Brady Lemons

University of Washington, Foster School of Business

“Dad, Husband, Gamer, Kid that refuses to grow up. Loves to solve big problems.”

Hometown: Idaho Falls, ID

Fun fact about yourself: I was a college dropout; I played too many video games and couldn’t focus on school. It took me a lot of time and work, but I learned how to find balance in life which helped me work my way into, and through, business school.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Weber State University, Bachelor of Integrated Studies

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? United States Army, Aviation Officer, Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Second Dinner, Remote

Where will you be working after graduation? Second Dinner, Senior Marketing Specialist

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Level Up! Club President

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? As the Level Up! Club president, I helped another member prepare for his interviews with Electronic Arts, which led to a summer internship position. Learning new skills is meaningless to me if I can’t apply it to help others.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Making it through the Army’s helicopter flight school and becoming a Blackhawk pilot. I was told multiple times in my career that I wasn’t smart enough, strong enough, or fast enough to be an officer, let alone a pilot. It was important to prove to myself that I can do hard things.

Why did you choose this business school? Being in a location that is surrounded by giants in the video game industry was important to me, but also because of the smaller cohorts and personalized approach that the recruiters had in conversations. I connected with the current students at Foster the most out of any other school I applied to, and I felt like my unique career path was valued and encouraged. Not every school was getting excited about a candidate that wanted to work in video games!

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Shailendra Jain (Shelly) for his passion and teaching me about Marketing. I never saw myself in a Marketing role, but he helped me find out that I’m actually quite good at it. I also have to mention Jennifer Graves because she was so great at connecting with us and teaching in a way that made sense in a business capacity and not just a scholarly setting.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Consumer Marketing and Brand Strategy. Mark Forehand is a phenomenal teacher. He provided a lot of great insights around consumer psychology and building a brand. The practical group exercises were great and gave me a lot to think about with my current work.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Saying “no” more often, or at least being more selective about the things I say yes to. By nature, I love to help people and take on more exciting projects, but that can be overwhelming for my wife and kids when I shift too much time away from them. By the second year I think I found a pretty good balance though.

What is the biggest myth about your school? That we all go into Tech! Ok, a lot of us do go into tech, but the program encourages people to choose their own path and we value diverse career opportunities. I was nervous to tell admissions that I wanted to work in video games, but they embraced it and even got excited about it.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? There are so many different fun things we can do with our kids. Having close access to the greatest setting in college football (go Dawgs!), parks, museums, and all the awesome nature just outside of Seattle was really refreshing.

What surprised you the most about business school? I had a lot of fear going into the program that I wouldn’t be able to contribute or excel in group work due to being out of school for so long. I was pleasantly surprised by how helpful and collaborative my peers were, which made it easy to highlight our strengths and crush team projects.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Kenny Susuico – He’s not afraid of a challenge, he’s focused, smart, an Excel wizard, and most importantly he’s the most selfless person I know in the program. I can’t say enough good things about who he is as a person and the things he’s done to help other classmates and Veterans.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Launch a new video game. Hopefully in the next 3-5 years. It’s a major benchmark for experience in the industry.

2. Run a game studio. This may be a long way away, but I love all aspects of game creation and I love leading people, and I would find this incredibly rewarding.

What made Brady such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“Brady had been focused on his aspiration for a post-MBA Career in the gaming industry as soon as he arrived on campus—and before. In attending the National MBA Vets conference with him during his first fall in the MBA program at Foster, I noticed that he took advantage of speaking with many MBA recruiters about possible opportunities and honed that experience to prepare and network to his advantage as he zeroed in on his “top target” of gaming companies— which also included sourcing part-time projects in the gaming field.

He was successful in landing an internship at Second Dinner, a game development company, subsequently converting to a FT offer, even working part-time through his 2nd year of the program.

Contributing to Foster in many ways, Brady has “leaned in” on his leadership and teamwork skills developed from his 7 years US Army military service, focused on aviation. He has been an active leader in the Foster MBA Veterans’ Association, supporting FVA members and classmates.

As President of the Foster MBAA Club “Level Up”, he initiated an industry specific mentor program with video game professionals, leading to an internship position for another Foster candidate. With the MBA tailgate club “The Huddle”, he invited and hosted his international classmates to share the USA’s college football culture. He expanded his own cultural leadership by participating in several Foster overseas experiential learning opportunities.

His contributions to the Foster School, the MBA program and his classmates are numerous, and he is most deserving of this recognition as he approaches graduation.”

Jean Gekler
Senior Associate Director
MBA Career Management

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2024