Rebecca Dewey

New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business

“Problem solver and positive thinker, dedicated to building strong and efficient teams and systems.”

Hometown: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Fun fact about yourself: I worked for an aerospace start-up right after college and they named satellites after employees. Sadly, LEMUR-BECCADEWEY didn’t deploy properly and burned up before entering orbit.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Tufts University, B.A in International Relations and Environmental Studies

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Adore Me, Product to Market Manager

Where did you intern during the summer of 2019? Bain & Company, Boston

Where will you be working after graduation? Bain & Company, Consultant

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Student government co-president
• LAUNCH Captain (MBA orientation leader) for the Class of 2021
• ROMBA 2019 Panel organizer
• Associate vice president, OutClass
• Associate vice president of Allyship, Association of Black and Hispanic Business Students

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school?  I am most proud of serving as a LAUNCH captain during this year’s MBA orientation. As the first group the new class meets on campus, LAUNCH captains have the opportunity to set the tone for the year and help the new class start the year strong. As part of LAUNCH, I also got to see many of my initiatives as Student Government Co-President come to life, including new programming about diversity and inclusion, our annual orientation day of service, and a refresh to Stern Social, our beloved campus tradition of Thursday night social events.

This role doesn’t end with orientation. As a LAUNCH captain, I continued to meet with my block each Monday of the first semester, offering guidance on picking classes, career events, and even the best lunch spots near the school. It was an honor to hold a role that I had looked up to so much in my first year and to help make Stern the most welcoming place possible for new students.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Serving as the Acting Director of Human Resources for Adore Me Services, the distribution arm of Adore Me, was a highlight of my professional career before business school. During the holiday rush of 2017, our outsourced distribution center was unable to fulfill customer orders on time. After deploying to the facility to help clear the backlog, my team realized we needed to in-source distribution to meet our growth projections and maintain customer satisfaction. After receiving approval from the Board of Directors, we set out to launch a fully functional facility in 10 months to meet the demand of the next holiday season, much shorter than the industry average of 12-18 months to build such a facility. I was placed in charge of Human Resources, despite being a supply chain professional. It required an immense amount of research, asking questions to industry experts, and (of course) a few consultations with our labor lawyers. In the end, I was able to get the HR function up and running in only eight months. Perhaps most importantly, we were able to bring the same spirit of women’s empowerment to the facility that was core to our corporate culture, hiring and promoting more women than the average warehouse and bringing our male employees into the fold as part of our Male Allies group.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Stern for two main reasons. First, the community. Stern prides itself on “IQ + EQ” and I was drawn to a school that emphasized the human side of business as well as its technical aspects. Secondly, I wanted to stay in the Northeast. Living in NYC before business school, I knew how much the city had to offer in terms of access to companies and events. Stern does a fantastic job of connecting students with the city, and I’ve really enjoyed being able to visit companies in person and get involved in experiential learning projects in the city.

What is your best advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Share your personality in your application in addition to career and academic information. Stern cares about the whole person, which I think is especially illustrated through the “Pick Six” personal expression photo essay. Prospective students are asked to share six photos and Instagram-esque captions that share a bit more about who they are. Many applicants I’ve talked to find this the most daunting part of the application, but there really are no wrong answers. It’s a way for the admissions committee to see the person behind the application and brings your personality to life.

What is the biggest myth about your school? Before coming to Stern, I kept hearing that it was a highly collaborative environment and that people really cared for and looked after one another. I wasn’t sure that could be true – isn’t business school supposed to be competitive?

This myth is definitely true, and it’s the secret sauce to Stern. Students, faculty, and administrators will go out of their way to help each other, and it makes me excited to go to campus every day. The School promotes the value of “IQ + EQ” and I love to see the many ways that Sternies live this value every day.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would join more of the affinity and social clubs. It can be easy to get caught up in academics, career search, and getting to know your classmates, but business school offers so many exciting events, activities, and guest speakers. It’s impossible to attend them all, but if I could change one thing, I’d try to join more clubs early in the first year and attend their events as often as possible.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? My Student Government co-president, Sohail Mathur, is the epitome of a Sternie in my eyes. He fosters an inclusive environment at school, for example acting as a Male Ally and advocates for international students. Sohail is incredibly passionate about entertainment and media and has not only pursued his own career in the field but helped others to prepare as well, running an immersion program at Warner Media and mentoring first-year students. Outside of school, Sohail volunteers with youth every Saturday, even while TA’ing multiple courses and holding a part-time job. And as anyone on campus will tell you, he knows everyone in our class and will always stop in the hallways to say hello and chat. He lives the Stern values of IQ + EQ every day.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My mom! She earned her MBA from the University of Houston in the 1980s and worked as a right-of-way agent for Exxon at a time when few women were doing fieldwork. She showed me what it looked like to have a fulfilling professional and personal life, and I wanted to follow in her footsteps.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Increase the representation of women and minorities in the workplace. Inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging is a passion of mine. While I have had the privilege of working for companies that hold the same values, I know we can always do better and look forward to helping many organizations to be even more inclusive.
2. Live and work internationally. I have done short-term stays in Scotland and Romania for work but would love to stay somewhere longer-term, especially if I were able to use my Spanish language skills as well.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? A dedicated leader who was driven to catalyze positive change and foster an inclusive environment.

Hobbies? Yoga and baking. Our LGBTQ+ organization, OutClass, recently held a bake sale to raise funds for a youth center and it was a great excuse to spend a day in the kitchen with friends making many sweet treats!

What made Rebecca Dewey such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2020?

“I am so happy to provide a recommendation for Rebecca Dewey. Rebecca has consistently gone above-and-beyond to add value to the Stern community. Poised and professional while also down-to-earth and caring, Rebecca is going to leave NYU Stern a better place than she found it.

Rebecca served as a co-president of the NYU Stern Student Government. This is a very important role, as it represents the student voice and partners with a variety of stakeholder groups across the school. In this role, Rebecca has been able to consider a variety of thoughts and opinions to be able to identify solutions and ideas to address different challenges and opportunities. Throughout, she has done this with her signature intelligence and care. Rebecca helped to spearhead a new initiative this year called Stern Social. Stern Social included Community Dinners, which were held twice a semester. Community Dinners are open to students, their partners, as well as faculty and administrators, and they are a way for the larger Stern community to come together over a meal and forge connections. The Community Dinners have been an incredible addition to the Stern family and have built relationships across the School.

Additionally, Rebecca served as an orientation leader for incoming students. In this volunteer position, she provided a space and an opportunity for new students to share their questions while becoming acclimated to business school. Rebecca supported so many first-year students, helping them to adjust to the pace of both classes and recruiting while finding time to create social gatherings.

Rebecca’s particular dedication to creating forums for conversations about diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion has helped the School to move forward with key initiatives that provide the foundation for future leaders. The work that Rebecca has done in this space will benefit the many future Stern students who will come after her.

Rebecca is a truly outstanding student, and I believe she is one of the best and the brightest!”

Beth Briggs
Assistant Dean, Career Services, NYU Stern School of Business

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