MBA Insider

Jessica Wan is a UC-Berkeley Haas MBA Alumni, Executive Coach, and The Host of the Ampersand Manifesto Podcast. Prior to attending UC-Berkeley Haas, Jessica worked in the arts and non profit sector before deciding to pursue an MBA all while continuing her passion for the arts as a trained opera singer and performer. After working in several marketing roles at tech companies after her MBA building...

Congratulations on landing a new job or internship! Even though you put in a ton of hard work to land this opportunity, have you put in the time and effort to figure out how you can be successful as you onboard into a new role, opportunity, or organization? In this episode, Al walks through the key actions and focus areas you can focus on when you’re onboarding into a new job or internship. You’ll...

In this episode, MBA Insider Podcast Host Al Dea shares why he thinks it is important to define and cultivate a personal brand in order to advance your career on your own terms, along with providing some actionable and practical pieces of advice for how professionals can do this in their work and careers. Links: Al’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/ How to Stand out at Work:...

Priyal Keni is an MBA Candidate at London Business School. Prior to attending London Business School Priyal worked as a chartered accountant, consultant and professional rifle shooter before deciding to pivot into a new profession. During our conversation, Priyal spoke about her decision to find new opportunities in her career by pursuing an MBA, as well as her decision to go to London Business Sc...

Jerome Fulton Jr is a MBA Candidate in the Class of 2023 at Harvard Business School. Prior to attending HBS, Jerome worked in accounting and finance before deciding to pursue an MBA degree. During our conversation, Jerome spoke about his journey to applying to an MBA and entering Harvard Business School, as well as some of the leadership opportunities he’s taken on while he’s been an HBS student....

How are you managing your career in today’s changing world of work? In this solo episode, MBA Insider Podcast Host Al Dea walks us through six principles for how you can manage your career in today’s changing world of work, and something that any aspiring, current or former MBA can benefit from.  Links Al’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/ Al’s Newsletter: https://alsnewsletter.subs...

Laura Fox is an MBA Graduate from the NYU Stern School of Business. Prior to her time at NYU Stern, Laura spent her time thinking about how to improve cities and building and executing digital strategies. After realizing her desire to make a broader impact at the systemic level of cities and communities, Laura decided to pursue an MBA at NYU Stern, where she was able to explore and pursue numerous...

Editors Note : This is a replay of a popular episode from 2021 featuring Joey Parker (Haas MBA Alum) After spending six years in the non-profit sector, Joey Parker (Haas, ’21) enrolled at UC-Berkeley (Haas) to pursue an MBA and to transition to a new career.  During this episode, Joey talks about his experience with MBA internship recruiting for both management consulting and technology roles, the...

Sowa Imoisilli is an MBA Candidate in the Class of 2023 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to attending the GSB, Sowa worked as a management consultant in the health and public service sector and eventually made her way into the innovation hub helping ideate and build products. After realizing she was interested in getting more ownership of the work she was doing as well as being d...

Janine Lee is a Global L&D Strategy and Ops Lead at Google, and graduated with her MBA from UC-Berkeley Haas. Throughout her life and career, Janine has always pushed herself to learn and grow. Prior to business school, Janine was working in the utility and energy space before deciding that she wanted to further her learning by switching careers, and after seeing many leaders and mentors she a...

Editor’s Note: This episode has been produced in partnership with the Texas McCombs School of Business. Whether it’s going to get an MBA to transition into a new career or accelerate your path on an existing one, finding the right program with the right resources to help students achieve their career goals is important to MBA applicants. To talk about the importance of support and resources in the...

In this solo episode, Al tackles a number of listener questions that are top of mind for aspiring MBA applicants including: What to do about an upcoming promotion at work and balancing that with pursuing an MBA When does it make sense to pursue a part-time MBA vs a Full-Time MBA? Advice on how to get your employer to pay for your MBA degree? If you are an aspiring, current or former MBA student wh...

