Mansargun Kaur

Ivey Business School at Western University

“Proud Punjabi. Builder. Explorer. I question who systems serve & redesign them for real inclusion.”

Hometown: Amritsar, Punjab

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a rocket engineer, so when people say “it’s not rocket science,” the joke is on them.

Undergraduate School and Major: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, Bachelor of Technology in Aerospace Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Armourline Corp – Chief of Staff (Part-time, alongside MBA)

How has the case method enriched your learning? No one hands you a clean, well-structured problem in real life. You have to spot the patterns in the chaos and often define the problem yourself. The case method mirrors that. There are no neat questions, no tidy goals. Just 80 minutes of seeing the same messy situation through 80 different eyes. That’s where the real learning happens.

Aside from classmates and cases, what part of the school’s MBA programming led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Ivey’s commitment to inclusion wasn’t just a feature, it was the reason. That’s been the theme of my life. I was the first woman from my small town to study aerospace engineering. I’ve seen how systems are designed for the majority and often ignore those on the margins. But I also know, from working with people at the edges, that’s where real innovation begins. When those who’ve been excluded start to redesign the systems that once silenced them, everything shifts. Ivey’s focus on making sure all voices are heard, especially the ones long kept quiet, drew me in.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In my first job, we needed to boost retention in small-town India. Most teams treated it like a growth challenge, I saw it as a chance to design with the women we were trying to reach: women of the house, often spending long hours indoors, behind curtains, using the internet for the first time. I built gamified, voice-based tasks that worked on low-end phones, with no reading needed. It hit our business goals. But one day, I got a message from a woman who called me “Didi”, a word loaded with affection and respect. She said she’d just earned her first paycheck. I was 23. She was nearly twice my age. That moment shifted something. Until then, I focused on the outcome. After that, I started caring about who it worked for. That shift has shaped how I build ever since.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: When I moved to London, Ontario for my MBA, I left behind everything I knew, family, friends, language, and income. In those moments, I kept coming back to a line from Gurbani that calmed my panic:

ਊਡੇ ਊਡਿ ਆਵਹਿ ਸੈ ਕੋਸਾ…

“The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young behind. Who feeds them?”

Flamingos don’t wait until everything is secure, they just take flight. And somehow, things fall into place. You won’t have all the answers before you leap, but leap anyway. You’ll figure it out in motion.

I set a personal goal to sustain myself entirely in Canada, to prove that I could start fresh and stand on my own. I printed resumes and handed them out to retail and fast-food stores in the middle of a Canadian winter. I applied to over 100 part-time jobs online. I got rejected over and over. But I didn’t give up.

My biggest accomplishment wasn’t just getting hired, it was getting hired to do what I love. Through networking and persistence, I landed a Chief of Staff role at Armourline Corp, a Canadian auto startup. I got to do what I’ve always done best: build scrappy systems, scale what works, and lead with execution in fast-paced chaos.

And I didn’t let the hustle come at the cost of my MBA experience. I stayed engaged in class, participated fully, and built relationships that have shaped my journey. Balancing it all was hard but deeply satisfying. I’ve learned that the most meaningful challenges are never easy.

The biggest shift wasn’t on my resume. It was in my mindset: I’m not an MBA student working part-time. I’m a working professional doing an MBA to accelerate the impact I know I can make.

What has been your most memorable experience as an Ivey MBA thus far? The 24-Hour Report for our “Decision-Making with Analytics” course has been my most memorable Ivey experience. DMA is known as one of the toughest courses in the MBA, but for me, it was pure joy.
I was lucky to work with an international team that brought zero ego and full effort. Everyone was smart, kind, and eager to learn. They knew how much I loved data, and they let me lead with my ideas, even the wacky ones. I spent hours building the core algorithm, while they split modules, cleaned up edges, and helped bring the whole vision together. It wasn’t about hierarchy, it was about momentum. At 11 p.m., they blasted Punjabi songs to keep the energy up for me. By 2 a.m., we were still laughing and shipping.

We didn’t just build a great model, we built trust, in 24 hours flat. That night reminded me why I came to Ivey: to work with people who back each other, think hard, and build fast.

And honestly, that was the first time I felt like I truly belonged in an MBA classroom. My path wasn’t paved with brand names. It was built in the trenches of early-stage chaos, where resilience and ownership mattered more than logos. That shift in energy, that feeling of being seen and trusted, that’s what I carry forward.

Where is your favorite hang-out in London (Ontario)? Why do you (or your classmates) gravitate there? I’m not a party person. I don’t love loud music or big crowds. For me, fun means great conversations, unexpected tangents, and a bit of people-watching. My favorite spot is El Furniture Warehouse downtown. I go there with a few close friends, grab a patio seat, and talk about career crises, big dreams, even the juiciest gossip or toughest personal dilemmas – all while watching undergrads stumble out of nearby bars. We laugh – not judge – because a few years ago, that was us. It’s chaotic, comforting, and just the right mix of reflection and fun.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? After graduation, I hope to carry my authentic voice forward, on a global stage, and into every room I enter. That voice wasn’t handed to me. I built it through grit, failure, and the kind of life lessons you don’t learn in classrooms. I’ve had to rebuild myself more than once, and that’s taught me not to chase outcomes, but to focus on effort and intention. The rest will unfold.

Wherever I go, I want to keep redesigning systems to include those at the margins. Whatever the problem statement, I want to ask: Who’s not in the room? And how do we build something that serves them, too?

DON’T MISS: MEET IVEY’S MBA CLASS OF 2026

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