Erin Manning

Yale School of Management

“Impact-oriented, sarcastic ambivert dedicated to building community, finding joy, and baking a really good cookie.”

Hometown: Stamford, Connecticut

Fun fact about yourself: I have a twin sister and my older siblings are triplets.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Northwestern University, B.S. Radio/Television/Film

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Sesame Workshop – Manager, International Social Impact

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Huron Consulting – Higher Education Strategy & Operations Summer Associate

Where will you be working after graduation? To be determined within the social impact / non-profit sector!

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Leader, SOM Net Impact
• Lead, Social Impact Lab
• Research Assistant, Inclusive Economic Development Lab & CityScope Podcast
• MBA Orientation Leader
• Logistics Lead, Yale Philanthropy Conference
• Career Advisor, Yale SOM Career Development Office
• Admissions Interviewer & Ambassador, Yale SOM Admissions
• Social Impact Consulting Club
• Global Social Entrepreneurship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The SOM Net Impact Club plans an annual “Social Impact Week”, which aims to engage our broader community in conversations on social impact related themes and SOM’s mission of “educating leaders for business & society”. This academic year, we sought to drive conversation about how all students can have an impactful career regardless of what career path they are pursuing. Our theme, “Earning Your Power”, spoke to a question on how we as MBAs can responsibly wield our professional influence and personal capabilities to generate positive impact throughout our futures. We brought in speakers to discuss topics including philanthropic giving, employee activism, board service, and political action, offering tangible insights and actions as SOM students go out into the world.

We received a lot of positive feedback from our community throughout the week of programming. As club leaders, we were thrilled to see great turnout and active engagement from our classmates coming from various academic and professional disciplines.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I managed a portfolio of Sesame Workshop’s programs in East Africa including the launch of Sesame’s first Kiswahili television show in Kenya, Sesame Hadithi Njoo. I enjoy working with multi-disciplinary teams so loved working with colleagues from across Sesame’s research, production, and education teams along with managing relationships with our funder, community partners, and broadcasters all with the shared goal of promoting early education for young children in Kenya and across the region.

Why did you choose this business school? Throughout my application process, I was continually drawn to SOM’s community. Coming to business school from a non-profit background with plans to return, I was eager to find an inclusive community that would embrace some of the more non-traditional aspects of my professional background. SOM did just that. SOM students are passionate about their own personal and professional goals, but eager and willing to support their classmates in achieving their own. This mutually respectful, supportive, and collaborative community is a hallmark of the SOM experience and a major driver for why I wanted to attend.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor is Professor Judy Chevalier. I’ve taken two of Professor Chevalier’s elective courses (Strategic Management of Non-profit Organizations and Modern Philanthropy, the later co-taught with Professor Paige MacLean) and had her as a professor in the SOM Core (the Competitor). She is an engaging lecturer, eager to bring student’s own experiences into the classroom while providing a more holistic overview of the topics we were learning about.

Beyond the classroom, Professor Chevalier is an active faculty member in student life and activities. I’ve been able to work with her in her role as the Faculty Director of the Program on Social Enterprise, Innovation, and Impact thinking through ways to expand and deepen the social impact community at SOM and build engagement with the broader New Haven community.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite SOM course was Interpersonal & Group Dynamics (IPD) taught by Professor Heidi Brooks. This course was like nothing I’ve ever taken and stretched my capacity to learn in a myriad of ways. IPD is a practicum course where the onus of learning is really on the individual and how we engage within the classroom and Lab settings, but also how we take those learnings beyond those rooms. It honestly is a class and experience that is very difficult to explain, but I can feel myself putting my learnings into action in my day-to-day experiences and interactions with others.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? I am an avid and active member of the Hockey Boosters Society. Like many business programs, we have a Hockey Club. However, alongside Hockey Club is also Hockey Boosters – we attend practice and cheer on the team, socializing and building community along the way. My skating career ended when I was 8, but I will gladly spend my Wednesday evenings in the stands – definitely been a highlight of my time at SOM. Beyond cheering on the SOM team at the annual SOM-HBS hockey game in November, I love our annual Garstka Cup, which is played between our first- and second-year Hockey Club members. The Garstka Cup and Hockey Boosters / Club more broadly highlight SOM’s community and student-driven culture that has made me feel so at home here the past two years.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I wish that I had engaged more with the broader Yale community. At SOM, we have the opportunity to take classes across the University, which I have done specifically at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, but there are so many other aspects of broader Yale that I wish I had engaged. We have so many great events and opportunities at SOM and in Evans Hall that it can be hard to get out and engage with other aspects and resources that the University has to offer. It’s definitely an embarrassment of riches and these two years really do go by so fast!

