Maggie Niehaus

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

“I am a fiercely-independent social butterfly, who thrives when continuously learning and practicing something new.”

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I grew up an avid whitewater kayaker. I sometimes forget it’s a rather unique skill for a city-girl and surprise my friends with my above-average boating skills.

Undergraduate School and Major: Wake Forest University, English

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Edelman (employer); Associate Director, Paid Media (title)

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The greatest accomplishment of my career has been helping to develop and grow the paid media practice at Edelman. When I joined Edelman, paid media and digital advertising was a small specialty working on a project-to-project basis. Through my time there, the team grew in both size and expertise, eventually to a place where we were competing against the biggest ad agencies. Winning the 2016 Search Engine Land Award for Best Overall Search Program validated that.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? So far I have been inspired by how passionate and eager all of the classmates seem. Their enthusiasm for school and for the careers that lay beyond school has solidified in me that I made the right decision.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? For me, finding a program in a major city was my number one priority. I wanted to be somewhere that would provide me with opportunities and plenty to do outside of school, as well as in a city with a booming business presence – and Atlanta definitely fits the bill!

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? So many things, but the first that comes to mind is the mid-semester module we’ll take in the spring semester. I’m looking forward to the chance to hopefully travel with my classmates and learn more about business practices in other countries!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I began to get the itch to leave the agency world and go client-side. After doing some research, I realized that an MBA would afford me the opportunity to pursue a wider variety of careers, and that the skills I learned in business school would help get me further in whatever career I choose.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment?  I realized that the experiences and opportunities a full-time program would afford me greatly outweighed the investment.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? NYU Stern

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Community and culture fit were my biggest priorities. I wanted to be at a school with a close-knit group of students, professors, and administrators, where I could quickly develop a strong support system. I looked for schools where I knew business I’m interested in recruit actively, and wanted to be in a big city with a breadth of industries and a growing economy. As for determining culture, I spoke to students and administrators, and researched online to learn more about the opportunities I could expect from each school.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I honestly can’t think of one single defining moment. I’ve been shaped into who I am by all of the people I’ve met and the variety of experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have through the years.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? After graduation, I plan to work in a brand or corporate marketing role, hopefully with an emphasis on analytics and insights.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I’ll be managing a team of bright marketers, and still learning and evolving my skillset to stay up-to-speed and competitive.