OneHaas

In celebration of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we chat with Jason Wang, founding partner of Beluga Capital, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage technology companies. 

Jason has been a food and tech entrepreneur since 2011. He was the founding CEO of Caviar, a popular food delivery app that Square acquired in 2014. Before Caviar, he cofounded Munch On Me in 2011, a daily deals platform that was part of the Summer 2011 batch at Y Combinator. He’s also held various roles at Google, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Microsoft. 

Jason was born in China, but his family came to the US when he was just one year old. He grew up in Texas but moved to the Bay Area when he was eight, and this is where he spent most of his life. Although Jason studied accounting and ended up in finance and banking, he had always wanted to study business.

In this episode, Jason shares how he got into entrepreneurship, specifically in the food and tech industry, launching Caviar and selling it after two years, and becoming a franchise owner of The Halal Guys Inc.

Jason also talks about how he got into the investment space and launched Beluga Capital, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage technology companies. 

Finally, Jason let us in on his travel adventures, having been to 107 UN-recognized countries and his goal of climbing the Seven Summits.

Selling Caviar to Square 

“The whole experience was like a whirlwind because we were the first on-demand food delivery app. We launched a week apart us and Postmates. We're the first couple of years before DoorDash and Uber Eats even existed. So, I remember there's just so much happening all the time. There's not much competition. We were getting all these restaurants and users and different markets. And it was just hard to keep up. We're drowning in our own growth week after week. We kept hitting our targets. But we were coming to a point where we're about to break because our growth just cannot keep up with human physical ability to route orders on a screen. And it started happening for all of our early markets that would become really successful. The acquisition came at a really good time.”

Why they started Beluga Capital

“Even when we were at Caviar, my co-founders and I, we just started getting a lot more inbound interest from entrepreneurs. And we thought one of the best ways we can help them is not only advice but also give them some capital. That way, we'd be more vested into their companies. So, with some of that exit liquidity we had, we decided, hey, we're not going to raise any outside capital, it's all going to be personal. And we're just going to invest in startups. It's our way of giving back. Because going through a startup is, essentially, no buy-ins in the beginning, right out of college. We had so much help. And without that help, we could never have succeeded in the way we did. And so, we wanted to do something like that for the next generation of entrepreneurs.” 

On pursuing different interests and passions

“I see it as different stages of my life. Starting out, I would not go into venture investing, I want to be more an operation role. Because that was more fun to me, like I had the best time of my life. Just looking back, while I was in it, I was like, "Wow, it's a constant stress and hard work." But looking back on it, I would only do that in my 20s. I don't want to be in my 40s or 50s and have that same—if I didn't have to go through the same thing again, so that I'm more geared towards investing. And I love it. I guess, for me, it's like different phases of my life there's different roles or areas that I enjoyed more.”

• LinkedIn
• Beluga Capital

Today we have John Bolaji, MBA, Master of Engineering candidate at UC Berkeley. Aside from being a Consortium Fellow, he is also Co-President of The Black Business Student Association here at Haas. 

John comes from a Nigerian family. He is good at Math and Science, and coupled with his passion for science fiction and technology, he went to MIT and studied Mechanical Engineering. However, John wanted to explore other industries other than tech and engineering. He worked as a Consulting Analyst in Accenture and then a Project Manager at McMaster-Carr, where he got to experience real management and leadership experience.

In this episode, John shares his reasons for pursuing the new joint master’s degree in business and engineering, joining different resources inside and outside of Haas, and taking on leadership roles to promote positive changes in the world, especially for people of color.

On being exposed to management and leadership experience early in his career

"It offered me some really interesting and unique leadership opportunities that I was really happy to get and confirmed for me that the leadership and management aspect is where I want to be in terms of my career, in terms of how I'm contributing to the world. I think that's where my natural abilities and skills lie."

The role of MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) in his business school application

“I definitely have to give a shout out here to MLT. That's another organization that helps prepare black and brown students to transition to business school. What I did was MLT MBA Prep. It's essentially a large group of people kind of going through the MBA application process. So, a lot of people have MBA application consultants. This is like a similar version of that but it's a much larger community and it's focused on uplifting black and brown students and indigenous students. And that was 100% the most impactful part of my preparation and application process. MLT was really the first intro to this world and I can't thank them enough for how the preparation process, the coaches that they give you, access to the networking with schools that they give you, is all very impactful. And on top of all of that, it just creates such an amazing community of people who are going through the same process at the same time.”

