Sameera Bhamidipati

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

“Biotech-to-Business: driven to make a difference, one strategy at a time.”

Hometown: Vizianagaram, India

Fun fact about yourself: I traveled to one new place in the US every month of 2019 (Bioluminescence kayaking in Puerto Rico was my favorite!)

Undergraduate School and Degree:

Master of Science in Biological Sciences and Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics – BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, India

Master of Biotechnology – Texas A&M University

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Research Associate – Rubedo Life Sciences, Sunnyvale, CA

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Summer Associate – Bain & Company, Houston, TX

Where will you be working after graduation? Consultant – Bain & Company, San Francisco, CA

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Forté Fellow with scholarship
• Teaching Assistant for Marketing and New product development & management courses
• President, Rice PAWS (Pet Appreciation in Workplace and Society) Association
• VP of Mentorship & VP of External Relations, Consulting Association
• CDO (Career Development Office) Chair, Rice Business Student Association (RBSA)
• Admissions Ambassador

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am very proud of earning my ‘Leader as Coach’ certification during business school. It is a 30-hour semester-long program on effective leadership run by Ruth Reitmeier, Director of Coaching at Rice. It challenged my prior understanding of leadership, primarily shaped by my upbringing in India’s hierarchical society. The course taught me how an effective leader is someone who empowers others (transformational) rather than just tells them what to do (transactional). I learned several key skills like active listening and discerning between mentoring and coaching. This shift clicked when I put my coaching skills into action as VP of mentorship for the Consulting Association. By applying the tools and frameworks learned through triad coaching sessions with classmates from other MBA formats (Executive and Professional), I helped many first-year students succeed in their recruitment journey. Seeing them thrive warmed my heart and solidified my commitment to servant leadership, a style I am excited to keep developing and take with me into the future.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am incredibly proud of my summer internship opportunity with Bain & Company. Joining the MBA, I only envisioned a soft pivot into business in the biotechnology field. I secured an internship offer at a biotech firm pre-MBA through Forté Women’s Leadership Conference. As fate may have it, encouraged by my second-year mentor, I networked with alumni in consulting at the international orientation week. I was quickly drawn to the intellectually stimulating work and exposure to a variety of industries in consulting. It seemed like a mountain worth the climb. So, I quickly committed to the process and underwent the most rigorous recruiting journey with an open mind. I received incredible support of my classmates, second-year mentors, consulting association, and Career Development Office resources (special shout out to my Advisor, Mariella De Alba Ortiz!) at Rice. Eventually, I received an offer from Bain & Company in their Houston office. My summer was an amazing experience and I eagerly look forward to joining the firm post-graduation in their San Francisco office. I feel very grateful and switching careers from a non-traditional background into consulting for a prestigious firm is an achievement I will forever be proud of!

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Rice primarily for its tight-knit community stemming from a small class size (~150). Having limited business knowledge prior, I sought a school that offered strong academic support and personalized guidance. I interacted with Rice as a prospective student through several informational sessions, industry workshops, and alumni and current student panels. There was a distinctive sense of friendliness, warmth, and humility from Rice that deeply resonated with me.

As a student in the program, I experienced first-hand the benefits of this tight-knit community. Rice has over 30 student-led associations that are professional, social, and affinity-focused for you to find a community based on your personal interests. I served as President of PAWS, a relatively new (1-year old) association that was formed as an initiative by a few MBA second-years. On behalf of PAWS, I organized a panel last year for which I reached out to several alumni at pet-based firms like Chewy. Every alumnus I reached out to responded almost immediately and agreed to be a part of the panel. It was incredible for me to experience the strength of tight-knit Rice network. I feel very grateful to have found my fit at a school that gave me everything I was looking for and more.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Professor Utpal Dholakia is my absolute favorite professor at Rice. Joining the MBA program, I eagerly awaited exposure to various fields of business. While Professor Eleanor Putnam-Farr’s core marketing class piqued my interest in the subject, Professor Utpal’s ‘Customer Experience Management’ class sparked a deeper passion in me. His classes have a dynamic learning environment, welcoming student questions and participation and promoting critical thinking through case studies. With this interest, I pursued a concentration in marketing, served as a TA for a couple of marketing courses, and enrolled in an experiential marketing lab course, where we collaborate with external companies for hands-on consulting projects.

