Betzaira Herrera

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“Family-oriented, authentic, and purposeful first generation-Latina born and raised in the city of Chicago!”

Hometown: Chicago, IL 

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love cooking and hosting my family and friends! I started the hashtag #betzybites on Instagram, where I document my meals and latest drink recipes!

Undergraduate School and Major: DePaul University, Business Administration

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Allstate Insurance Company, Senior Consultant Diversity Recruiting

What makes Atlanta such a great place to earn an MBA? I was looking for a culturally rich city that offered a little bit of all the seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring!

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? One of the key factors that led me to choose Emory was Goizueta’s intimate learning environment created by the small community of full-time two-year MBA students. I wanted a place where I can bring my whole self to campus every day, where my voice would be heard and I would feel valued.

I was highly interested in being a Social Enterprise Fellow at Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute. I have a deep interest in leading social impact work within corporate America, specifically looking at the people, policy, and processes of systematic racism. Getting accepted as a social enterprise fellow, I can now play an active role in organizing the John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition, which was on my radar since I learned about Emory being the founding school of this case competition.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Emory Goizueta? So many things! I’m super excited to have Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as my concentration in my MBA! It’s important to me that as I grow as a business leader. I am also growing as a more empathetic leader, while keeping issues like DEI at the forefront of not only my interest but also to serve as a better thought leader in this space. I am looking forward to being an active leader within our Consortium Family and finding ways to get involved in the admission process. I’ll love the opportunity to give back to organizations like MLT and Consortium, which I will forever feel indebted to for providing the resource and guidance that helped me navigate the MBA application process!

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I’ve had the opportunity to work at a number of different industries and companies thanks to my early exposure to corporate America. I started my internship experience as a senior in high school, working as a Talent Acquisition Intern at PepsiCo in Chicago. In college, I had three internships: I was a Campus Recruiting Intern at Chick-fil-A Support Center in Atlanta, a Law Enforcement Operations Intern at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and a Campus Recruiting Coordinator at a management consulting firm in Chicago called West Monroe Partners. I started my post-college career at PepsiCo in Dallas as a Talent Acquisition professional managing recruiting operations and diversity relations. After 5.5 years at PepsiCo, I left to join Allstate Insurance Company to join the experienced Talent Acquisition team as a Senior Diversity Recruiting Consultant. To summarize, by my current age of 30, I’ve managed to work at five different industries, two Fortune 100 companies, and at the third largest restaurant chain brand in the country. My exposure to different industries and companies helped me discover my interest in people, policy and processes within large organizations!

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? I’m looking forward to growing as a human-centric leader throughout the next two years of my MBA experience at Goizueta! We have such a diverse cohort of domestic and international students that I am also excited to expand my cultural knowledge by learning from my teammates inside and outside the classroom. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of as many global opportunities as possible! As someone who embodies two different cultures (Mexican and American) and whose first language was Spanish, I want to use my MBA experience to challenge myself to view people, businesses, and cultures through a global lens. I look forward to being part of a community of peers with diverse skillsets, experiences, and perspectives that will help me develop into a better thought leader.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Emory Goizueta’s MBA program?  Participate in as many virtual and in-person events as possible! I attended Inside Goizueta Diversity Preview weekend in November and it completely changed my perspective on Emory. It was the intentionality of every session from the women’s leadership panel to seeing the diversity of the MBA admission and full-time program office that helped me see myself as a future member of the Goizueta community. Having first-hand experience interacting with current students, faculty and staff throughout admission events will help you create a more authentic narrative during your application.