Diana Chao

University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School

“Mental health activist; former artist-scientist; Indigenous Buyi. I draw penguins everywhere.”

Hometown: Claremont, California, USA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I was part of a dinosaur expedition and the bones I dug up are on display at LA’s Natural History Museum.

Undergraduate School and Major: Princeton University, Geosciences, Cum Laude

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Letters to Strangers, Founder & Executive Director

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Oxford Saïd’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I had always shied away from business schools out of fear that it would focus too much on simply getting the highest salary or the fanciest titles – all understandable ambitions, of course, but secondary to my personal desires. However, I still craved the knowledge and experience. Oxford Saïd’s famous impact focus, from its full-award Skoll Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurship, which I luckily won, to its term-long Impact Lab, all reassured me that this would be a place where I can fully show up as myself: as an astute strategist and a social activist.

What course, club, or activity has been your favorite part of the Oxford Saïd MBA experience? I joined the OXCAR a cappella group on campus, which brought me back to my previous school days in a cappella and musical theatre. It’s so hard to find places where you can casually yet meaningfully enjoy the arts with others as you get older, so I really appreciated being able to sing again in such a fun setting.

What is the most “Oxford” thing you have done so far as a full-time MBA student? There’s the formals, the gorgeous libraries and chapels, and people dressed up in traditional sub fusc simply to take an exam. But perhaps what takes the cake is when I went to the Oxford Union to see Tom Hanks speak, and then Emma Watson, a fellow student at my college – Lady Margaret Hall – walked in and Tom stopped, introduced her to everyone – as if we needed an introduction – and then went right back to giving us an impromptu acting lesson.

Oxford is known as a place where worlds collide, be it in the classroom or the dining hall. What has been the most interesting interaction you’ve had so far as an Oxford MBA student? Perhaps what’s most interesting is where the Oxford name gets you outside of Oxford. Every time I wear my Oxford jacket or my Saïd Business School backpack, I always get at least one person asking me what I’m studying. Then, inevitably, we end up having a conversation about my MBA programme or their own Oxford experience. Just the other day while I was attending the World Economic Forum as a delegate, I bonded with multiple heads of companies and government through our shared Oxford experiences – including one company that fondly recalled their best hire, who had been a Saïd Business School MBA.

Describe the biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Without a doubt, it’s founding Letters to Strangers. I started it as a student club when I was 14, and ten years later we are the largest global youth mental health NGO, directly impacting over half a million youths in 70+ countries. I was honored by two U.S. Presidents at the White House, which is certainly something that I never imagined would be possible. More than that, I can see the tangible change we’re creating in people’s perception of and treatment access to mental health concerns. That’s my promise to my younger self, and what I hope will make my older self proud.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: I came into the programme with the intention to learn as much as I can to pass on to my team of young people around the world, and I think I am making that happen (so far)! I was able to synthesize learnings from courses on organizational behavioral, technology and operations, accounting, and business finance to better align my team at Letters to Strangers on how we approach everything from tax filings to strategic expansion to team culture.

What has been the biggest epiphany you’ve gained about yourself or the world since you started your MBA programme? I have never felt more sure of how important it is that I live life as a global citizen. By that, I don’t mean I need to travel around all the time; rather, I want to make sure I live my life cognizant of the vast world we live in – all the different cultures, languages, and beliefs. The incredible diversity at Saïd Business School – with 97% of the cohort being international students – solidified for me how important this is to my values. That’s my favorite thing about being here: being able to learn from each other even if I don’t fully agree with where they’re coming from. I want to live a life of meaning and fulfillment, and I don’t think I can find that if I live in a place or work in a setting where everything is focused too much on a singular context.

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