The MBA Student Voice

Over Already? Looking Back on My Two Awesome Years at UCLA Anderson

I am amazed (and a bit embarrassed!) to realize that my last post about my goings-on at UCLA Anderson was almost a year ago! But as graduation looms (what? where did the time go?!?) in a mere five weeks, it seemed a final wrap-up post about my time here at this awesome school was in order.  To get you up to speed, when I last wrote I was one quarter into my tenure as president of the High Tech Business Association and about to head off to Seattle for a summer interning as a Product Manager in the Kindle division at Amazon.com. For a look back at all my old posts, you can click here.

So much has happened since then, it’s hard to know where to begin, but I will start by saying my experience at Amazon was fantastic this summer, and I am delighted to report that I will be returning there after graduation full-time as a Senior Product Manager! Over 12 other Andersonians will be heading there too, joining the many others already at Amazon, Microsoft, T-Mobile and Nordstrom, and continuing our Seattle reach!

Josh Stark, me and Brad Lyman had awesome summers at Amazon and will be returning after graduation.

I was lucky enough to work with the Kindle team in the months preceding the launch of the next generation (Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire HD) on September 6, 2012. Because the team was so busy, I ended up with some pretty cool assignments, the coolest being building out a product that I got to present to Jeff Bezos. Yes, that Jeff Bezos.

"Bezos"? "War Room"? So yeah, pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Back at school, the High Tech Business Association (HTBA) continued on the upward trajectory started by the board preceding me and launching into high gear since last spring. A good overview of some of our activites and other opportunities in Tech that Anderson offers can be found in my fellow blogger Alejandra Rodriguez's post Let's Talk High Tech. One awesome event we added this year was Anderson's first ever High Tech Case Competition, sponsored by Amazon. Among the prizes winners received was guaranteed interviews with the company for summer internships or full-time positions!

Of course we promoted the case competition using social media!

Our annual Silicon Valley and Seattle Tech Treks took us to some of the most sought-after tech companies in the world - for example, over 20 in the Bay Area including Adobe, eBay/PayPal, Facebook, Google, Medallia, Salesforce, SanDisk, Twitter and YouTube.

HTBA inside the Zynga light tube!

HTBA "likes" Facebook!

We teamed with sister club the Entrepreneur Association to get more involved in the LA start-up scene, also known as "Silicon Beach." We incorporated company and incubator visits and events on campus like our Mobile in LA panel with start-up founders.

Founders from start-ups ParkMe, Shipmate, Mogreet, GonnaBe and Gumiyo

There's lots more great stuff to say about HTBA but I will let that thread continue with fellow blogger Ashley Mallinson, who is the newly elected president for the 2013-14 school year! (Unless of course she gets so busy with that position she doesn't find time to blog anymore. Not that I know anyone this has happened to.)

There were lots of awesome events at school and around Los Angeles, as always. Just this weekend was the annual Tour de Strand, a day-long pub crawl on bikes from Santa Monica to Hermosa Beach along the beach paths. Things get pretty crazy by the end of the long, sunny, fun day, but here are two SFW pictures to give you an idea:

Biking from bar three to four along The Strand.

James Vogl, Kiara Barrett, and Kevin Hofstee were the "whistleblowers" or coordinators of this year's event, and they did a fabulous job!

Also this spring, the annual AnderGLAM Fashion show completely rocked the house. Students moonlighted as models, walking the catwalk in hot fashions sourced by the Retail Management Association (RMA), to the delight of their classmates. Several administrators and professors participated in this popular event, including the school dean, Dean Judy Olian! 

Kelsey Doorey, Dean Olian, Natalie Velasco, Al Osborne (Director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship), Sarah Alexander, Angie Lin and Kavi Kapadia pose on the red carpet.

A few other events from the year, in pictures:

The Women's Business Connection (WBC) Game Night, which included Board of Visitors member and school donor Marion Anderson (right) on the guest list!

My AMR Team made our final presentation in March after working on this project, the Anderson capstone experience, for six months. As professional and poised as we appear here, we were sooo excited to finally be done! (From left: Rob Michlovich, Jesse Pemstein, Matt Cautero, me, Uros Pajic)

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday at Anderson.

Street fair in Venice on yet another gorgeous Los Angeles day

On top of HTBA presidency, WBC vice presidency, classes, and all the rest, I still managed to run a few marathons in my free time, including Seattle in June, Santa Barbara in November (after going to New York only to have the NYC Marathon be cancelled in the wake of devastating Hurricane Sandy), Los Angeles in March, and Boston in April. My friend Dave Masterson and I took this picture at the finish line the day before the race - so chilling to think of what happened there under 24 hours later. I was so grateful to my wonderful Anderson classmates for all the support and love they showed me in the aftermath of this scary event.

