Meet the Rice Jones MBA Class of 2018

carrie-leader-rice-poetsandquants-classof2018

Carrie Leader

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Equal parts quant and free spirit, chasing entrepreneurial thrills in the digital retail world.

Hometown: San Antonio, TX

Fun Fact About Yourself: In an effort to help Austin become a no-kill city, I fostered 17 puppies over the course of a year and a half.

Undergraduate School and Major: The University of Texas at Austin | Journalism

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Greenleaf Book Group – Marketing Associate

Leverage Marketing Agency – Account Manager & Account Supervisor

Francesca’s® – Digital Marketing and Analysis Manager

Elaine Turner – Director of Ecommerce and Digital Marketing

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: As part of a five-person executive team at Elaine Turner, I had the opportunity to be in on key business decisions every day, including one to partner with Oracle as a first adopter of their newest cloud technology, becoming an industry innovator in the digital retail space. The year of 2015 was dedicated to implementing a new website platform, leading a brand redesign, and integrating order processing technology to establish a cohesive, streamlined system for housing customer data. Beyond being my biggest career accomplishment and a game changer for our organization, the Oracle partnership opened the door to a world of personal opportunities as well, such as magazine interviews with two industry publications: Internet Retailer and Profit. It also enabled me to hone my public speaking skills through webinars, customer videos, and on stage at Oracle’s annual conference attended by 60,000.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? I would really encourage students to conduct coffee or phone chats with current students or alumni associated with any graduate schools of interest to obtain intel on the school culture and to gain a level of understanding on the graduate program’s relationship with companies, which can later be leveraged during the recruiting process. I found these conversations to be even more insightful than attending an information session or reaching out to the admissions office.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? After attending the University of Texas at Austin for my undergraduate studies, I was really attracted to the close-knit, collaborative environment that Rice Business prides itself on. Additionally, I am committed to setting down roots in Houston and so I place significant value on building a network of lifelong connections within the Rice community. Ultimately, it was the combination of location and the level of education in the business school that I found to be unparalleled.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? I’m not confident that my dream employer is even in existence yet because I aspire to work in a startup environment whose sole purpose is to revolutionize the customer shopping experience. I feel passionately about creating experiential shopping opportunities for consumers and doing so in a culture that encourages innovation and experimentation. I prefer entrepreneurial environments simply because I feel that I can have the biggest impact in smaller, less policy-oriented environments. While my dream employer might still be on the verge of launching, some of the brands that I garner inspiration from are Bonobos, Everlane and Shinola. 

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? I hope that my business school peers will feel as though their lives have been positively impacted as a result of spending the last two years together. How each person defines that positive impact will likely differ, but my goal is to bring the Class of 2018 closer together through inclusive interactions and to help establish bonds that will last a lifetime.

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