What is the biggest myth about your school? I’d say the biggest myth about SOM is that we’re just “a non-profit school”. Don’t get me wrong, I was drawn to this aspect of the school, and it definitely fits my personal and professional interests, but I’ve found that SOM draws students from a range of industries and experiences. There is a shared mindset across much of the student body when it comes to thinking about how they can and will engage various sectors and impact-oriented mindsets, even if students are pursuing other career paths. Given the diversity of experiences and professional pathways my classmates are taking, I’ve loved being able to learn from them and the varied insights they bring to the classroom.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? New Haven is such a vibrant and exciting city! Even though I grew up in Connecticut, I did not spend a lot of time in New Haven until moving up here for graduate school. With multiple universities in New Haven and the surrounding area, I find the city to be intellectually curious and at the forefront of a lot of social change and innovation. But New Haven is SO much more than the universities that reside within its boundaries. The New Haven community is proud of their city and are willing to fight to help make it better for all residents. I love the activism and community engagement that I feel as I walk around New Haven and enjoy the vibrant small business community.

What surprised you the most about business school? I’ve been surprised by just how busy I am all the time. With class, club events, recruiting activities, and social events, there is no shortage of ways to fill my time. Having worked for five years and managed a busy (and hyper involved) schedule as an undergraduate, I expected to be prepared for the pace of the MBA. There is so much we’re trying to squeeze into these two years that there never feels like enough time. 

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? While it’s so hard to pick just one, I really admire my friend and classmate, Alif Taufik. Both active members of the social impact community at SOM, we were paired together for a lot of activities early in our first year. Lucky for us we were fast friends as we joke now that SOM would have been a lot harder if we didn’t get along.

Alif is one of the most hard-working, intellectually curious, and authentic people I know. I admire his steadfastness, activism, and continued willingness fight for what he believes in. He is a walking reminder of SOM’s mission of educating leaders for business & society. He is dedicated to poverty eradication and moves through the world with this mindset eager to engage classmates on how they can drive change within this sector or their communities more broadly. His joy and energy are infectious, but it’s his thoughtfulness and dedication that make him so easy to admire.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? While somewhat broad, I’m looking forward to leading complex teams in the future. I’ve had the opportunity to work on some incredible teams throughout my career, but not in a direct leadership and managerial capacity. I’ve gained so much from mentors and more senior colleagues I’ve worked with and look forward to playing a similar role for others throughout my career.

My professional interests ultimately boil down to working with organizations that are striving for equity and economic mobility to all people, particularly marginalized communities. To date, this has been found with working with education, and while I don’t know where exactly I’ll land next, my bucket list item is simply continue striving for change in this space.

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

“A beacon of support at SOM, Erin has excelled as a leader in Net Impact and the Social Impact Lab, while guiding classmates and prospective students through career navigation during her time at SOM. Erin is a shining example of holding true to “What Matters to You, Matters Most” in her recruiting efforts as she navigated career opportunities and exploration. Committed to the non-profit and education sectors, she honed her skills at Huron Consulting’s Higher Education Practice this past summer, building on her pre-SOM strategy experience at Sesame Workshop.

Erin further extended her impact at SOM by welcoming the incoming class as an Orientation Leader, easing their transition to SOM and beyond and through her research work at the Inclusive Economic Development Lab.”

Michael Minutoli
Senior Director of Career Education and Coaching
Yale School of Management Career Development

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