Sending support and healing thoughts to everyone affected by the tragic events on marathon day.

And that is an extremely high level overview of my second year of business school. Anderson has been a wonderful experience for me - well worth the time and money involved. That said, now it's time to start making some money again so I can pay off those loans! Next stop: SEATTLE!

Enjoying a beautiful summer day in Seattle with my husband Stanton.

Thanks for joining me for the last two years, I hope I've helped more than a few of you realize that UCLA Anderson is definitely the place to be. And now it's off to the real world again, this time as an officially MBA'ed professional:

Wouldn't you hire me?

-Charlotte Baxter Maines, Full-time MBA Class of 2013

Twitter: @CharlotteK

TED at UCLA Anderson!

 

 

Hello everyone. Last week we had a very exciting event at UCLA Anderson, the second annual TED Live Streaming! TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is an annual set of global conferences about "ideas worth spreading". The topic can be anything as long as it is an innovative idea and they last at most 18 minutes so it is a fast and fun way to learn something very interesting. For example I got to listen to a talk about how music should be free and another about how the best experiences and products are those that stimulate more than one of your five senses. 

UCLA Anderson has an agreement to live stream these conferences at the campus and they designed an amazing room so students could sit and enjoy the talks. Take a look here:

 

 

Doesn't it look awesome? Those bean bag chairs were very comfy! If you want to see how they set it all up you can see that in a video here. It looks much better there; my pictures don't do it justice. 

After the live stream three or four panelist comprised of alumni, students, faculty, and industry specialists would go up on stage and discuss the TED talk to provide more insight on the subject and allow guests to ask questions. 

 

Second year Ana Peña (on the left) was moderating the panel I attended.

 

There was also a campfire at the end of the event on the third day where students and faculty would go and present their own TED inspired talks. I was not able to attend but fellow blogger Ashley Mallison did and here is what she had to say:

 

 

"The campfire was a great event. The photo is of Bhavna from our year who gave an inspiring talk about changing the way we design our cities to inside healthier lifestyles! It was a fabulous event that spoke to the power of TED and the UCLA Anderson community with great drinks and food, and black light chalk wall for people to write “What would you name your own TED Talk” and truly inspiring presentations from students and professors!"

I hope this inspires you to attend the TED Live Streaming event at UCLA Anderson next year and if you are planning to visit campus make sure to ask a current student if there are going to be any events on the dates of your visit. There is always something interesting going on at UCLA Anderson! 

 

-Alejandra Rodriguez '14
Follow UCLA Anderson at @UCLAMBA

Lets talk High Tech!

It is that time of the year where a lot of you must be deciding which MBA school to go to (of course you should choose UCLA Anderson!). For those of you interested in technology or those who have not decided what they want to do after their MBAs, I want to share with you why Anderson is such a great place for transitioning to a job in the high tech industry. 

 

Location!

Anderson is located very close to Silicon Valley, the San Francisco bay area, and Seattle. You can find the headquarters of all the major high tech companies in these areas. For example Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Ebay, etc. All just a drive or a short plane ride away.

Los Angeles is also home of many startups, including those in the high tech industry, but you don't have to take my word for it, click here to read a great article from Forbes about why Los Angeles is becoming the new tech startup capital. 

Lastly, we are very close to Las Vegas which is home of the annual CES convention. Fellow blogger Kyle Forest just wrote an awesome post telling you all about it which you can find here. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend you do so! 

 

Parker CMC!

We just talked about the awesome location but how can you really leverage it? The Parker CMC , which is Anderson's Career Management Center, has a great relationship with all the high tech companies.  Most of them recruit on campus and post positions through Parker CMC. 

You can follow Parker CMC on facebook here. They do a splendid job coaching and preparing us for networking and interviews. They have a class just for this on your first quarter, they do workshops, and you can book an appointment with any of the advisors every week. Actually one of the greatest advices I can give you when you start your MBA is to meet with an advisor every week. They will do mock interviews with you, review your resume and cover letters, address your concerns, guide you on how to get your dream job, and so much more. I usually meet with Emily Taylor or Regina Regazzi, who have done an amazing job coaching me and I highly recommend both of them.  Needless to say you can't go wrong with any advisor you decide to work with, they are all great! 

This is Emily teaching us about Parker CMC during our first days of class! 

 

Alumni!

