I’m from Chicago—from a proud UChicago family—and went to undergrad at Northwestern for Journalism. After college, I moved to Baltimore and joined Teach For America. I loved the excitement and challenge of work in urban schools, but realized after a few years I was more interested in the problem solving in a tough environment than the actual classroom teaching. I moved back to Chicago and became heavily involved in improving math programming in schools around the city.
That experience cemented my understanding that what I really enjoyed was leading a team, analyzing and improving processes, and capturing data to measure progress. Coming to Booth helped me land a consulting internship at Bain for the summer. I couldn’t be more grateful for the community and the Booth Experience that helped me get my dream career on track.
I chose Booth for three reasons. First, coming from a non-business background, Booth is the single strongest stamp of business rigor that I could I put on my resume. When people see I come from Booth, they have no doubt I can handle the quantitative or analytical demands of any future job, even though I had no business experience before school. Second, I wanted a network in Chicago, and in doing my own research and exploration, I realized Booth definitely has the strongest MBA network in the city. Third, I really wanted to find people I could connect to. At Booth, I’ve found amazing people that are so intelligent and impressive, but also incredibly down to Earth.
Thinking about what makes Boothies awesome…. It’s not that we’re all the same; rather, it’s that we all have unique and ambitious goals, a passion for or dedication to something, and a desire to really learn through the experience. Most importantly, just about everyone I know at Booth is kind. I think this balance of smart, accomplished, nice people with big goals is what makes Booth so special.
Everyone who knows me will tell you I am enthusiastic about Booth. I spend as much time as I can in the Harper Center Winter Garden, because I love being part of our school’s community. I appreciate everything I’ve gained so far from being here: the sense of community, the intense professional support, and the academics (as someone without a business background, I recognize and appreciate that I am constantly learning relevant things).
I love giving back as a co-chair for the Management Consulting Group, a Board Fellow, and being involved in everything from BoothEd and Net Impact to Chicago Women in Business and Corporate Management and Strategy Group.
It’ll be fun sharing glimpses of this incredible MBA experience at Booth, as well as some of my hometown city favorites!