On choosing business schools

“Every business school admissions process is different for everybody. And I think, more so than any other professional school, there is a strong emphasis on prestige, rank, business school, name brand, and all those different things, and that definitely influenced my thinking a lot. But I'd say my advice to people is that everyone's business school application journey will be unique. The prestige and name brand definitely have some effect in certain areas, but you can think of other things like the school, culture, fits, geographic location, student size; all those different things will have a much larger impact on your experience.”

Why he joined different programs inside and outside of Haas

“I did this intentionally, but I really overloaded myself. I was trying to hone in my focus and my prioritization. I was like, I'm going to sample everything and put as much on my plate as I can. And then I'm going to see what sticks essentially. Because you only have so much time, and at the end of the day, you end up prioritizing the things that you find important, and the things that you don't find important will fall off the wayside.”

A piece of advice from John

“It's going to be tough, but don't be afraid to push your boundaries and get outside your comfort zone. I feel like that's a very cliche piece of advice, but the way I'd frame it is, it's a lot easier to get comfortable and stay inside your comfort zone without even realizing that you're in your comfort zone. You might think you are pushing your boundaries when in reality, you're just slightly turning to the left or slightly turning to the right. And when I say completely change everything that you thought your boundary was, if you can go to the opposite end of the spectrum and test it out to see how far you can go and how far you think the spectrum even is, you might realize there's way more in the middle than you thought or it's not as far as you thought that this thing that you thought was super radical really is not that radical. And maybe you can even go further and get closer to finding something even better for you than you thought could be possible on this side of whatever spectrum you're thinking of.”

• LinkedIn
• Management Leadership for Tomorrow - MBA Prep Program
• Black Business Student Association
• Haas Consortium Fellowship
• UC Berkeley's MBA/MEng program
• Haas Tech Club

Our guest for this episode is Valentyn Zadorin. He is a private equity investor at Siguler Guff and is responsible for deal evaluation and execution for Siguler Guff’s Global Emerging Markets platform. Prior to joining Siguler Guff in 2022, he was an Investment Banker at Barclays Investment Bank covering the technology ecosystem. Previously, he was a Co-founder and Partner at a full-service 3PL provider in Ukraine and an investor in emerging markets.

We get to know more about Val as he talks about his background, growing up in Ukraine, and his reasons for coming to Haas to pursue an MBA. 

Val was also recently featured in Poets&Quants about his views and experience on the Russian aggression in Ukraine. In this episode, he shares a little bit about what started the war, what's currently going on, and the actions people can take to help Ukraine win.

Why Haas?

"I didn't have an emotional connection to Berkeley, to be entirely honest. But I knew two things. The first one is that I felt big potential in technology, so I wanted to start in the right field, in the right market. And what's the best place to do that other than the Bay area? And the second thing, I actually could relate to the four defining principles. It's funny because, usually, you think it's just a marketing tool of some sort. But in reality, some of those are indeed what I have been trying to be as a person. My favorite one is confidence without attitude. And to me, it fits my personality really well. I believe, after my experience of working with different graduates from different schools, Berkeley and Haas is really distinguished by incredibly smart and hardworking people who are modest and have the confidence without attitude at the same time.

When I got to the school, it turned out that it was actually an amazing fit. I realized only after being at Haas how lucky I got, essentially. It was challenging, but the environment is just incredibly supportive, and starting from my classmates to the faculty, I got a lot of support in the school. And I'm glad I ended up in Berkeley and I made the right choice in the end."

On what could be the end result of the war for Ukraine

"So, by starting this war, Russia not only just blew up their economy. They not only united all the Ukrainians together. I believe, really, after the war ends, Ukraine is going to be more united than ever. And it's going to be an incredibly prosperous country because this aggression just changed our moral compass inside the country. And at the same time, it brought the attention of international organizations to the issues. I think, with international support, after the war ends, the best way to actually change something within Russia is to show that Ukraine is going to be prosperous and successful. And hopefully, after Russian people see that, they will realize that they have to do something on their own within their country."