We have Alumni in almost any company you might be interested in and they are all happy to talk to you about their experience. It is actually one of my favorite things about Anderson, we have a great community where everyone helps each other out and that does not stop upon graduation. Contacting an Alumni is very easy, we have an ever growing database where you can search for them and obtain their e-mails. 

 

We have ACT Coaches!

You must be wondering what ACT Coaches are, they are second years who meet with a group of first years for an hour every week to guide and mentor them on their job search. ACT groups can be by industry or function, for example I am in an ACT group for high tech and in another one for finance. Let's discuss the high tech ACT group since this is a post about high tech. These are my Act Coaches: 

Meet Joshua Stark and Bradford Lyman from class 2013! 

Can we talk about how awesome Josh and Brad are? They keep us up to date with tech news, practice interview questions with us, and guide us all the way from how to decide what companies to target to how to get the most out of your internship. It is so nice to have a fellow second year to talk to about these things and their advice has been so helpful! I am amazed by how they know so much! 

 

We have Mentors!

If Parker CMC and ACT Coaches are not enough for you we also have mentorship programs in many of Anderson's clubs. I have a mentor from the HTBA (High Tech Business Association) and from the WBC (Women's Business Connection). When looking for a mentor in the high tech industry don't just look in the HTBA, many other clubs, like the WBC, will offer you mentors that match your function, country of origin, gender, etc. but that doesn't mean they can't also match your target industry! My mentors Daisy Chen and Shiva Ramesh from class 2012 have been providing me invaluable advice and connecting me with many other alumni. I highly recommend that you sign up for mentorship programs when you are at Anderson. 

 

HTBA and Tech Treks!

The HTBA (High Tech Business Association) organizes events throughout the year to help you meet and talk to representatives from high tech companies. Some of these events are:

-Career nights:  They are kind of like speed dating. You sit at a table with representatives from a certain company and after some time the organizer indicates that it is time to switch tables. It is really fun!

-Tech treks: The HTBA assigns companies for you to visit or you bid for them in a raffle system. You get to visit one or two companies per day and there is always an alumni networking event too. There is one for Seattle and one for the Sillicon Valley area and they usually happen during winter. 

Anderson students at Microsoft's campus in Seattle 

-Brunches: As the name implies it is a brunch with company representatives. There is going to be one this Sunday organized by the HTBA and the WBC (Women's Business Connection).

 

If all this did not convince you, I encourage you to visit our campus and talk to some current students. That played a big role for me when deciding what MBA to go to. If you can't come to campus contact some students by e-mail or phone, they are all very friendly and happy to help!

 

-Alejandra Rodriguez '14
Follow UCLA Anderson at @UCLAMBA

Real case. Real client. Real impact. The Eighth Annual Net Impact Consulting Challenge!

Last Wednesday, the UCLA Anderson chapter of Net Impact held the kickoff for its Eighth Annual Net Impact Consulting Challenge (NICC). NICC offers students the opportunity to assist local nonprofits and for-profit social ventures with current strategic challenges across various areas, such as marketing, finance, operations, and leadership. The students work with their assigned organizations for a period of two and a half weeks, and the competition culminates in a presentation on Sunday, January 27th, when all teams will present their strategic recommendations and compete for a cash prize. 

In an effort to bring together students of various disciplines and levels of expertise, NICC is open to FEMBA and EMBA students, as well as graduate students outside the business school. Students compete in teams of four to six, and this year there are a total of 17 teams and 86 students. The participating organizations were selected through a competitive application process, and are dedicated to causes that include education, poverty, domestic violence, healthcare, and environmental issues. In past years, NICC had been restricted to nonprofit organizations, but the application process this year opened up to for-profit organizations with a social mission, reflective of a growing interest in this business model. 

Over the past eight years, NICC has brought together 190 students and impacted over 60 local organizations.  During the kickoff event, guest speaker and Anderson alumna Gayle Northrop noted that across the years, interest in the nonprofit world has grown at Anderson from just a few students to a sizeable group of individuals with varying interests and aspirations.  

I'm also participating in NICC, and my team and I were fortunate enough to get placed with the Alexandria House, a non-profit organization that empowers women and children who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking by providing them with access to transitional housing, a support network, and medical and career services, ultimately preparing them to lead happy, fulfilling lives. We met with our clients at the kickoff event to discuss the strategic challenge at hand and outline our plan of action for the  next few weeks. We feel honored to have the opportunity to work with such passionate, dedicated individuals, and are so very excited to compete in this challenge and help Alexandria House to reach its goals! I urge you to check out Alexandria House's website and learn more about how it helps to make L.A. a better place: http://www.alexandriahouse.org

Stay tuned for my next post later this month to find out who wins NICC!

