OneHaas

Episode #44: Marco Lindsey, our Berkeley Haas Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, joins us today to talk about the importance of fighting anti-blackness not only in ourselves but in our future generation.

For those of you who may not understand Anti-Blackness, it was best explained in an article written by Kihana Miraya Ross, Northwestern University professor of African-American studies, as "the inability to recognize black humanity." She describes it as a "theoretical framework that illuminates society's inability to recognize our humanity - the disdain, disregard and disgust for our existence."

We hear about Marco's upbringing in East Oakland and how he wakes up every day to instill the right values in not only his children but also the youths in his community. He does so by walking his talk, serving as an active board member of the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, and giving back to the community through his gratuitous actions.

Episode #43: We're joined by the one and only Haas Rap Legend Ace Patterson AKA Call Me Ace. He shares with us his journey through Haas and how he rebooted his passion for rap music his last semester of Haas while recruiting for consulting. Ace pursued a corporate career post-MBA from Deloitte to Facebook to YouTube to hone his business acumen while concurrently launching a successful music career. Check out his music everywhere under his rap name Call Me Ace.

Episode #42: We speak with Soh Kim, a PhD '13 alumna who did her research on Open Innovation Ecosystem: Chez Panisse Case which encompassed Food Innovation. She was guided under Henry Chesbrough through the Berkeley Haas Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation.

Episode #41: Today, we're joined by Claire Veuthey, of the Executive MBA class of 2019. She shares with us her multinational background and influences that led her to pursue a career helping investors better integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors into their decisions.

Episode highlights:

• Studied international relations in Geneva
• Went on to King's College in London for her Master's in War Studies and Conflict
• Transitioned into a career in Environmental, Social, and Governance consulting and investing in the private sector
• Shares why she came to Haas to move from corporate impact investing to venture impact investing
• She looks back at her favorite moment with her Executive MBA class

"Identities are not exclusive, there's a lot of and's and not necessarily a lot of or's." - Claire Veuthey

Episode #40: In this first episode of the OneHaas Alumni podcast, we are joined by Manish Chandra, Evening MBA ’95, who is the Founder & CEO of Poshmark. Prior to Poshmark, Manish founded and sold Kaboodle to Hearst Corporation in 2007. Prior to that, Manish held executive positions at Versant, Versata, and Sybase.

Episode #39: In this last episode of the OneHaas current student podcast, we're joined by our Here@Haas host Paulina Lee and OneHaas host Sean Li. This episode will mark the transition of the OneHaas podcast into the Alumni Podcast. 

Episode #38: Host Sean Li talks to current MBA student Ana Simones. They discuss the multiple careers and degrees she had before starting at Haas, how she’s making the most of her time (even with 3 teenage kids!), and what she’s up to in quarantine. 

Episode Highlights: 

• Ana speaks six languages and studied linguistics for her undergraduate and Master's degrees.
• She went on to start her Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• She pivoted into storytelling and film because that’s what she always had a passion for
• Launched her own video production business in the US
• She moved to the Bay Area and got back into the excitement of AI and NLP
• Ana shares some examples of where AI is headed next and the potential implications
• She tells us why the Haas community is so impactful for her
• Ana shares with us all the international trips she took through the EWMBA program from Paris to Uganda, to being a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) for Seminar in Business (SIB) Brasil

3 Key Takeaways: 

1. Fully immerse yourself into the program
2. Take advantage of all the international study abroad opportunities
3. Apply to become a graduate student instructor if you have the opportunity

Quotables:

• “It’s not just the interactions now but the people [we meet] are going to be in our lives for the rest of our lives.” - Ana Simoes
• “GSI'ing gives you an opportunity to meet people across many years and also allows you to interact with professors on a different level.” - Ana Simoes
• “Haas has so much to offer that I feel like I could be here for another five years and still be doing things that are new.” - Ana Simoes 

Episode #37: Today we're joined by Arthur Tong, EWMBA '20. We recorded this episode about a year ago near the end of the second year of our program but what Arthur has to share in this episode is as on point at that time, as it is today. Having stood the tests of time, he provides excellent advice and guidance for current, incoming, and prospective students.

