MBAs To Watch: Class of 2021

Tabria Lenard, London Business School

BRINGING NEW PROGRAMMING TO LIFE

Over the past two years, the MBAs To Watch have collected awards, won competitions, and been elected to offices in student clubs and government. More than that, they’ve developed programming for students that will last long after they’ve crossed the stage. At the London Business School, Tabria Lenard helped launch the first Black in Business club in Europe — one that has since been replicated at programs like HEC Paris. In turn, Giri Kesavan took it a step further, creating an entirely new LBS specialization in Technology.

“Working across Careers, faculty, industry, staff, and students over the past year I designed a new MBA concentration in Technology & Analytics, opening up opportunities for our students to pick up the skills needed to succeed in technology careers,” he writes. “The new Tech focus led to the creation of a strategic steering committee at the school that I chair focused on Technology Education & Careers across our degree programmes. LBS has always been about student-led impact on the community, and the result of these efforts led to a record 28% Full-Time employment for MBA2020 into Tech careers and 44% MBA2021 internships in the sector.”

Across the pond, Swetha Rajagopal created Mindful Masterminds, a 12-week self-development program at USC Marshall. “[It] combines team activities, discussion and journaling exercises, and meditation practices in a small team environment to foster conversation and growth around mindful leadership,” she explains. “I am very proud of this program because it is designed to go hand-in-hand with the school year and enables participants to not just cope with the stresses of academics, networking, and recruitment, but also reflect on the more important aspects of leadership and self-development that cannot be as easily facilitated in a classroom environment. Mindfulness in leadership is the need of the hour. I am hopeful that at the end of this first year of execution, my peers will find that they have grown as individuals and that they are better equipped to handle the changing demands of the post-COVID era.”

THE MAKINGS OF A HARVARD CASE

Perhaps the distinguishing feature of this year’s MBAs to Watch is how they leave everything better than they found it. That was certainly true at Indiana University’s Kelley School. Here, students can travel the globe to help startups and social ventures as part of its Global Business and Social Enterprise (GLOBASE) program. For Jake Frego, that meant heading to Thailand to work with Flying Squirrel Outfitters, a firm that provides “professional and economic empowerment” to rural women who hand-make sustainable hammocks and tote bags. The exercise enabled Frego to engage in the two activities that MBAs love most: building frameworks and making a difference.

Jake Frego, Indiana University (Kelley)

“We are confident that higher realized prices will improve livelihoods for both Brian and the women whom he employs,” Frego adds.

Sometimes, these projects can even deepen learning for MBAs across the world. That was the end result of a Washington University project led by Alex Ignatius on one New York firm’s decision to waive tips to servers.

“Our analysis found that while non-tipping narrowed the wage disparity between front and back-of-house staff and improved stability for servers, it had unintended negative consequences for the restaurants’ employees, customers, and owners,” Ignatius writes. “Informed by our study’s findings, the restaurant group reinstated tipping and moved to a revenue-sharing model for kitchen employees. Our student team made a lasting impact on a client whose industry was deeply affected by the pandemic. This work also served as the basis for a Harvard Business School case study, which will be taught at both Harvard and Olin this fall.”

PARENTS PROVIDE THE INSPIRATION

On the surface, the past year may have appeared as the worst of times for the MBAs To Watch. Traditions and treks were cancelled and events and courses were moved online.  For every step back, there was a step forward as the pandemic raced across the globe.  Manny Fadahunsi admits that Zoom fatigue sometimes made it difficult to stay engaged. At the same time, the Yale SOM MBA adds, “virtual setting has made it easier for professors to bring to class discussions more external speakers such as protagonists in case studies.” At Warwick Business School, Gabriela Murillo Alencaster struggled with issues ranging from feelings of isolation to frozen screens. Still, the virtual setting also freed her to join more extracurricular activities. If anything, adds UCLA Anderson’s Mitchella Gilbert, the new normal marked a return to an old normal, long undervalued and ever necessary.

“Personally, COVID helped me discover my inner homebody,” Gilbert jokes. “Taking classes online afforded me more time to work out, cook healthy food, decorate my apartment, and focus on raising capital.”

Aditi Bhandari, UC Berkeley (Haas)

As the Class of 2021 returns to work, the MBAs To Watch have been reflecting on where their journey began. For Claire Herting, business school has become a family affair. After all, her mother was also a career switcher who earned her MBA from the University of Washington’s Foster School. Taraneh Thomas has also been following in her mother’s footsteps — literally since she was a toddler. Back then, Thomas would accompany her mother to Women in Business or Women in STEM conferences. Now, the Emory grad is finishing up her dual MBA/MPH on the way to a summer internship with at Bristol Myers Squibb. And Aditi Bhandari describes her mother as her “cheerleader” and “coach.” Her contributions really hit home when the UC Berkeley MBA found a picture that she drawn in 4th grade under the prompt, “Draw yourself at age 30.”

“I had drawn a woman in a suit and scrawled under it, “I am a CMO,” writes Bhandari, who accepted a position at PepsiCo Frito-Lay after a successful summer internship with Ruffles. “I have no idea how 10-year-old me knew what a CMO was, but 10-year-old me definitely didn’t understand how young 30 is. Regardless, my mom had kept that drawing and reminded me of it when I first told her I was contemplating business school because I was feeling stuck at my media job. I think often about how she moved to this country younger than I am now, with a toddler in tow, to give me the opportunities she could only dream of. I am so grateful for her keeping me on track with my own dreams.”

Jake Frego found his “primary motivation” from his father. More than that, his father’s words and example imparted an entire philosophy that guided him through business school…and now beyond.

“He has worked in sports marketing for most of his career, and his personal triple bottom line is: “What do I get to do, who do I get to do it for, and who do I get to do it with?”  Restated, this reads, “Do I enjoy my specific role, do the values of the organization align with my own, and do I work with great colleagues?” These questions rang true to me in college, and still do, because they capture the key components of a job: the mission, the values, and the people.  Perhaps they aren’t unique to business, but my father’s experience taught me that I could pursue, and fulfill, them all with a business degree.”

Go to next pages to access 139 profiles of the MBAs To Watch from the Class of 2021

Page 4:  Arizona State to IE Business School

Page 5: IE Business School to Rice University

Page 6: University of Rochester to Yale SOM

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