Bachelors Degree
Science - Biology and Psychology
Pre-MBA employment industry:
Advertising (Marketing Services, Ad Agencies, Communications, Public Relations)
Why did you decide to do an MBA?
I decided to do an MBA because I wanted to build on what I already knew how to do. Working in hospitality and operations, I saw how much of a difference good leadership and well-designed systems make in how people actually experience a place, whether that's a guest checking in or a team getting through a hectic shift. I could see the impact, and I wanted to understand more of the thinking behind it, the strategy and the decision-making side.
Ivey stood out for the case method, but honestly, more for the people in the room. You spend as much time learning from the person sitting beside you as you do from the case itself. I wanted that, and I wanted to push myself to be a more confident, well-rounded leader while I was at it.
What is the most significant thing you've learned at Ivey?
The most significant thing I've learned has come out of my learning team.
There were seven of us and we all worked differently. Coming from operations, my instinct was to move fast and get organized early. What I've learned is that with a group, speed at the start is usually false speed. The twenty minutes you spend hearing how everyone is framing the problem is the twenty minutes that saves you at the end.
Our 24-hour report was where that really showed. Once we stopped splitting up tasks and agreed on the actual problem first, everything after it got easier.
It's made me more patient, and I think a better person to disagree with.
What's been the most surprising aspect of the Ivey MBA journey to date?
Honestly, how much my own interests have moved.
I came in fairly set on healthcare operations, and that's still where I am open to end up. But sitting in cases beside people from tech, marketing, finance, and consulting, I kept getting pulled into problems I never would have chosen for myself. I didn't expect to enjoy working on a brand positioning case as much as I did, and I didn't expect to be genuinely curious about product roles.
The surprise wasn't changing my mind. It was realizing how narrow my sense of what I could be good at had been, and that most of that came from only ever having seen one industry up close.
Ivey in one word or a few words: Please share what your Ivey experience is to you!
Perspective.
