Jiahui Jia

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business

“Pursue excellence, always challenge myself and never give up!”

Hometown: Foshan, Guangdong, China (Arizona Resident for 7 years)

Fun fact about yourself: I love drama and play! I used to be a leading actress in the drama club back in my undergraduate school.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

Sun Yat-sen University (China), Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

Arizona State University, Master of Mass Communication

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school?

Local restaurant, Manager

Interpreter, CyraCom

Multimedia Journalist, Cronkite News/Arizona PBS

Where did you intern during the summer of 2021? Bank of America, Charlotte (Remote)

Where will you be working after graduation? Bank of America, Strategy and Management Associate

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Awards and honors:

Full time MBA scholarship

Net Invester

Leadership Roles:

VP of Marketing and Communication, MBA Association

• Create and design a weekly newsletter to deliver program announcements, career information, and club events
• Manage and operate W. P. Carey Official full-time MBA Instagram account that highlights students’ profiles and activities
• Support other club activities and help with advertising
• Coordinate with other business schools to create an MBA introduction video

Peer Career Coaching: Provide career coaching service to undergraduates, masters and alumni. Help students navigate their career paths. I usually help them fix resumes, improve their interview skills, and answer career-related questions.

MBA Ambassadors: As an ambassador, I connect with many prospective students. I shared my MBA experience and helped them know more about our programs. I create group chats on WeChat and WhatsApp for all Chinese students to enhance their relationships and help whatever I can.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Before I entered the program, I had no business background. I studied Journalism as my undergraduate degree, and I also pursued a master’s degree in Mass Communication at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

I was so worried about my capability when school started. However, my journalism background became my most significant advantage in my MBA journey. When I was a multimedia journalist, I used to film videos, conduct interviews, and edit videos a lot. I bring all my journalism skills to the program to improve the program. I demonstrated excellent public speech and presentation in all my classes. I am delighted I can help my peers improve their presentation skills. I created a lot of creative video-presentation for my teams, and they all got the top scores.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? As an international student, I wrote a story about women finding empowerment in martial arts. This story made the front page of the Arizona Republic. I am so proud of myself and my hard work. Many people told me that my story inspires them and truly empowers women.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose W. P. Carey because this program is a small-size program where I can get to know everyone. It reminds me of the time when I was in high school. I made some terrific friends here, and our friendship will last forever. In addition, it’s a more friendly and supportive community rather than a competitive community. We help each other study, prepare for interviews and find a good job. I enjoy my time here.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite professor is Mikaella Polyviou. I took her Strategic Procurement class in Spring 2021. She demonstrated a complex concept in an easily understandable way to students. She inspired me to think critically and encouraged me to achieve a higher goal. We learned procurement knowledge and used it to help a local dental practice solve its spending problems.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? There are so many fabulous events during my MBA program, such as W. P. Scarey Halloween Custom Event, Holi event, MBAA Holiday Party…… My favorite event is Lunch and Learn, The Lunar New Year! My MBA friend Cindy Lee and I got to make a presentation to introduce Chinese culture and the Lunar New Year to my peers. We prepared different cultural topics for our event with many fun games. We even used a lot of lanterns to decorate the tree outside the room. Our audience loved our event, and I felt like I was a Chinese culture ambassador to spread my country’s culture worldwide. I am very proud of the event!

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Although we are a small size community and we all know each other. There are still some of my classmates that I want to know more about them. I wished to participate in more social events to meet them and learn more about them.

What is the biggest myth about your school? This is an excellent question. W. P. Carey is a very generous school, and it cares about our students so much! They provided generous scholarships to the majority of the full-time MBA students. During my first year, we even had free coffee and lunch from Monday to Thursday for the whole year!

What surprised you the most about business school? I did not expect that study MBA would be very challenging, especially in the first year. I had ten classes in my first semester, and more than half of them were heavy quantitative classes, such as finance, accounting, and statistics. Compared to my first master’s degree, the MBA program demands more and requires me to contribute time and energy.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose? This is the second time that I have applied for this program. I applied for the full-time MBA program in 2019, and I was on the waiting list. However, I did not give up. I know MBA is the opportunity that I must seize to improve myself and advance my career. So I tried again! I retook the GRE test and got a higher score. I studied a lot and prepared well for my interview. I think the admission team also valued my perseverance.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire Jessica Prellberg so much! In my MBA program, she was my teammate from my first team, team Moxie. She is super talented and very good at quantitative classes. But most importantly, she has a good heart that loves to help others in the program. She is passionate and contributed a lot of her time to help peers achieve academic success. She even created a new role, VP of Academy Success in the MBA Association, to improve the program. She organized some class info roundabout tables to help new students know more about the classes and assist the professor in finding the best teaching assistant. She is an actual net investor in our program!

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My lovely husband, Jai, is the person that pushed me to where I am right now. My husband worked as a senior business analyst from home. I loved the job he did and wanted to enter the business field. He told me to apply for an MBA since I already had a few years of work experience. He is super supportive and will do anything to help me succeed in my career. During my two-year program, He was the only one who worked in my family. He worked very hard to make sure I could concentrate on my study and focus on my career. I appreciate his support and love!

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First, I wish I could do some business between China and the U.S. Second. I want to be the CEO of one of the fortune 500 companies before retiring.

How has the pandemic changed your view of a career? Everything is changing nowadays, and nothing is stable. To catch the changes, we need to be adaptive and flexible. The more we know, the more we are confident to face challenges when unpredictable events happen. Never stop learning and improving yourself.

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

“Jiahui’s work on the MBAA newsletter has been extremely valuable to the career coaching team. Jiahui’s willingness to work with us to get our reminders into the newsletter, often on short notice, is always much appreciated and the promptness with which she is able to reply to requests is impressive. The newsletter has been a key channel for us to get important information out to the MBA cohorts, including event marketing, reminders to report employment, and coaching appointment availability. By using her skills and talents to not only help her peers get the important information they need, but also to transform the newsletter into such a valuable communication tool, Jiahui will leave a lasting impact on the program that we hope will be carried forth long after she has graduated.”

Miranda Milovich
Assistant Director
W. P. Carey Career Management and Employer Engagement

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