Tyki Wada

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“Relentlessly all-in, I dive headfirst into my endeavors and bring my friends along.”

Hometown: Tokyo, Japan

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love futsal. Futsal is essentially soccer played with a heavier ball in an area the size of a basketball court. It is fast, technical, and requires you to play well as a team to succeed.

Undergraduate School and Major: Brigham Young University, B.S., Statistics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: The Coca-Cola Company, Senior Business Analytics & Insights Analyst

What makes Atlanta such a great place to earn an MBA? Atlanta is a beautiful city in the forest where you can do almost anything. My wife and I have a little child. Because of this, we live our lives through her eyes. Luckily, there is always something we can do as a family! Chastain Park, the Aquarium, and the Fernbank Science Center are a few places we enjoy.

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? Emory has an incredible job placement rate. My guess is, this is by design. I noticed Goizueta outwardly placed special attention to the cultural fit and potential of each student. Additionally, the Career Management Center sets us up well before we even set foot on campus. I am impressed with the attention to detail towards the student experience, and I know this is where I belong.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Emory Goizueta? One course I have in mind is Content Marketing, taught by Marina Cooley. Many students I spoke with have rated this class at the top of their electives list. As an aspiring tech product manager, I know I will need to understand and advocate for my customer through their journey. I’m excited to better my ability to think through user preferences and pain points, which will guide the creation of crucial product vision and future improvements.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Two years ago, I was thrown into a newly-formed analytics group to build North America’s strategic decision structure. Within my first few months, I had the great opportunity to work alongside an amazing team to develop a shopper segmentation framework and a category prioritization tool that highlighted imminent risks and lit the path for where we should play over the short- and long-term timeframes.

The icing on the cake was how our strategic recommendations didn’t end as strategy. I eventually got the opportunity to become a product owner, partnering with a business lead and a data science lead. In the process, I was able to build out a store optimization planning tool that granted a user the ability to query and target any subset of stores of their choosing based on custom historical sales inquiries. It was amazing to watch hundreds of excited internal and external stakeholders utilize our newfound capability to better actualize the plans of the business.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? In terms of my career, landing a product management role in tech defines my success. On a personal level, I am here to learn new ways to solve problems. My background in statistics and data science has given me a keen sense for how to model outcomes with the right data. However, I know that this is not the only way. Leaving the MBA with the true range and confidence to tackle almost any problem I face in life is how I will mark my accomplishment.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Emory Goizueta’s MBA program? As with any program, take the time to understand the school from every angle. I have noticed Goizueta takes careful note of your intent and desire. Collating your strengths with the highest qualities that Goizueta offers to build your ‘why’ should make a world of a difference. Also, the alumni and current students are always there to help. Feel free to reach out!