Daniel Bradley

UC Davis Graduate School of Management

“The type of person to spend more than two hours trying to answer this question adequately.”

Hometown: Crescent City, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: In 2018, I spent about three weeks on a solo road trip across the country. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, for a grand total of just over 4,200 miles!

Undergraduate School and Major: UC Davis, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Local Logic Media LLC, Director of Frontend Development

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the MBA curriculum or activities that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The mentorship and investment I received as an undergraduate at UC Davis was the most impactful and transformational portion of my education. By joining the UC Davis MBA program, I would develop even deeper relationships with faculty, staff and my peers, who will help me grow into the person and leader I want to be.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? There are many defining qualities that I love about my classmates. If I were to just pick one, it would be open-minded. Collaboration with my classmates is a daily occurrence. Freely sharing ideas and feedback all while knowing it will be received well is empowering. Inversely, knowing that you will receive open and honest feedback is transformational.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I struggled throughout high school and didn’t intend on pursuing higher education. In my early 20s, I held two different leadership positions for two different companies and felt like I wasn’t reaching my potential. I decided to pursue medical school because I thought being a doctor would allow me to have the impact that I wanted. At the age of 25, I re-enrolled into classes at a local junior college. I went from being near the bottom of my class in high school to near perfect scores in my college courses. I was then accepted into the UC Davis Biochemistry program and subsequently scored exceptionally well on the Medical College Admission Test. All of this highlights that my biggest accomplishment so far has been overcoming the obstacles in my way and gaining the understanding that I can accomplish way more than I once believed.

What has been the biggest surprise in your first three months of business school? I’m most surprised by how transformational the material has been. I’m approaching problems through a new lens. New perspectives that give me a priceless opportunity to continually step outside of my comfort zone in an environment heavily focused on changing lives. Just in the first three months, I’ve seen myself overcome most of my fear of public speaking and have come to somewhat enjoy it.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I wanted to gain a deep understanding of how businesses operate holistically, from finance to operations to marketing. Most importantly, I wanted to take a deeper look at my leadership style and ways that I can grow.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I’ve lived in Davis for two years and I immediately felt a deep connection to the community when I first moved here. The UC Davis MBA program was the only program I was interested in and was the only one where I applied.

What do you see yourself doing ten years from now? I hope whatever I’m actually doing is bigger and more impactful than what I currently believe I will be doing. I would love to be doing the things I am currently terrified of: writing books, speaking at a national level, and transforming lives to name a few.

DON’T MISS: Meet The UC Davis Graduate School of Management MBA Class of 2022