Spring Break trek to Accra, Ghana hosted by the BBSA. Because UCLA Anderson has a student-led culture for many of the activities outside of class, students can organize various trips throughout the year. Whether it’s traveling up the coast to Santa Barbara or trekking across the globe with your Japanese friends to Tokyo for another spring break trip, there are plenty of opportunities to travel with your fellow Anderson classmates.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? Probably, the most difficult question I was asked was “Why Now?” At first, I wasn’t sure how to properly and authentically answer this because I did not even know the answer myself. However, I received advice from a friend who recently attended business school. He said that if you know what you want to do and have the experience and knowledge that can help get you there, then why wait when life is so short. He told me to go for it and if it doesn’t work, you can pivot or try again.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Up until this past June, I built a great career at Morgan Stanley doing a variety of different business strategy roles in the Wealth Management division. I developed many great relationships with co-workers and mentors that I will always cherish. However, the learning curve was beginning to flatten and while I enjoyed the strategic nature of my job, my heart was not 100% in it. I knew what industry I wanted to be in and had the skills and knowledge to get there. Despite this, I needed a launching point to help bridge the gap. After speaking with friends and mentors as well as joining the Management Leaders for Tomorrow [MLT] program, I concluded that business school was the next logical step for many reasons – but most importantly to enter the sports and entertainment industry.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I also applied to Michigan Ross, Stanford GSB, Berkeley Haas, Harvard Business School, and USC Marshall.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? While I didn’t quite realize it back then, all the research I did while in the MLT program guided by my coach James Frick prepared me to make a sound decision about which school was most optimal for me. I narrowed down schools based on a matrix of the top factors that interested me. These included sports and entertainment focus, teamwork-oriented culture, big city, and plenty of school spirit. Once I came up with a shortlist of schools, the most critical thing I did to get a feel for the culture and fit was by talking to current and former students of the respective schools and attend any info sessions or diversity weekends on campus. In practice, I attended MLT seminars where I developed relationships with Adcoms and then set up informational calls with many students at the respective schools where I was interested. Lastly, there is no better proxy for experiencing what a business school is like than being on campus and just experiencing what the day-to-day culture during diversity weekends.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Going to the LEAD Summer Business Program at the UVA Darden School during my junior year of high school was the single most transformative experience of my life thus far. For someone who didn’t travel much growing up, attending a program out-of-state with 30 like-minded, underrepresented minority students helped put me on a trajectory that I am so thankful for to this day. I was kind of coerced by my parents to attend since I wanted to spend the summer with my friends at the Florida beaches – and not at a three-week business school boot camp. Not only did I realize that I wanted to study business at one of the world’s top undergraduate business programs, but it was then that I realized that I could combine my passion for sports with a business-oriented career after hearing a talk from the former CIO of Major League Baseball.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In ten years, I see myself leading an investment organization that empowers athletes to use their funds, cachet, and hard-working nature to invest in sustainable startups in the technology, media, and sports industries. College and professional athletes have historically been taken advantage of and don’t always utilize their brands and their money to invest in long term sustainable ventures that better themselves or their communities. Because of the power of social media and the shifts in legislation for the NCAA and other sports governing bodies, there are tremendous opportunities to capitalize on their athletic prowess and use it for self-empowerment. I hope to be at the forefront of this movement and be the intermediary between top athletes and sustainable business investments. I wholeheartedly believe UCLA Anderson can help me achieve this goal.