Samantha Stevens

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“I’m an anti-poverty advocate, passionate about the clean energy transition, green cities, biking, and my cats.”

Hometown: Grayson, Georgia

Fun Fact About Yourself: I grew up working in my mother’s bakery.

Undergraduate School and Major: Emory University, Latin American History

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Manager, Policy and Strategic Initiatives at the Congressional Hunger Center

What makes Atlanta such a great place to earn an MBA? Atlanta is the perfect place to continue your business education — it’s more than just home to world-class companies, startups, and incubators. Atlanta is the birthplace of great American ideas and movements, boasts a diversity of all kinds, and has a generative, creative spirit that makes me optimistic for our future.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Emory Goizueta’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I wanted a small program where I would have a ton of access to professors and strong relationships with my classmates. I think I learn best in small groups, so this was important to me.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Emory Goizueta? I’m most excited to engage with the Business & Society Institute. Coming from a social impact background, using my time in business school to contribute to the greater Atlanta community is a top priority.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I launched and scaled the Zero Hunger Internship, a leadership development program that provides college students with a paid learning opportunity in Washington D.C., where they develop their anti-hunger advocacy skills and return to their home communities, ready to accelerate social change. It was a true honor working with these students and my colleagues at the Congressional Hunger Center.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? I love Esther Perel’s How’s Work? podcast series. The episodes are unscripted therapy sessions between coworkers, bosses and their employees, co-founders, and more. Perel helps folks understand how to show up for their colleagues and constituents with respect and understanding, which I really love.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Emory Goizueta’s MBA program? My best advice is to get to know the students and admissions program team throughout the application process. Before my Emory interview, a current Emory student walked me through his interview experience, gave me feedback on my answers, and wished me luck. He didn’t know me; we met when I reached out to him on LinkedIn. He just wanted to help. That’s the Goizueta way, and it made me eager to participate in such a generous community. So: reach out to students on LinkedIn and attend official admissions events to meet the admissions team, who are all extremely personable and remember your name after one interaction.