We are a community for Black students, alumni, faculty and staff at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business.
What does your role as BMA’s Alumni Chair entail?
In addition to creating the Rise and Grind newsletter, I engage with Merage’s Black alumni on a range of initiatives with Professor Tonya Bradford. Stay tuned, we have some future programming that alumni would be perfect for!
What are your post-MBA goals?
I’m targeting roles in product management and product marketing in the tech space.
As a grad student, how does your prior work experience contribute to your post-MBA goals?
I have more than nine years of experience in marketing and business development, first in the tech space and most recently, in the architecture industry. Both sectors are highly technical and I pride myself on doing deep dives on topics I’m not familiar with, learning from as many people as possible, and then storytelling those insights to the broader public.
I first fell in love with product while working at Intersection (a subsidiary of Alphabet) on the launch of LinkNYC, New York’s first free Wi-Fi kiosk system. Now I’m using that experience, coupled with learnings from my MBA, in my current role as a Product Management + Marketing MBA Intern at a quantum/AI tech startup (coincidentally, one that also came out of Alphabet) where I’m developing product roadmaps, conducting customer interviews and supporting product marketing efforts.
What has been your favorite class you’ve taken at UCI so far?
That would be a tie! Negotiations with Professor Bauman and Strategy with Professor Joseph were by far my favorite classes I’ve taken at Merage so far. What I appreciated about both classes is that they consistently integrated current real-world examples that we’re likely to face post-MBA, including negotiating for fair pay as a Black woman in today’s corporate climate.
Other than BMA, are you involved in any other extracurriculars on campus?
I am currently Class Representative for my Full-Time MBA Class of 2024 cohort. I’m also co-VP of Social for the Merage Student Association (MSA), where I plan events for the entire Merage graduate community. Lastly, I’m also VP Marketing for Product Club at UCI, where we invite speakers who work in roles like product management, product marketing or program management, to share insights with the Merage community.