Action items for people to help support Ukraine

"I think it's really important to talk about it. And we probably are at the point where people are just getting tired of negative news and the war. They're trying to move on. But in reality, it's important for all of us, as I mentioned. It's really a war against freedom and the war against Western values. 

There are a few action items. So, first of all, it's probably most important. Please, use your rights as citizens and appeal to elected representatives. Just move this top on their agenda, essentially. Let them know that it's important for you and let them know that, if they want to be elected for the next term, they should be helping Ukraine. I think that's a really important thing.

Secondly, Ukraine needs weapons. We have been winning. The problem is there are five Russian soldiers and one Ukrainian, and there are three tanks on one Ukrainian missile launcher. So, to really fight back, Ukraine needs weapons.

The third thing, and it's really important. I recommend donating. I've received so many donations for the Ukrainian cause. And it's like tens of thousands of dollars that were channeled through me to NGOs who are helping victims of war, who are helping soldiers now. I really appreciate that."

How can businesspeople and entrepreneurs help the cause?

"As businessmen, as graduates of Haas, we are making purchasing decisions, all of us. At some point, we either will be or we are. Don't buy Russian products, because by buying Russian products, you are paying companies who are going to pay taxes in Russia that, in turn, going to be used to finance the war. And it's a vote that we are making with our wallets. So, be mindful of that. And please, check your channels."

• Valentyn Zadorin LinkedIn
• Razom for Ukraine
• Lost Kingdom by Serhii Plokhy

In today's episode, we chat with Joe Spector. Joe is Founder and CEO at Dutch, an online veterinary pet telehealth service. He is also an investor and advisor to several startups in the healthcare space.

Fleeing from Uzbekistan at a young age, Joe experienced a massive culture shock. However, it didn't stop him from adapting to his new environment and learning new things, including English. 

It wasn't an easy path, though. Because of financial issues, Joe had to work nonstop during college to support himself. He learned the value of hard work and education early, leading him to his entrepreneurial journey.

In this episode, Joe shares his experiences right after college, going to business school, and finding his passion for entrepreneurship. We also get to hear the history of Hims, a telehealth company that he co-founded in 2017, and Dutch, his current company.

Finally, Joe tells us valuable insights on entrepreneurship and the lessons he learned in his journey.

On the challenges he faced as an immigrant

A lot of these things, later on, led me to this entrepreneurial journey by giving me a very thick skin, by making me feel comfortable with the uncomfortable because I've had to learn everything that was just so foreign entirely from scratch. I also think it made me empathetic to other immigrant experiences and other experiences where someone may feel outside of their comfort zone.

What he learned on his startup journey

I started my first failed startup right after business school and I would say that sort of created this journey where I worked in a number of other startups and all of that led me to Hims where really it started off just like other startups; it was an idea on a piece of paper. But along the way, I learned the people I need to surround myself with. I built up relationships. I built up more confidence and more strategy. And so, by the time Hims came around, I think I had a lot of battle scars that made that experience go significantly better. 

On being an investor and a mentor

I wanted to stay in health care because I think the mission aspect of it is something that resonates. One thing I was saying earlier is that realization in my twenties that there's more to life than making money. I want to have a positive impact on the world around me and I think healthcare is kind of one of those areas. And as far as advising and mentorship, I've had mentors who have had an immense impact on me, and I think, again, I’d like to give back and mentor and pay it forward. 

Advice for students

Take advantage of the multiple experiences that are available. And don't have horse blinders on in your undergrad. Use that moment to do things that feel uncomfortable.

Advice for entrepreneurs

Don't take no for an answer. And change is constant. If you're having a bad day or something's not working, that's not forever. But at the same time, you're in control of your destiny. I think another one, and this is my mantra for this year, is that I don't have to react to everything right away. You can take a moment as long as you need because again, with startups, it just seems like you have to decide right away, but know that you can take a pause and not answer everything immediately. 

• LinkedIn Profile
• Dutch Pet, Inc.

Our guest on this episode is Nick Wobbrock, Co-Founder and COO at Blue Forest Conservation, a mission-driven, non-profit organization, leveraging financial innovation to create sustainable investment solutions to environmental challenges. Their flagship financial product, the Forest Resilience Bond (FRB), deploys private capital to finance forest restoration projects on private and public lands to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. We are also joined by Brandi Pearce, faculty in Management of Organizations, and the Faculty Director of Teams@Haas. She is also a leading expert on High Impact Teaming.

