Inside Ivey
Step into the world of Ivey Business School through the eyes of its students. Whether navigating the program, embracing leadership opportunities, or forging lifelong connections across the globe, these firsthand stories showcase the ambition and impact of Ivey students. Real voices, real experiences, and real insights into life at one of the world’s leading business schools.
Jackie Dew, president of the *MBA Pride Club and Ivey’s Class of 2027 Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Fellow, and Frank Fan, the club’s vice-president, are helping to foster connection and belonging within Ivey’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The MBA ’27 candidates share how the club is creating opportunities for students to build community, develop leadership skills, and bring their authentic selves to the Ivey experience.
*The MBA Pride Club is one of several student-led initiatives that help foster community and belonging for 2SLGBTQIA+ students at Ivey.
Q&A with Jackie Dew and Frank Fan
Meet Jackie Dew
I'm Jackie (she/her). President of the MBA Pride Club, dancer, queer woman of colour, currently finishing Core 1 of the one-year MBA.
Before Ivey, my life ran on two tracks. One was operations and project management. The other was dance. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance, and I've spent years teaching and choreographing. Some of the kids I started teaching when they were eight are now graduating from university themselves.
I came to Ivey for two reasons. The first is career opportunities. I wanted business skills to match the creative and consumer-facing work I've always been drawn to. The second is longer-term. Non-profits in general are under-resourced and hard to staff with experienced people, and that's especially true for the ones serving the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. I want to eventually be one of the experienced people who show up for them, whether on a board or in the work itself.
I came in expecting to be one of the only queer women in the room, and ready to own that. What I didn't expect was how much of a community I'd actually find here, queer and otherwise.
Meet Frank Fan
I am Frank (he/him), Vice-President of the MBA Pride Club. I am a foodie, a passionate train nerd, and an avid tennis player. I was born and raised in China, and I have spent the past 12 years building my life in Canada. Navigating that journey taught me a great deal about adaptability and the importance of finding your people. It made me realize that feeling at home is really about being part of a community that values open-mindedness, empathy, and genuine connection.
Ivey is exactly that kind of community. From the very beginning, the recruiting process felt incredibly personable and attentive. It is a warm, welcoming environment where the classroom heavily emphasizes communication and sharing. Not only are you surrounded by peers who challenge and inspire each other, but the professors actively elevate that environment. They bring a razor-sharp vision of what future leaders actually need to know about their subjects, ensuring our discussions always focus on what truly matters out in the real world. That level of intention, combined with a deeply supportive alumni network, made Ivey the clear choice.
What inspired you to get involved with the MBA Pride Club, and what made you want to take on a leadership role?
Jackie:
I knew coming into Ivey that I wanted a leadership role somewhere. I originally had my eye on the Pride Club's vice-president role, partly because I wanted the experience and partly because the club mattered to me personally.
At the time, I hadn't yet met many people in the community, and I wasn't sure who was planning to run for the role of club president. So I had a choice: stay in the role I'd planned for, or step up so the club had someone leading it if no one else did. I ran.
The bigger "why" underneath all of it was simple: I wanted to be a visible, safe person for queer students, for women, for anyone who walks into a room at Ivey and doesn't immediately see themselves in it. I've spent a lot of years mentoring younger dancers, and being a role model is something I take seriously. Queer women are still under-represented in business spaces, and I want the queer women coming through Ivey after me to have proof that we're here, we're doing the work, and we're doing it as our full selves. The people who get to be confident in who they are tend to be the ones who actually thrive. We deserve that at Ivey too.
Can you share a memorable moment or experience from your time with the club that has stayed with you?
Jackie:
In the first few weeks of the program, the outgoing MBA cohort hosted a Pride Club alumni panel. I went to it expecting it to mostly be a queer crowd, and instead, a bunch of my new friends, most of whom are allies, quietly showed up to support.
I remember sitting there, genuinely surprised. They didn't have to come. They came because they cared. That night set the tone for my whole year, and I've thought about it a lot since.
How has being part of the Pride Club shaped your experience at Ivey?
Jackie:
The broader Ivey community is genuinely welcoming, and I've never felt like I had to hide any part of myself here. That's not a small thing.
But there's a difference between being welcomed and being understood, and the Pride Club is where I get the second one. It's the comfort of shared experience. Being able to talk openly about partners, about coming out, about the intersections between culture and sexuality, without having to translate or caveat anything. It's a space to just be, and to have those conversations without judgment. That's the part of my Ivey experience I'll carry with me longest.
