Jordan Woods

University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business

“Inquisitive, multi-disciplinary creative and equity advocate emphasizing community as a means to create positive impact.”

Hometown: New Orleans, LA

Fun Fact About Yourself: Last year, I trained to become a Pilates instructor.

Undergraduate School and Major: Howard University, Marketing

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Reproductive Health Impact, Culture Shift and Strategic Communications Director

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? Austin has so much to offer. It’s a small town with a big city vibe. There is a ton of live music, new restaurants, and sporting events to partake in your free time. It also offers the quiet serenity of nature, providing an opportunity to recharge away from the hustle and bustle that is inherent to an MBA program. So far, I’ve gone tubing in San Marcos (which is 35 minutes away), visited a few new restaurants, listened to house music in Zilker Park, and cheered the Longhorns to a victory in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. All this while my commute to any part of the city not being more than 20 minutes. Austin has a thriving, welcoming community that attracts people from all over.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Texas McCombs’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? A key part of Texas McCombs’ MBA programming that led me to choose this business school was the thoughtfulness in the curriculum that provided multiple avenues to learn, connect with people in their field, and gain tangible experience with real-life business projects rather than practice on theorems that are specific to academia. As someone who desired to expand my knowledge in marketing and wasn’t set on a specific industry, the company/industry treks stood out to me.

Last month, I was able to travel with about 20 of my classmates to Beaverton, Oregon to visit the Nike Headquarters. An alumni of the Texas McCombs program coordinated the opportunity for us to tour the campus with one of their storytellers, meet with other McCombs alumni at Nike, and learned about Nike’s pain points and new vision for branding. It was a demonstration of the breadth of companies McCombs alumni go in their careers and allowed us to explore retail and marketing from a legacy brand.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Texas McCombs? I am most excited about participating as a McCombs Ambassador Committee (MAC) member. MAC is a volunteer opportunity where 1st and 2nd years are connected with prospective students as they go through the application process. My optional peer interview with a 1st year student contributed to my making the final decision to attend Texas McCombs. I was raised and continue to believe we all make an impact whether intended or not. It is always my goal to leave a lasting impact on the places, people, and opportunities that have helped me. It is an honor to be able to give back and continue to contribute to this amazing community of students and alumni. I was just in their position a mere few months ago, anything I can share to help them make this major decision to leave full-time work to invest in their learning for the next phase of their career I’m happy to do.

Looking at your recruitment, what was the moment when you realized Texas McCombs was the right program for you? Why? My goal was to join a program that would nurture my gifts and build me up for the next phase of my career. What set Texas McCombs apart from other programs was the strong sense of community. It is easy, when being at a prestigious university, for there to be an environment of competition amongst students; it can detract from the experience of learning and growing and instead makes you focus on beating out the competition or your fellow classmates. This scarcity mindset distracts you from following the path that’s uniquely yours.

When interacting with Texas McCombs during the admissions process, there was a heavy emphasis on community, healthy competition and collaboration for individual growth and creating an environment that creates the next generation of great business leaders. I can particularly call out when I attended the admitted student preview weekend, I was running a little behind and upon entering the building Patrick mentioned me by name saying that he had been waiting for me to check-in. This was only the beginning of an entire weekend and summer. Not not only did admission stay in communication, but the 2nd year students also offered their time during busy summers with internships to answer any questions about the transition. The level of care made me feel like not just a number in 256-person class, but someone hand selected to join a class of people with diverse backgrounds all interested in making this investment in their careers. Those little details made choosing Texas McCombs an easy decision.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: It is being part of and facilitating conversations about reproductive health and equity during a time where the question of bodily autonomy and women’s rights to make decisions about their body and health were being legislated.

Pre-MBA, I was the Culture Shift and Strategic Communications Director for Reproductive Health Impact. This role empowered me to uplift critical conversations about reproductive health and equity. It involved examining the history, current issues, and vision through a lens of reproductive justice and overall wellbeing. I am most proud of hosting an event where Black women leaders joined in conversation about the implications of overturning Roe v. Wade on reproductive health from different aspects including arts & media, policy, research, and advocacy. This conversation shifted from redundant talking points to clear examples of why having bodily autonomy is so important spanning past the topics of abortion and provided actionable solutions to how everyone could be active in try to preserve health and rights for all people.

This event brought together families that have been impacted by maternal mortality, community advocates who are spreading awareness, congresspeople who are advocating on behalf of their constituents, and foundations looking to support the impactful work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The sharing of knowledge and experiences was an effort to breakdown siloes and collaborate to make a lasting impact on the future of reproductive health equity. From this event, people shared that it expanded their view of what was possible looking beyond simply being able to make decisions about their reproductive health autonomously to think further: imagining what wellbeing looks like outside of the constraints of existing systems. As I embark on my MBA journey, I strive to not only be an impactful, creative business leader, but to have a positive impact on people and their careers.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience at McCombs successful? If I make significant connections with my classmates, intern over the summer, learn something new about myself, and participate in as many new experiences as possible, my time at McCombs was successful. Getting your MBA is just as much about the academics as it is about the experiences. I aim to leave this program as a well-rounded, knowledge-seeking business leader (with a job).

DON’T MISS: MEET THE TEXAS MCCOMBS MBA CLASS OF 2026