What’s one thing you learned about Anderson at your last Embracing Diversity?
In one of the mock courses that I remember having for the day, we conducted a social experiment to understand privilege in a social setting and the ramifications of navigating those spaces. Each person was given a piece of tape with a number 1 through 12 on it and had to put it on our foreheads. We were instructed to socialize and talk to various people for 5 minutes and then when time was up were given another 5 minutes to “match” with 1 person by shaking their hand. The objective of the game was to match with someone with as high of a number as you can find. The catch was that you didn’t know the number on your own forehead and others had the freedom to reject or accept your request to match with them depending on low or high your number was. It was fascinating to see how many people ended up matching with people relatively close to their own numbers and how the people with 11 and 12s found it far easier to find partners with no rejections. It was an engaging experience and it was definitely the highlight of my weekend since I had to get out of my comfort zone and meet many new people.
When did you know you wanted to come to Anderson?
Up until this past June, I built a great career at Morgan Stanley doing a variety of different business strategy roles in the Wealth Management division. I developed many great relationships with co-workers and mentors that I will always cherish. However, the learning curve was beginning to flatten and while I enjoyed the strategic nature of my job, my heart was not 100% in it. I knew what industry I wanted to be in and had the skills and knowledge to get there. Despite this, I needed a launching point to help bridge the gap. Because of my industry passion in media, sports, and entertainment, I wanted to be in a large city with myriad opportunities to network, meet with local sports/entertainment companies, and be around a critical mass of students who are also pursuing a similar career path. What better place to do this than in the City of Angels where beyond the ten professional sports teams, there are agencies, media companies, sports start-ups, etc. that you could have the opportunity to intern with during the academic school year. Also, with the power of UCLA Anderson’s Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment, and Sports [MEMES], there are alumni connections, industry conferences, and sports-related courses where you can really delve deep into the industry vertical and develop the relationships necessary to help launch your career.
What has my time at Anderson been like so far?
My time at Anderson thus far has been everything I wanted and more. It’s been quite a whirlwind and has already felt super engaged within the Anderson community as there rarely ever is a dull moment. I hold director positions in 3 different clubs, am a mentor for the Riordan Program, and have a global partner from India. One of my favorite experiences thus far while at Anderson was traveling to Santa Barbara for our annual Fall Break Trip. It was the first experience seeing many of my classmates outside of the classroom and school-related settings. On the Saturday morning of the trip after a late night out, I tried the hike that some students organized, something I had never done before. Eager to try new things and get some sort of exercise on a nice, brisk walk through the Santa Barbara mountains, I thought to myself, “why not ?”. Boy did I underestimate what was in store for me. It turned out to be one of the more trying experiences I have ever done because of the expert level difficulty of the hike and the seemingly perpetual steepness of the mountain. However, my fellow AnderFam were so supportive and motivating during the hike and I wouldn’t have made it nearly as far as I did without them. Afterward, I felt so accomplished as someone who has never really hiked before and grew closer with some of my hiking buddies.
Student Blogger: Austin Josiah, '21
Undergrad: University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Pre-MBA: Assistant Vice President, Morgan Stanley
Leadership@Anderson: Director of Admissions, Black Business Student's Association; Director of Business Development, Sports Business Association; Director, Admissions Ambassador Corps
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