Nick is a licensed civil engineer who developed drinking water and sanitation infrastructure in the US and internationally in Honduras and Malawi. Prior to joining Blue Forest, he worked as a consulting engineer for Brown & Caldwell, for the U.S. Peace Corps, and for Doctors Without Borders. Nick presently sits on the Board of EOS International where he continues to support communities in Honduras from his days in the Peace Corps.

In this episode. Nick tells us a little bit about his background, his professional career in the water space, the reasons he pivoted into forest conservation, and how he did it by going to business school and founding a startup.

He also talks about Blue Forest Conservation, its mission and goals, how people can help support their organization's visions, and some of the greatest successes and challenges in developing their team with a sustainability mission. 

Why Nick decided to go to business school and chose Haas

"I realized my heart was a little less with the pipes and the pumps and the engineering design and more wanting to think about the overall problems and root of those problems that we were trying to solve. And I thought, where might I be able to advance my passion for sustainability and technology and systems that can help drive that sustainability? And business school seemed like a logical next step for me, whether it was going to be grounded in technology development or sustainability in some fashion. I saw that Berkeley and the Haas program, especially with the Berkeley Energy Resources Collaborative (BERC) and a lot of the collaboration across the university, had a lot of opportunities around sustainability, energy, water, and technology."

How people can help support Blue Forest Conversation

"Pretty familiar, but voting is one. Elevating the opportunity with your elected officials that represent your utility board about the need for resilience of the watershed that supports your utility."

Challenges and joys in working with the Blue Forest team

"I'm so grateful for where the team is now. We're 16 people, with quite a few PhDs, some in geospatial science, some in forest hydrology modeling, communications experts, finance experts. Foresters are crucial, and we have a couple. And some of the challenges is that we come with a different set of language around how to make this very necessarily interdisciplinary solution work. It's a challenge internally unless we recognize that in credit culture for slowing downtime together. No question too simple. Because finance and forestry and hydrology have a lot of different backgrounds and domains of knowledge.

But when you recognize that interdisciplinary nature, I think, actually, it's turned into one of the joys at Blue Forest, is there's something that everyone on our team can teach everybody else that person uniquely has knowledge about. And working on a culture that celebrates that is, I think, something we're doing well, but something we want to make sure we continue to emphasize."

What Nick admires in a leader

"I love seeing a leader that waits to speak, especially, if, in their leading role, people might want to defer to their thoughts first. But if that leader instead pauses, makes sure there is room for everyone else's voice, largely because you're going to learn a lot of things, but also, because that is inclusive and makes space for people. And I probably admire that, in part, because it's something I work on, too. When I get excited about a topic, it's hard not to want to share your thoughts and your passion for that and your excitement for that, and to balance that with space and room for collaboration and contributions from new and experienced and everyone in between is the type of leader I would like to be and aspire towards."

• Nick Wobbrock LinkedIn
• Blue Forest Conservation
• Professor Severin Borenstein
• Sheldon Kimber

Today's episode is about clean energy, green hydrogen, and decarbonization. Our guest, Sheldon Kimber, has over 20 years of experience in energy finance, development, and entrepreneurship. He is currently CEO and Founder of Intersect Power, a clean infrastructure company bringing utility-scale energy and storage solutions to wholesale customers, delivering value and viability to both energy buyers and asset investors. Professor Severin Borenstein who is an expert on these topics also joins us in this conversation.

Sheldon spent five years at Calpine, working on finance and development of gas-fired power projects. He also worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and in Accenture’s strategy consulting practice, specializing in power-price forecasting and asset valuation projects for utility clients.

In this episode, Sheldon shares his origin story, his professional career, and his time at Haas where his interest in clean energy and clean technology escalated.

We also get to hear about the company he founded, Intersect Power, what it is currently doing, its plans for the future, and how Haasies can join its vision in building a clean energy future.

