Student Perspectives

Rising to a higher level of sophistication

The EMBA program continues my unorthodox career journey. My undergrad degree is in business, but I veered quickly into fashion and design. In a way, I’m coming full circle, but at a much higher level of sophistication and purpose.

Business is typically not a heavy focus in most design school curricula, but good design has to fulfill a strategy. I love straddling that line and advocating for what is best from both the business and the creative perspectives.

I love my job at Sephora and knew I wanted a part-time MBA program. The rankings of the Berkeley MBA for Executives program intimidated me at first, but once I experienced the Haas culture, I knew it was the right program for me.

Becoming a better business partner

I find that the focus on active listening and empathy in Creating Effective Organizations and in the Building Trust-Based Relationships classes is having a positive impact at work and in my personal life.

The quantitative classes have really changed how I look at my job. Thanks to Statistics, I can look more critically at the market segments described in a creative brief. And I’ve used lessons from Microeconomics to evaluate a pricing strategy for a Sephora-sponsored event.

Learning with people who are wired differently

One of my favorite aspects of the EMBA classroom is that we can ask each other difficult questions in a safe, academic environment.

I appreciate that not all of my classmates are wired the same way. Some are more math minded, and others come with an experiential or marketing-centric mindset. These different perspectives create an interesting mix.

During block, we can be up until 3 a.m. pitching start-up ideas to each other and brainstorming solutions for issues we’re facing at work. And that’s after an evening of karaoke!

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