Episode Highlights:

• Arthur shares what brought him to Haas
• He has an affinity for Design Thinking shared with his sister who went to the D-School at Stanford
• Arthur explains what Design Thinking is, its importance, and the thought leaders at Haas in this space, including Clark Kellogg
• Haas fosters a choose-your-adventure environment
• Arthur explains how he's leveraged the MBA for networking outside of Haas
• He also shares with us the industry leaders he's exposed to on campus through the club events and speaker series
• One of his favorite clubs and one he finds most relevant for business is the Improv Club and he shares why

3 Key Points:

1. Maximize your time and network at Haas
2. Be proactive about uncovering your interests and explore all that Haas has to offer
3. Treat the MBA like a personal journey

Tweetable Quotes

• “Everybody loves learning. Everybody loves knowing things, but people hate being educated.../...but if you can mix education with entertainment it's a huge value-add.” –Arthur Tong
• “Treat this [MBA] like a personal journey. I think this would be a wasted opportunity if you walked out the same person you walked in.” –Arthur Tong

Episode #35: In the 35th episode of OneHaas, co-hosts Sean and Ray talk to current EWMBA student Finley Harckham (‘22). They discuss his background & interest in policymaking, commuting to Berkeley from LA, and making the most of the Haas community’s knowledge and expertise.

Episode Highlights:

• Finley grew up in Greenwich, CT, and had initial interest in public policy, working on a Congressional campaign immediately out of college.
• Later, Finley interned for Ecologic Solutions, a startup making ecologically-friendly cleaning products. He started in Sales and Service, became an account manager, and eventually moved into business development.
• Now Finley is a manager at Compass, a startup real estate technology company. He has been able to apply several learnings from classes at Haas in his current role. 
• Finley makes the most out of his commute by working half-day Fridays and turning LAX into his remote office for a few hours instead of rushing in LA traffic.
• Finley believes policy challenges the status quo by tackling larger problems and continuing to make things better around us
• Instead of trying to solve the problem of the influence that money and business have on politics, Finley thought he would try to influence businesses for the greater good so they influence politics in a better way.
• Finley attended the BERC Energy Summit recently to learn more about renewable energy and the sectors it affects.
• Finley is looking forward to getting to learning more about renewable energy. He would also like to get to know his classmates at a deeper level because the real value beyond education is in the community.

3 Key Points:

1. Don’t discount what you can teach others and what you can learn from others.
2. Having a business school at Berkeley embodies the Haas principle of challenging the status quo.
3. Your cohort is as much a resource as your education.

Tweetable Quotes 

• “I think the most exciting thing that I’ve realized is that there really is a place at the school for all the students to maximize their own strengths and to help teach others and learn from others based on their other strengths.”
• “Policy gives you a space to keep changing things and always to make the place, this earth, more efficient.”
• “If you leverage the Haas community, naturally all of the other goals in terms of career, understanding the material, are all going to fall in place.”

Episode #34: In this 34th episode of OneHaas, hosts Sean and Ray talk to current EWMBA student Jarrett Wright (‘22). They discuss his upbringing, background in real estate, his time in prison, and how he has been making the most of his time at Haas.

Episode Highlights:

• Jarrett also went to Berkeley for his undergrad and majored in Rhetoric. He knew from the start that he eventually wanted an MBA.
• He founded a real estate company when he was 19 and earned his first million within 30 months, ran the company for about a decade, but was wiped out in the 2008 crash.
• In his desperation to avoid financial ruin, he made choices that landed him in federal prison for 18 months.
• While living in a halfway house, he went back to school and worked with no computer, writing essays on his cell phone and graduated with a 3.98 GPA.
• Jarrett began the Umoja-UBAKA community for black students on campus at Laney College.
• Jarrett knew Haas was the right fit for him because of the empathy and values embedded in the curriculum. He is using his time at Haas to identify/fill gaps in his weaknesses, as well as articulating his strengths.
• Jarrett has been making extensive use of the CMG department (Career Management Group) to leverage the infrastructure and network at Haas.
• Jarrett founded and is currently the CEO of a company called Higher Rewards to give branded credit cards to the constituents of smaller community organizations and religious groups to compensate for the downturn in donations they’re seeing.

3 Key Points:

1. You don’t need to have it all figured out before coming in. Over 40% of incoming students classify themselves as explorers, whose goals are to find their “north star”.
2. Haas students are eager to share their knowledge and experience with each other, and this openness and generosity is reflected both inside and outside the classroom.
3. Make use of your cohort, other cohorts, and any/all resources on campus; there are over 1,500 MBA students between the different classes/programs and plenty of faculty/staff. The MBA is what you make of it.

Tweetable Quotes

• “If you ask me what’s your favorite seasoning & all I know is salt or pepper, then I’m either gonna pick salt or pepper. But what if I don’t know about sriracha or curry? I don't know to pick these things as options. That’s been my campaign all the way through.” –Jarrett Wright
• “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” –Jarrett Wright