Yana Kaplun

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

“Moscow-born, US-raised 5th grade spelling bee champ turned weekday tech investor and weekend salsa dancer.“

Hometown: Washington, DC

Fun fact about yourself: This winter, I became a dog mom! My partner (another Boothie) and I adopted a rambunctious little mutt named Taku.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Pennsylvania (Huntsman Program for International Studies & Business) – B.S. in Economics, B.A. in International Studies and Hispanic Studies

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Technology Investor at TA Associates

Where did you intern during the summer of 2024? Product Strategy Intern at Radiant Logic in San Rafael, CA (Bay Area)

Where will you be working after graduation? TBD

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• I received the Distinguished Fellowship, a full merit-based scholarship awarded to 5 students each year. I am very close to my Fellows cohort and am excited to be an engaged alum starting next year.
• I received the Siebel Scholarship, awarded to 5 MBA students in their second year.
• As a LEAD Facilitator, I helped design and teach the leadership curriculum taught to all first-year Booth students this year.
• As a co-chair of Booth’s Private Equity Group, I am responsible for educational and social programming for students looking to build a career in the PE industry.
• As an Admissions Fellow, I serve as an admissions interviewer for Booth’s Full-Time MBA program.
• As a Rustandy Center Board Fellow, I worked with Play Smart Learning (PSL), a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes early childhood literacy.
• I served as a Teaching Assistant for two Booth courses in my second year: Arts Leadership with Prof. Mary Ittelson and Private Equity Lab with Prof. Chris McGowan.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I recently received the Paragon Award, an award for the LEAD Facilitator whose innovative strategies and thoughtful reflections enhance the learning environment and contribute to the Booth community.  It was really special to me because I was chosen to receive the award by my 38 fellow LEAD Facilitators, and it was presented to me by my leadership coach, Gözde, whom I admire so much.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? At both my prior firms, I contributed to the training curriculum that each analyst / associate coming in after me went through. The positions gave me great connectivity with incoming classes and allowed me to become a mentor (whether formally or informally) to others. I still feel happy each time my phone rings with someone asking me to help them think through a financial model or career decision.

Why did you choose this business school? In my first job out of undergrad, I was lucky to work with a handful of Booth alumni who embodied the school’s pay-it-forward culture. To this day, they are fantastic mentors, role models, and friends. I chose to come to Booth because, through them, I had such positive associations with the school and the community it fosters. I’m delighted to report that Booth has lived up to my high expectations.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? As someone who had dabbled in dance but never seriously worked in the arts, I thought I had no business being in Prof. Ittelson’s Arts Leadership course. I expressed this doubt during office hours, and Prof. Ittelson replied, “Once a dancer, always a dancer!” Through those words, she put me at ease. She brought in class speakers – working artists, Board members, and arts executives – who I’d never have had access to outside of class. Through these examples and her own lived experience, she inspired me to continue developing my passion for the arts alongside my business career. On top of this, she has been a supportive mentor and sounding board in my professional journey. I’m truly grateful to have gotten to know her through my Booth experience.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I wish I’d used this time back in the classroom to learn a new language, specifically French! As Booth students, we are allowed to enroll in courses across any of UChicago’s undergraduate and graduate departments. These two years would have been an excellent opportunity to gain at least conversational fluency in another language, but unfortunately, I didn’t make time in my schedule for it. C’est la vie, I suppose!

What is the biggest myth about your school? I often hear Booth described as a “finance school” or a “quant school.” It’s not a myth that Booth’s finance curriculum is phenomenal, but I see the school as so much more than that. As someone who came from a finance background and was looking to branch out academically, I found lots of value in the soft skills classes here. Negotiations provided me with frameworks and approaches that I employ in my personal interactions as much as my professional ones. Interpersonal Dynamics provided me with brutally honest, high-quality feedback on my leadership style that I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. As a LEAD facilitator, I became part of a community of engaged, inspiring leaders and received 1×1 coaching and support on my leadership journey. My point here is just that Booth can be an enriching home for anyone, whether quantitatively inclined or not.

What movie or television show (e.g. The Big Short, The Founder, Mad Men, House of Lies) best reflects the realities of business and what did you learn from it? While I’ve never worked in the restaurant industry, I’ve surprisingly related to the “work life” depicted in The Bear. I’ve seen the intensity, passion, and commitment to excellence that characterizes the chefs in the show mirrored in my coworkers in investment banking and investing.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? In my Technology Strategy class, we were asked to use ChatGPT to generate a scenario based on a framework presented in the class. Our homework was then to evaluate and suggest improvements to the AI’s application of the course concepts. I appreciated the assignment, because it deepened both my understanding of the course material and the strengths and shortcomings of AI tools.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I really look up to Jonathon O’Leary, who embodies Booth’s “Choose your own adventure” mantra to the fullest. Professionally, he has used the past two years to deepen his passion and experience in biotech through both academics and work with cutting edge venture capital firms and startups.  Personally, he trained for and finished the Chicago marathon in awe-inspiring time. Despite all these time and energy-consuming projects, he still always makes time to be an A+ friend. He is a fantastic listener, an eloquent speaker, a deeply-wise person, and an absolute ray of sunshine in any room he walks into. I’ve been lucky to share this MBA experience with him!

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First, I aspire to build a company that others are excited to list on their resume in 18-point font. As a second (or third or fourth) career, I hope to become a high school teacher…which will likely be my hardest-ever job!

What made Yana such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025? (

“I first met Yana Kaplun as a student in my Arts Leadership class during the fall term of her first year as a full-time MBA student at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Across the nine years I have taught this course, Yana’s comments during class discussions stand out in my memory for their insight, clarity, and sophistication. Throughout the quarter, Yana’s papers demonstrated not only her strategic, analytical, and financial acumen, but also her creative thinking and insightfulness. Her performance in class exemplified Yana’s worthiness as a Booth Distinguished Fellow, the schools highest and most competitive scholarship award.

Yana further distinguished herself in her work with me the following fall as a Research and Teaching Assistant. Yana became a thought partner helping me shape the curriculum. Through her sensitivity to student needs and her grasp of teaching goals, Yana’s contributions significantly improved the quality of class participation and student learning.  Beyond Yana’s excellence at the organizational, management, and logistical aspects of the job, her enthusiasm and positivity is infectious. She is proactive, hard-working, and resourceful. Rarely are such superb technical and practical skills combined with such humane personal qualities. Working with Yana is a joyful experience.

When I spoke to a faculty colleague who has also worked closely with Yana they said, “Be sure to explain that Yana is a very special human being”, citing her generosity, her maturity, her warmth, and her kindness. These qualities suffuse Yana’s many contributions to Booth’s culture and to her fellow student including her work as a Leadership Effectiveness and Development Facilitator, as Co-Chair of the Private Group, and as an Admissions Fellow.

In the years ahead, I know Yana will continue to excel in her professional work as well as in her volunteer endeavors. Wherever she goes, Yana will be a passionate, empathic, and effective contributor toward making the world around her a better place.”

Mary Ittelson
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Strategy
Chicago Booth

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