The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur

"I think the best entrepreneurs are people who do feel a sense of obligation to the people who work with them or for them. The best entrepreneurs are, first and foremost, servants to their people, because I think, at the end of the day, in this day and age, pulling together great teams of people is what builds value in almost any industry. And if you, as a leader, aren't really a servant to your people and really focused on that being the number one thing, it's pretty much the most valuable thing you can do. And I don't know, there's a lot of people that'll tell you how smart they are and how visionary they are and all of that, but I think, at the end of the day, I've found that creating an environment that is more caring and open and transparent is probably the best thing you can do as an entrepreneur."

Why he founded Intersect Power

"Intersect was actually born out of two questions. One was, it's clear that renewables are just getting cheaper and cheaper. So, what happens when renewable power, at certain times of day in certain locations, is so cheap you just either can't or shouldn't put all of it on the grid, it's just not necessary, it's not needed, you can't even get it to where it needs to go? That's one question. And the second question was, how do I never wind up having a utility between me and my customer ever again? I didn't necessarily solve that second one, but those were the two big problem statements or questions that I was most focused on."

Having a small team that is aligned with the company's vision

"When you can prove that you're able to do much, much more with less on the overhead side, people, they step back and let you get the results, which is what we want to do. I'd much rather have a small group of people who are the absolute best, the pinnacle of the industry, that are willing to work their tails off, but are expecting to get compensated pretty highly and are also, they're used to being treated in a certain way, having information shared with them, having a clear and transparent view of the company's strategy, being treated like peers and leaders and strategic thinkers. And I think I'd rather create that environment and that's what we've done here. And I think, because you remain lean and can control your overhead, your investors usually go along with that because they're seeing the results they need, because people—they're happy, they're plugged into the vision.

How can Haasies help?

"For Haas folks, it's important to understand the ties that Intersect has culturally to some of our roots at Haas. And so, when we talk about challenging the status quo and confidence without attitude, these are the types of values that are at the absolute core of Intersect. We are confident people. I do think we're the best at what we do. And that's important to believe that. But at the same time, exercising a certain level of humility to understand some of these new things you have to go in. …you know, I had a meeting with a CEO of a wind company the other day, and I started by saying, ‘We're getting into wind….I have no idea what that means, really, you know? So I first want you to know that there’s no pride here, please help me.’

So, I think, when you step back and look at the cultures of our organization versus the school, there are a lot of overlaps, a lot of similarities. And I think that makes Haas folks a really good fit for us. And we have a lot of Haas folks already that work with us and a lot of Cal folks that work with us. We're also just whip-smart. I do think we are the best. We're confident about that. And I think that also matches up really well with Haas because I think there are a lot of really talented people looking to make a difference in the world. And we're a great place to come to work if that's what you're looking to do with your life."

• Sheldon Kimber
• “The Nexus of Deep Decarbonization” Blog by Sheldon Kimber
• Professor Severin Borenstein
• Intersect Power
• Intersect Power Job Opportunities

Happy Earth Day! In celebration, we had the pleasure to chat with Lynelle Cameron. She is a business executive, investor, and board member with 20+ years of corporate experience helping large and small companies capitalize on market opportunities related to ESG, sustainability, social impact, and climate change. She was most recently VP of Sustainability at Autodesk and CEO of the Autodesk Foundation and is currently at a pivot point in her career.

Lynelle got a Master's in Environmental Policy and Management from the School of Natural Resources and Environment at Michigan which enabled her to really double down at the intersection of people and the planet further. But after reading "The Ecology of Commerce" by Paul Hawken, she became aware that business is part of the problem but also part of the solution. And to effectively drive transformative change and change the trajectory we're on, we need to work within the private sector and change how business is done. So, she literally applied to business school the following weekend. During her tenure at Haas, she led the student efforts to help establish the Center for Responsible Business.

In this episode, Lynelle shares a bit about her upbringing and how she got into sustainability, her extensive professional career that started at Hewlett-Packard, her first job right out of Haas, to Autodesk, where she stayed for 15 years, and how sustainability has changed over the years and the lessons she learned along the way.

Finally, Lynelle talks about the exciting next chapter of her career, focusing on supporting boards that share her ambition around climate, ESG and beyond.

Why she focused on sustainability throughout her career

"My dad always asked us about how we want to contribute to making the world a better place. I think those conversations really sunk in, and it's become a north star for me, the idea that we do get to design careers that have impact at the forefront. I got degrees in cultural anthropology and environmental science. And throughout my career, I've been focused on, essentially, working with people on environmental challenges and thinking about how we can live more sustainably on the planet. That's always been a passion."