Professor Dholakia’s dedication to his students goes beyond academics. He genuinely cares about students’ learning more than anything. I still remember when had to miss a class due to flight cancellation, and I emailed few professors. Each replied with a kind assurance for lost class credit. However, Professor Dholakia stood out to me by responding with a “Don’t worry about the grade, but you will miss our discussion on cost incrementality and its use for pricing strategies.” He is just the best and I feel so inspired by his commitment to enabling his students’ success.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Global Field Experience (GFE), a core MBA course at Rice, was my favorite. Through the course we tackled consulting projects with firms in developing countries, culminating in a week-long trip for final presentations. Ironically, our team never traveled abroad due to VISA and other restrictions. This, however, never limited us from having an amazing learning experience. Working with an Argentinian-based communications company, we were initially tasked to develop a joint-venture growth strategy for their expansion into the U.S. However, as the project evolved, we helped the client adopt a broader strategic perspective, exceeding their initial expectations. They were incredibly pleased with our work and Rice administration invited us to be featured on the website based on the client’s review. This experience taught me the adaptability and critical thinking to navigate unforeseen challenges and deliver impactful solutions that meet client needs. GFE remains my favorite course for exposing me to my first-ever client work and instilling confidence to begin a career in consulting.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? Lunch colloquiums (LC for short) may be the most underrated but my favorite tradition at Rice. LC is Rice’s weekly student-led forum that offers much more than free lunches. Hosted by the Rice Business Student Association (RBSA), LCs facilitated communication between students, faculty, and staff. Every Monday, we held presentations, announcements, and insightful discussions that brought everyone together. As a first-year navigating a busy schedule, LCs provided a valuable space to catch up on campus activities and connect with classmates. While participating offered a glimpse into this tradition, running LCs as an RBSA leader last semester stretched me out of my comfort zone to flex my funny bone in engaging a larger audience. This tradition, in my opinion, hinged heavily on building the tight-knit community that is core to Rice MBA.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I am not trying to be diplomatic, but I would NOT change anything about my MBA experience. My husband advised me to see how this MBA is a replica of real-world professional experiences. So rather than being frustrated, I adopted a growth mindset (i.e., to look for learnings from each experience). This has tremendously shifted my perspective. Yes, it was absolute mayhem while I was going through those rough patches (people in my closest support system know this as they went through long voice notes and phone calls from me!). However, I always found those experiences most valuable in shaping the person I am today. Growth only happens in the uncomfortable zones, so I learned to embrace those times. In retrospect, I may think, “Oh, I could have done this/that better.” But I did my best knowing what I knew at the time. So, being kind to myself, I decided to not worry about the past but hopefully venture into the future with the necessary learnings.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I am a fan of Houston as a city! Its diversity is unmatched in terms of opportunities, cultures, and cuisines. I had the unique opportunity to experience three entirely different lives in Houston – as a researcher in the medical center (prior to MBA), an MBA student at Rice, and an intern consultant in downtown. I love its vibrant parks, thriving arts scene, world-class museums, and endless restaurants. You can always find something new to explore. I lived in three major areas of the U.S. (South, East, and West coasts), and can confirm that Southern hospitality is real. The city welcomes everyone, and nowhere will you have random strangers heartfully greet you with a “Howdy or How’s it going?” They just make you feel like you belong here.

What surprised you the most about business school? The sheer number of opportunities at business school surprised me the most. It truly lived up to the “You reap what you sow” philosophy. You can tailor your experience and explore various interests, from participating in academics (TA roles), associations (social, professional, or affinity), non-profits (Board Fellows), entrepreneurship (Lilie lab), and more. The sky is the limit and the only person holding you back is yourself. As the program advanced, the opportunities kept increasing in both number and scale, allowing us to assume leadership roles in associations that interest us. While this abundance occasionally led to feeling overwhelmed, it ultimately became a valuable learning experience in prioritization and time management. The business school became a safe space to experiment, explore diverse roles, and discover my strengths and weaknesses. It ultimately led me to a clearer version of who I want to be professionally.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I adore Kalyn Speck, my dear friend in the MBA program. She is the definition of integrity, hard work, and humility. We grew closer in the second year working on several group projects, as TAs for marketing, and as RBSA leaders. I would work with her any day in a heartbeat, and I think whoever she is going to work with in the future is incredibly lucky. We both share a mutual love for learning, and I admire that she brings her 100% to anything she is part of. She is someone who energizes me with deep meaningful conversations about life beyond the MBA. One day, I shared with her that I never experienced American culture in its authentic form. So, she invited me to their family Christmas hay ride tradition and welcomed me to her home and family for a pre-Christmas celebration. I loved interacting with her parents as they shared their fond memories of their daughter that day.

She is also one of the most self-aware people I have ever met. When nominated for the same feature, she declined the invitation to make space for someone else as she had already featured once in the first year. This was truly selfless of her and made me respect her infinite times more!

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?  In my opinion, a bucket list should include dreams that inspire me to achieve them. And what are such dreams worth if they don’t send a shiver down the spine? So, here are two big goals that scare me but ones I am deeply committed to working hard for:

1. Become a C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company: Fueled by a passion for lifelong learning, I want to foster a culture of continuous learning within organizations to drive innovation and progress.

2. Found a company to empower women globally through coaching: Fulfilling a responsibility I feel after gaining access to executive circles, I believe in opening the door for more women like me to experience similar opportunities.

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

“Sameera was first my student and then my TA, and it has been a pleasure to have her with us for the last two years. She has approached her role as a student and as a leader with thoughtfulness, care, and passion. From the moment she arrived in my classroom, she has been eager to learn and apply her knowledge and I am excited to see what she can accomplish going forward.

My first introduction to Sameera was as a student in my class during the first semester of her time at Rice. She approached each day’s topic with enthusiasm and regularly stayed after class to ask more, reflecting her deep curiosity. She achieved one of the top grades in all of my sections and was rated as an outstanding contributor, going above and beyond what was expected, by her teammates in the course.

I next got to spend time with Sameera in her role as President of Rice PAWS. This was a completely new club at Rice when she arrived, and she joined a team of passionate pet enthusiasts to bring more opportunities to business school students to incorporate their love of animals into the life of the business school. The group has since built out a series of events to bring both professional opportunities and personal joy to MBA students.

Where Sameera really shined was as a TA. She thought carefully about her fellow students and what would help them in their learning experience in the class. She spent time getting to know them, thinking about their assignments, and really making sure that they got the best out of their core experience. She brings an intellectual curiosity to the classroom and really to all conversations that makes her a pleasure to have as a student and will make her an open-minded and interested leader in her future endeavors.”

Eleanor Putnam-Farr
Faculty, Assistant Professor of Marketing
Rice University | Jones Graduate School of Business

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