ALMA Welcome Week Event!

UCLA Anderson Latino Management Alumni

Welcome Week event at Obika Mozzarella!
When: October 9th, 6pm - 8pm
Alumni: $15 - Students $5
Where:  Obika Mozarella - Century City Westfield, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Touring Tokyo

After a phenomenal eight days in Japan, I’m back in sunny Los Angeles and ready to get down to business preparing for Anderson. But first, a quick recap of the Tokyo chapter of my trip (see previous post for Part 1). My brother and I left Kyoto on a high note, meeting up with family friends from Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe for dinner and sake—really good sake. I probably learned more of the Japanese language in those few hours than ever before, including the most relevant word of the week, “atsui,” to describe the hot weather.

Great food, great sake... and peace signs!

The next morning we rode the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo and searched out our ryokan (Japanese-style inn) in a quaint section of town called Yanaka, which is known for it’s more traditional lifestyle and slow pace amid the hustle and bustle of the largest metropolitan area in the world. With home base established, we spent the next few days riding back and forth on the JR Yamanote line checking out each of the famous, and infamous, districts of Tokyo.

In Ikebukuro we found our favorite kaiten-zushi joint, where little plates of sushi move through the restaurant on a conveyor belt. Akihabara was an overload of electronics, arcades, comics and toys. The red light district of Shinjuku was wild, but that's another story for another blog! Harajuku lived up to its billing as a fashion and street style capital of the world. And we snapped a few photos at the famed Shibuya crossing, supposedly the busiest intersection in the world, before checking out the nightlife in that area.

 

Overlooking the city from the Tokyo Skytree.

Although I was unable to meet a couple Anderson alumni due to conflicting schedules, their advice was invaluable as we planned our days; it’s great to see the network in action. I’m particularly excited to get to know some of my international classmates from Japan and elsewhere. One of the great virtues of a business school like Anderson is the variety of backgrounds and diversity of experiences within the program... things you simply cannot replicate by Googling.

And speaking of diversity, in my next post I’ll share a little bit about two amazing programs with which Anderson has partnered to promote diversity and inclusion in MBA programs: Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and the Consortium. These two organizations have helped me immensely in many ways, and I hope to pass on just a sliver of what I've learned.

Thanks for reading!

- Gregory Paige
  (Follow me on Twitter: @gregorypaige)

"Eat Mor Chikin"

After reviewing some of my recent blog posts, I realized that I failed to mention my post-graduation plans.  I knew that I had left some loose ends at the end of the school year.  Graduation was June 15th, so we are now well into post-graduation territory.  Better late than never.  At the end of the month I will be headed to Atlanta to serve as a marketing consultant for Chick-fil-A (national fast food chain with ~1,700 locations).  I interned with them last summer and had a blast working alongside people who loved what they did as well as the people they worked with.  Therefore, I'm incredibly honored to be joining the team full-time.  Friends sometimes tease me asking why I need an MBA to sell chicken.  Let's just say that it's a lot harder than it looks!

So this is my first post as an alumnus, and I will continue to provide short tidbits about my Anderson experiences over the past year in addition to updates from the "other side" of the MBA adventure.  If I were to summarize my overall feelings about the MBA experience, I must emphasize that it was one of the best decisions I've made.  Yes, it was an expensive decision, but it was definitely worth it.  For anyone who is even remotely interested in exploring a career shift, the MBA program is the PERFECT place to gain exposure to a variety of functions and industries, get a more comprehensive understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and develop the requisite skills to complete the career shift.  For me, that meant making the transition from investment banking to restaurant marketing.  For others, that could mean any number of things.

The MBA program truly is yours to shape and mold, especially at Anderson.  I assure you that you will get out of it what you put into it.  My recommendation for incoming students: put in a lot!

-- Jesse Ferlianto '12
Twitter: @jferlianto 

 

In front of the Chick-fil-A in Smyrna, GA.  The picture was taken moments after my hiring manager extended me an offer over lunch!

C4C 2012 - Bigger Than Ever

This year, demand for Challenge 4 Charity weekend tickets was overwhelming.  The 1,300 available tickets sold out several weeks in advance to the surprise of many.  As co-captain of the Anderson C4C tennis team, I was sad to hear that two of our players, Alex and Pam, were not able to secure a ticket before in time.  Last year, Stanford man-handled our tennis team up and down the line up, and we really wanted to put up our best possible team to make things more competitive.  Thankfully,  Stanford (the hosts of this widely popular event), had a secondary market in place so that people could have a second chance through the wait list.  

