Anna Costantini  

SDA Bocconi

“I am curious and determinate, I love fun and efficiency, and I value respect and collaboration.”

Hometown: Rome, Italy

Fun fact about yourself: If you cannot find me, I am probably running after a cat

Undergraduate School and Degree: Boston University: B.A. in Mathematics; B.A. in Philosophy

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? ToolsGroup Inc., Business Consultant

Where did you intern during the summer of 2021? I was working full-time at ToolsGroup Inc.

Where will you be working after graduation? Bain & Co, Summer Associate (internship)

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: President of the Ethica club

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? As part of the Ethica Club at SDA Bocconi, I am proud of all the events and activities we are organizing as a team, but especially of having introduced the Mental Health and Social Impact divisions. For Mental Health, we have launched a series of talks about anxiety and stress in business school and in the workplace supported by the school psychologists. For Social impact, we launched a series of informal get-togethers of student lead discussions to share our views and experiences around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of the achievements I am most proud of was the last project before leaving for my MBA: I was staffed on it while there were many delays in the delivery, and with an internal team I never met in person. After much effort at the beginning, I was proud to see it pay off not only because of a timely delivery, but also because of the relationship I built with my new coworkers and with the client team both on a professional and personal level.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose SDA Bocconi for many reasons: the curriculum includes all I am looking for academically. The program is also international, promotes diversity of backgrounds, and is based in Italy (which is where I want to start the next chapter of my professional life). However, the main reason behind my choice is that I really enjoyed meeting with all past MBAs and realised that, while we were different, we had something in common. I thought it could be a good fit.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite professor so far has been Ariela Caglio. I appreciated how she conducted her lectures with professionalism and warmth. Moreover, she was able to use the topic of Performance Management to tie together financial, qualitative, and strategic KPIs, which synthesizes many aspects of the MBA curriculum that I was looking for when I joined the program.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? I am looking forward to the annual sailing club event. While it still hasn’t taken place, I am sure it will be a great occasion to meet new people from all business schools while enjoying a fun weekend in a beautiful location. As it is a difficult event to plan, it represents the determination and hard work that characterizes the school, all of that while not forgetting to enjoy the company of the people in the community. At the same time, the Italian location represents the roots and part of the school culture.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would probably pick more carefully some activities to participate in: there are so many things going on at once that choosing one sometimes might exclude the something you did not even know was coming!

What is the biggest myth about your school?  While I knew the SDA MBA was extremely international, I expected there to be a higher percentage of Italian students. I am happy that it was even more diverse than I thought.

What surprised you the most about business school? I was pleasantly surprised by the availability of the professors: all of them have been showing great enthusiasm for teaching us and they genuinely cared not only about transmitting notions but more importantly about enabling us to be the best future leader we could be.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose? The main aspect that I believe made my application successful was that I was honest. I did my research to make sure that SDA Bocconi was the place I wanted to be, and that came across in all my communications during the application process. I was sure the school would have been a good fit, and that I would be able to contribute to and learn from the community.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? While there are many of my classmates, I am proud to have met in the these past months, I particularly admire Alessandro Polledro. He is an extremely intelligent person that manages to stay unbelievably humble, and he is always ready to help the people around him.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? The person that unknowingly most influenced me in pursuing an MBA is my friend Federico. He has been my “education guardian angel” since I decided to move to the US. As he is a few years older, he has always been showing me paths different from the ones I would have imagined by myself and offered precious advice anytime I would ask.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? No matter what I will do and where I will be in the future, I hope I will always be in an environment where I can learn from, and that I will always be surrounded by curious and respectful people.

How has the pandemic changed your view of a career? The main aspect of my career that was influenced by the pandemic was the location. During the first months, I questioned the reasons I had for staying in Boston, I reviewed my list of priorities, and I decided to move back to Italy.

What made Anna such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2022?

“In addition to being an outstanding student and a successful candidate for Strategy Consulting (she was Bain’s top choice as Summer intern), Anna is also the president of Ethica Club.

Following her lead, the club has been able to offer events and initiatives providing value not only for the Bocconi community, but for society in general.

Here some examples:

* Mental Health: The club offered a workshop hosting Bocconi psychologists during one of the most intense time of the year for everybody. The event was very well received, and the club is now planning to replicate it in May (mental health month)

* Social Impact: A new area of action for the club with focus on volunteering and pro bono. The club is working with Faculty to provide pro bono consulting to a not-for-profit food bank (Pane Quotidiano)

* Sustainability Conference with Andrea Illy from Illy Caffè

* International Women’s Day: A discussion with leading women on career development and D&I

* Last, but not least, in 2 days Alessandro and Anna organized a Humanitarian Support for Ukraine gathering goods for its population

Anna is smart, assertive, has strong soft skills and is very determined. She successfully promoted ownership in each club member, valuing their contribution as project managers of each event.

She is also ambitious, prepared and has clear goals. She works hard for herself, but also for her fellow students, the School and the community. When thinking about our nominations for this challenge, she was our very first choice, hands down.”

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2022