Annie Forrest

Duke University, Fuqua School of Business

“Appalachian mountain woman passionate about social impact, rural communities, and pursuing another slice of pizza.”

Hometown: Richlands, VA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve driven over 60,000 miles on a quest to visit all 50 states by my 30th birthday. Right before moving to Durham this summer, I checked off the final one, Alaska, with just five months to spare.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Virginia, Psychology and Women, Gender, & Sexuality

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: One Love Foundation, Director of Program Growth

The MBA program is renowned for its “Team Fuqua” culture, which is predicated on six paired principles: Authentic Engagement, Supportive Ambition, Collective Diversity, Impactful Stewardship, Loyal Community, and Uncompromising Integrity. Which of these resonates most with you – and what does that principle demand of you as a Fuqua MBA? Impactful Stewardship definitely resonates the most. As someone both coming from and intending to return to the social impact field, I wanted to find a program that supported its students who choose this seemingly non-traditional MBA path. Social impact felt woven into the DNA of the Fuqua program, not just an add-on or after-thought, which continuously drew me to the school throughout the application and final decision-making process. Fuqua has a clear expectation for all its students to be impact-oriented, whether it’s a formal part of their career or not.

What has been your first impression of the Fuqua MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best Fuqua story so far. When my roommate unintentionally locked me out of our apartment one of my first nights in town, three Fuqua classmates, without hesitation, offered their own apartments to stay for the night. Like many, I was excited to see the “Team Fuqua” culture in action, and my first impression (and every impression thereafter) is that it really does permeate the community.

Aside from your classmates and school culture, what was the key part of Duke Fuqua’s MBA curriculum programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I’m deeply interested in the intersection of social impact and entrepreneurship, using business as a force for good to innovatively solve our most-pressing problems. Fuqua has an entire Social Entrepreneurship concentration and center – CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) – dedicated to just that. The resources for and long-standing commitment to social impact at Fuqua blew me away.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Duke Fuqua? The alliterative “Fuqua Friday” tradition, an informal end-of-week celebration with the Fuqua community, is top of the list. As excited as I am to soak up classroom learning here, I am equally as excited for laid-back opportunities to build relationships.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One Love educates young people about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships to prevent abuse, mostly using short, emotionally engaging films as catalysts for conversation. Because relationship abuse occurs across all identities – race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, level of ability, etc. – it is critical for our educational content to reflect that. To center underrepresented voices, I pitched the idea for a film fellowship program featuring young LGBTQ+ and filmmakers of color to a potentially major funder who had previously denied our proposals. The funder loved the idea and agreed to invest $375,000 to provide grants for these filmmakers to produce films from their lived experiences. Leading the project from its conceptualization to its completion, with four unbelievable new short films showcasing relationship and friendship dynamics in different communities, is something I will absolutely never forget.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? Prior to attending Fuqua, I spent my career dedicated to sexual assault and relationship abuse prevention. Although I’ll always be committed to those issues, I felt ready to close that chapter and pursue the next. During the pandemic, I moved out of NYC and back to rural Southwest Virginia where I’m from and was re-confronted with many of the challenges (or rather, opportunities for innovation!) in the Appalachian region. I knew there were many foundational skills I needed to positively impact our underserved area and an MBA provided the best way to gain them for me. Post-graduation, I hope to either start a social enterprise focused on increasing social, educational, and economic accessibility in Appalachia or join a large-scale social impact organization focused on serving rural communities in high-impact ways.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? I often revisit Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly book, which is chock full of wisdom about the power of vulnerability and courage to live authentically. The title comes from Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech, which is framed in my room. It reminds us that, even if we fail, there can be neither failure nor success without actually trying. Putting yourself out there during the MBA application process is challenging, but it’s also the first step to being “in the arena.”

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Duke Fuqua’s MBA program? Let who you are – at your core – shine through in your application. I remember thinking, “Even if I don’t get into Fuqua, I know I shared exactly who I am with their team,” and I will never be upset with myself for doing that. They’re looking for people who are genuine.

DON’T MISS: MEET DUKE FUQUA’S MBA CLASS OF 2024