Ania Sanchez

Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management

“Hard-working Mexican girl who likes to have fun and learn at the same time.”

Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: I grew up in a fun and big family. We are over 100 members on my mom’s side of the family.

Undergraduate School and Major: Business and Marketing – Universidad Tecmilenio

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Mary Kay Cosmetics, Marketing Supervisor

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the school’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Owen prepares us to become leaders in every single aspect. We have the opportunity to integrate the Leadership Development Program (LDP) into our MBA. It is not a class, it’s more like a leadership therapy session in which you and three other classmates share your leadership experiences with an Executive Coach. You receive feedback and get different perspectives that help everyone in the group better articulate the leadership skills you want to develop. This is great for us, the international students. I loved every session!

At Owen, you are part of one of the most dynamic business environments in the country. What has made Nashville such a great place to live and learn for you? If you want the full experience, come to Nashville. Located in Midtown, Vanderbilt gives a big city feel with restaurants and bars, but a 20 minute drive will bring you to beautiful parks to explore. The city is full of friendly people, artists, and country music. Make sure to get your cowboy boots and hit up the saloon next door.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Friendly, approachable, and distinguished. We all come from very different backgrounds and bring a different experience to every class.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: When the pandemic hit, the in-person business model we had preached at Mary Kay was impossible to do. We transformed the process to our 50-year recruiting model in order to recruit more women as Beauty Consultants. Along with my team, in just 4 weeks we developed a new starter kit and recruited more than 350,000 women!

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I got to be part of the Project Pyramid committee, which is part of the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures. My team and I have been working to recruit organizations from all around the world that we will be working with in the second semester. This is a student-led program that uses in-classroom and hands-on learning experiences to meaningfully engage with socially conscious organizations. I cannot wait to start the Project Pyramid course!!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I loved what I was doing before coming to Vanderbilt. In order to keep achieving my career goals, I needed to be part of a powerful community to help me grow in ways I couldn’t even imagine. For me, this learning experience can only be gained through an MBA.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? Celebrations are a big part of Mary Kay, and I had the opportunity to be in charge of the 30th anniversary contest. We had a goal to recruit more women, reach the target sales, and make our salesforce fall in love with the brand. I led a team of 50+ people from different teams and learned so much about the different aspects of a business by working closely with them. This was when I knew I needed to go to business school in order to learn more about subjects I was not familiar with and to try new experiences that can help me mature professionally.

DON’T MISS: Meet Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Class Of 2022