Chastity Lovely

The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

“Fun–loving, practical, curious. I want to understand the world, eat every food, and learn every language.”

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Fun Fact About Yourself:  As a proud MoMBA, I get ready for class each morning with a 5-minute dance party with my six-month-old.

Undergraduate School and Major: Bryn Mawr College, BA in English; University of Chicago, MA in Middle East Studies

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Lead Learning Designer, The Holdsworth Center

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? There are so many reasons both personal and professional! If you are interested in the social or public sectors, Austin is overflowing with something like over 5000 registered nonprofits, which makes it a great place to explore and flex the skills you’re learning to support local organizations and make a positive impact while you’re here. The city has been attracting more Fortune 500 companies to open offices here, so the opportunities are truly expansive. It is also such a chill place with an awesome al fresco food scene and vibrant outdoors and music culture. Outside of summer, you can’t beat the weather here! It’s a nice balance to the intensity of business-school to be able to relax and enjoy great food and nature pretty easily.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Texas McCombs’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Outside of the supportive culture at University of Texas, few business schools offer the opportunity to pursue a Social Work – MBA dual degree with a lot of elective variety. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to deep-dive into relational elements of change through a lens of human behavior and social lens, and now I’m excited to strengthen my business foundations!

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Texas McCombs?  Board Fellows immediately caught my attention when I was exploring MBA programs. I have worked and had a lot of interest in the nonprofit space. For me, Boards were always something of a mystery – to then have the opportunity to join a board and bring skills I’m learning to a local organization was immediately top of my list of things to explore here.

What has been your first impression of the McCombs MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best McCombs story so far. From my first visit to McCombs to today, the community has been consistently welcoming and supportive. Every student and alum I’ve interacted with has been genuinely interested in helping me succeed and connecting with me on a personal level. During orientation, we had an opportunity to share a story with a classmate outside of our cohort. It was really impactful to connect with my peers beyond the usual conversations about recruiting and professional aspirations and learn something about what has helped shape who they are today. I can’t wait to continue to get to know the class of 2025.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment—or at least the one I enjoyed the most—was as a program lead at another business school. I helped design and implement a program that brought world renowned artists to share their experiences with MBA students and help broaden their horizons. Working closely with faculty, I was able to meet artists like Yo Yo Ma and Simone Leigh and develop a series of programs that brought them to our community. This was during the height of COVID, so everyone was starving for some connection, creativity, and intellectual stimulation. In the end, it was wonderful to see how our community reacted to bringing such amazing folks to present and perform and I know that it helped our MBA students think of the world in a slightly different way.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience at McCombs successful? I’m really looking forward to the experiential elements of the program. From running simulations in Consulting Club to joining an actual board as a Board Fellow, I think I am going to learn the most when I’m thrown into a new situation and need to work my way through it.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Texas McCombs’ MBA program?  This sounds cliché but be yourself! Show how you will continue the McCombs culture of collaboration and how joining this community is going to help you become a better leader and how you plan to give back.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE TEXAS MCCOMBS MBA CLASS OF 2025