A few days before the event, both Pam and Alex fortunately secured a last minute ticket off of this secondary market.  With their help, I'm thrilled to say that we won the tennis event.  In fact, Anderson won the entire sporting event of the weekend, also securing 1st place finishes in co-ed football, table tennis, men's soccer, men and women's volleyball, and squash.  We came painfully close to clinching the men's A basketball title when Stanford's point guard drained an off-balance 3 with less than a minute to go.  Nonetheless, I am very proud of the way our guys stepped up and challenged the highly talented Stanford team (e.g., 2-time NBA champion Mark Madsen was their center, and Graham defended him really well).  The atmosphere in that Arrillaga gym was nothing short of electric.  Let's just say that it did not feel like an MBA event!

If there's anything I learned from that weekend, it's that MBAs love playing sports and cheering for teammates.  Thanks to all my fellow west-coast MBAs for the great memories.  Many bonds were formed and new friendships created during this epic weekend -- I'm pretty sure we all can agree that this result is a win-win for everyone.

Jesse Ferlianto '12
Twitter: @jferlianto

UCLA Anderson Tennis - C4C 2012 Champions!
(Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Mah) 

Since Graduation in June ...

Four years after enrolling at UCLA Anderson, and later UCLA School of Law, I graduated with a JD and an MBA. Immediately after graduation, I spent the summer studying for the CA bar examination. I took a brief break after that to visit Puerto Rico, before starting my new job as a regulatory consultant. Given my background and future goals, this job was a great fit - and my company is great. I've been with the company now for about six months. My projects vary, but generally consist of consulting clients on how to comply with securities laws, rules and regulations. A lot of my work is done onsite, at the client, so I travel very often. I just returned from New York last night and I'm off to San Fransicso on Monday. More updates to follow ....

Hire Learning

In college football, signing day is a big deal. It marks the first day a recruit can sign a letter of intent to play college football. It also represents the culmination of what can be four years of recruiting. Signing day was especially kind to UCLA this year, as the Bruins hauled in a class that some analysts rank as high as number 12 in the nation. Why am I mentioning this? I don’t know. Maybe more people will go to Anderson tailgates next year.

What I’m getting at is that it’d be really nice if business school had a signing day. Why can’t the first Wednesday in February be the day in which every first-year student signs a letter of intent for a summer internship? Wishful thinking, I guess. Still, many of my friends have landed their summer gigs. If you’re an investment banker, you’ve most likely accepted an offer. Same goes with some on the consulting and marketing career paths. But for those of us who are chasing more non-traditional MBA roles, the recruiting process can take longer.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I’m recruiting for entertainment. I liken entertainment recruiting to Chicago winters. They can start as early as September and last into April or May. I started the recruiting process in September by reaching out to alumni for informational interviews. Right now I’m sending out applications and doing a few interviews. But I’ve fully conditioned myself to the fact that I may not have an offer until the spring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not throwing a pity party. Instead, I look at this process as an opportunity to network more, learn about the opportunities out there, and find the perfect one.

So what is the perfect role? I’m glad you asked. I don’t know. But what I do know is that Anderson is doing everything in its power to help me figure that out. Thanks to the resources of the Entertainment Management Association (EMA), I’ve been able to do some incredible networking this quarter. Since being back from break, I’ve made recruiting trips to a number of studios, including Sony, Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney and Fox. I’ve also participated in sponsored trips to Hulu and Creative Artists Agency.

Our esteemed group at Paramount. I’m the guy in the dark suit.

If you’re not impressed, consider my recent trip to New York. In two days in the Big Apple, a number of entertainment-focused classmates and I visited NBC Universal, IAC, Focus Features, Tribeca Enterprises, Google, ABC/ESPN and Fox. We met with alumni at pretty much each stop and adhered to my b-school motto: ABN (always be networking). 

I know what you’re thinking, but no, I did not make the cut in the Rockettes tryouts. Why do you think I'm looking for a job?

I also found time to go to the Sundance Film Festival with some friends from the EMA. I saw a few great movies, soaked up the celebrity scene, and attended a Stella Artois party that was highlighted by free waffles. Free waffles! I mean, seriously, does it get any better?

Snow in Utah. Very pretty. You know what it doesn’t do in L.A.? Snow. And I’m fine with that.

My point is that if I already had my job, maybe I wouldn’t be as eager to take advantage of these amazing opportunities. Still, if you’re hiring, let me know. 

-Willem

Follow me on Twitter: @willsouthwood