There's a difference between being welcomed and being understood, and the Pride Club is where I get the second one. – Jackie Dew
Frank:
For me, the Pride Club provides a profound sense of belonging. It is incredibly empowering to have a space that feels like family, where showing up with absolute authenticity is the baseline.
With that level of personal support, I am moving from participating in the program to actively shaping it. It gave me the confidence to proudly represent the School at events like Out on Bay Street and a deeper purpose to bring value back to campus. By organizing initiatives like our upcoming industry panels, I am learning how to channel our community's pride into practical resources for my peers. It extends my Ivey experience beyond just finding my own career path and towards building a lasting legacy.
The club focuses on community, networking, and advocacy. Which of these areas resonates most with you personally, and why?
Frank:
While community and advocacy are the heart and soul of what we do, networking resonates most with me right now because I see it as the missing piece. Community creates our supporting system, and advocacy gives us our voice, but networking is how we turn that support into tangible career success. There are so many incredible corporate diversity initiatives and specialized conferences out there that students simply aren't aware of. By focusing on networking, we can bridge that gap. It adds a highly practical, complementary pillar to the club that assists with our cohort’s career development.
What do you think surprises people most about the 2SLGBTQIA+ student experience in business school today?
Frank:
I think people still carry this outdated stereotype of business school being rigid, cutthroat, and purely transactional. Because of that, I think some are surprised to find out that being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community here isn't something you have to hide or navigate around; it is actually celebrated as an asset.
The corporate world is actively looking for diverse, authentic leaders, and business schools are reflecting that shift. The reality is that leaning into your identity and finding your community here doesn't distract from your career goals; it actually makes you a stronger, more confident, and more highly sought-after professional.
Being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community here isn't something you have to hide or navigate around; it is actually celebrated as an asset. – Frank Fan
What have you learned about leadership through your involvement with the Pride Club?
Jackie:
That my first idea is usually not the best one, and that's OK.
I campaigned for president with a pretty specific vision for the club. Within a few weeks of being in the role, it was clear that what I wanted and what our members actually needed weren't the same thing, and we made a real pivot. None of that would have worked without my vice-president, Frank. He thinks about events and community differently than I do, and the space between our instincts is what's going to make this year good for our members.
Leadership at the club level is mostly about staying open. To feedback, to your team, to the version of the thing that actually serves people.
How has the club helped foster a sense of belonging and inclusion within the Ivey community
Frank:
It starts with simply being visible. As a minority in a fast-paced MBA program, the mere existence of the Pride Club provides an immediate sense of relief – the reassurance that you are not alone here. From there, it grows into celebration. Through our events and activities, we carve out spaces to actually celebrate our uniqueness rather than just blending in. Ultimately, all of those touch points lead to building genuine, life-long connections. By creating a space where people can show up authentically, the club fosters bonds that turn into lasting friendships.
What advice would you give to a student who is considering joining the Pride Club or getting involved in campus organizations for the first time?
Jackie:
Be yourself.
I know it's the most overused advice in existence, but I mean it specifically. Don't shape-shift to fit a group, and don't perform a version of yourself to land a job. If a community's values don't actually match yours, no amount of fitting in will make it the right place.
The connections you build as your actual self last. The ones you build pretending don't.
As you look ahead, what are your hopes for the future of the Pride Club and the broader Ivey community?
Jackie:
Short-term, I want the Ivey Pride Club to be plugged in more deeply with the 2SLGBTQIA+ professional community. Frank has been driving this, and it matters. Our community is one of the most generous professional networks I've ever come across, and Ivey students should be tapping into it.
Long-term, I want the Pride Club to do real work with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in London and across Ontario. Volunteer opportunities, partnerships, and resource sharing. The non-profits in this space are doing critical work with almost nothing, and Ivey students have a lot they could offer them.
Frank:
My hopes for the Pride Club centre on two things: continuous impact and broader participation. First, I hope we build a legacy of consistency. The MBA program moves fast, and I want to ensure that the foundation we are setting right now remains a reliable, continuous resource for every future cohort.
Second, I would love to see our reach expand. Currently, a lot of our engagement is focused on the student level. While peer support is huge, imagine how empowering it would be to get more alumni, faculty, and staff involved. Building an authentic, welcoming community isn’t just a student project; it takes the whole school ecosystem showing up and fostering that culture alongside us.
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