Nathan Tanner is a longtime friend of MBASchooled and the MBA Insider Podcast. During this episode, Nathan spoke to us about his journey to business school, and how his time in business school helped him transition into a career in HR. After spending the past 6-7 years working in HR & People roles at tech companies Nathan recently made a career change to becoming an Executive Coach & Found...

Aaron Fung is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Business Partner at Pinterest, and an MBA Graduate from the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management.  After starting his career in the banking and financial services industry, Aaron chose to go to business school to pursue his interests in people development. While he re-entered the financial services industry immediately after business school, Aaron di...

Blessing Adesiyan is a UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA Alum, and the Founder of MH, a platform that is helping mothers build better careers and happier homes. During this conversation, Blessing shared her journey to pursuing an MBA, how she used her time in business school at UNC Kenan-Flagler to prototype and test her idea, and her ambitions for empowering women to build better careers and happier homes. ...

Listener Note: This is a replay of episode #87 This episode is all about informational interviews, something that many students and professionals rely on during the course of their time in business school and in the everyday workplace. With help of  Alli Jaeggi (USC Marshall, ‘20) we broke down everything MBAs need to know about the topic of informational interviews, tips for how to do them right,...

Welcome to 2023! In the first episode of 2023, Al Dea does a solo episode and tackles the following topics: Big Headlines in the MBA space in from Fall 2023 Other underreported things that happened in the MBA space and their implications for the MBA and MBA degree Mailbag questions from listeners around how to write and talk about yourself in MBA applications Links: Pay and Compensation: https://f...

Christina Wallace is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, an HBS Graduate, entrepreneur and author. As a self-described “human venn diagram,” Christina wears many hats, and has learned to embrace and lean into her unique talents and found ways to bring them to life throughout a multitude of different avenues in her career and in her life. During this conversation, we spoke about Christina...

Today’s guest host is Brad Vonick, a Texas McCombs MBA Graduate and friend of MBA Insider. Today’s guest is Greg Labanowski, a Texas McCombs MBA Graduate from the Class of 2022. In college, Greg was a member of the USC men’s tennis team, and was able to pursue his passion to work in sports prior to getting his MBA. After a few years in the industry, he chose to pursue an MBA and attend Texas McCom...

Nicole Gwanzura is the CEO and Founder of EAC Consulting LLC. Nicole is a leader in the early career talent attraction and development space, and works with organizations to help them attract, develop and retain diverse talent while empowering early career professionals to get the guidance and resources they need to grow their careers.  During our conversation, Nicole shared her journey to startin...

Many MBA students cite that networking and building relationships are two of the most valuable parts of the MBA experience. But how does that play out, and how do MBA graduates cultivate their relationships with their peers and classmates during business school and beyond? In this episode, we spoke to three MBA alums, Margaret Nealon (USC Marshall, ‘22) Ethan Siegel (Owen, ‘22) and Jill Toner (UNC...

In this episode, we spoke with Javier Madriz (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘22) and Paige Smith (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘23). While Javier and Paige chose to get an MBA for different reasons, a commonality they both share is being able to take advantage of the career coaching and leadership resources from UNC Kenan-Flagler that enabled both of them to explore the right career path based on their unique strength...

Jordan Sale is the Founder of 81Cents, GM of Rora, and MBA Graduate from UC-Berkeley Haas. After starting her career in Fintech, Jordan decided to pursue an MBA and moved back across the country to attend Berkeley. During her time in business school, Jordan began exploring different programs, classes and experiences in entrepreneurship, and also found her idea for starting 81 Cents, to help indivi...

Shana Lebowitz Gaynor is a columnist at Insider and the author of Don’t Call it Quits: Turn The Job You Have into The Job You Love. Shana has been covering the workplace, careers and leadership at Insider and recently published her book as a guide to employees who are struggling with their current role but don’t necessarily want to quit or leave their company on how they can make changes or take a...

Lindsay Case is an MBA Graduate from the University of Michigan Ross’s Online MBA Program from the Class of 2021. During this conversation, we spoke to Lindsay about her decision to pursue an MBA in her career journey, why she chose the online MBA and the program at Ross. We also spoke to her about her experience managing an online MBA program while working full-time, what she got out of the exper...