On choosing Haas 

"I chose Haas because there were no programs focused on responsible business like there are today, but it was a school that was founded on ethics. Haas was one of the first institutions that taught ethical leadership 100 years ago. In addition, there were initiatives starting to emerge in the Bay Area around sustainable business. It turned out to be the perfect school for me because there was a significant community of classmates with an aspiration to use business to drive change and positive good. I didn't know the first thing about business. There was some cultural shock when I got to business school and started to learn a whole new language. But it proved to be super important and catalytic in my career."

How she got into Autodesk and started their first sustainability group

"I kept hearing about this relatively small company that makes design software that is used, quite literally, to design and make everything that's built on the planet - from the building you're in, electric utility grids, whole cities, even the phone in your pocket. What if we could embed the principles of sustainability into the design software so that companies in all these different industries wouldn't need to have specific expertise in energy and materials? And so, I wrote Autodesk a letter and said, 'You're sitting on this incredible opportunity. The future of these industries is about sustainable design. And I'd love to help you get this program up and running. Fast forward a couple of months, I soon became a team of one at Autodesk. That was 14 years ago."

Lessons she learned about leadership in terms of driving change

"A couple of lessons I learned along the way. One, your adversaries can become your biggest advocates if you use them wisely. That was a key learning insight, to pay attention to your adversaries so that you can learn from them and bring them along on the journey. Another is the importance of teams and building strong effective, what I call, healthy teams. I think teams that have fun together are high-performing teams."

On where her focus is now after leaving Autodesk

"I'm focused on boards. I want to support boards who have an ambition around climate and ESG, but really, going beyond ESG. ESG is a useful framework that has helped people get on board, probably because there's an E, there's an S, there's a G. It's easy for our linear brains to think along those lines. But the real opportunity is to go beyond ESG and cultivate systems thinking in the boardroom and throughout companies, identifying patterns and interconnections across ESG. 

The other focus for me is what I call regenerative businesses. Again, I think of regeneration as going beyond sustainability. If sustainability is about sustaining and doing no harm from an impact perspective, regenerative businesses are those that are truly in the business of regenerating social, human, or natural systems

And then the third area is health and resilience. And I think about health and resilience from personal to planetary. If we are at our best in terms of health and resilience, we can do better work in the world."It’s these three vectors that are my focus for this next chapter—i

On finding value and meaning in your career to prevent mental illness

"There's something interesting happening right now in the workforce with talk of the great resignation catalyzed by the pandemic. And to me, that's really exciting. It's exciting because people are starting to feel a sense of agency that they can create meaning and have purpose when they go to work, versus, I think, generations in the past. You had your work. You earn your money. And then you give back in your volunteer time or community service work. But now, you see more and more people that are really looking for that meaning and purpose every day in their work. 

It's when you don't have meaning or purpose, you have this existential vacuum, that mental illness sets in. And so, I would say, if you don't feel like you have that meaning and purpose today in your career, it’s up to you to create it. So, pay attention to what your values are and how you can live your values at work, and get paid for that. The world is shifting and we need businesses that are directly in the business of restoring health to the planet and the people on it. This is a decisive decade coming up, and I'm optimistic about what's going to unfold."

• LinkedIn Profile
• The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
• Plan C Advisors
• Indigo Ag
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

*Warning: Please note, this podcast includes references to topics including violence and sexual abuse that some people may find disturbing. 

Today, we chat with Dima Okhrimchuk, CEO and Co-Founder at Organization.GG, a marketplace for online experiences in the gaming multiverse.

Dima was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. He had the opportunity to become an exchange student in the US and this experience made a huge impact on his personal development. He dreamt of getting an education abroad and after visiting Stanford and UC Berkeley on a business trip to Silicon Valley, he knew he should be there, where all the innovations are coming from. So, in 2015, he started his MBA at Haas, at a time when there was an ongoing war in Ukraine. Everyone is talking and saying that the worst started on the 24th of February this year, but it actually started much earlier than that, back in 2014. This was the year when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine.

In this episode, Dima shares with us what it was like to be studying abroad at a time when his home country was almost at a war, why he went back home after graduation rather than staying in the US, and his experiences founding his tech business before and after the conflict. 

Dima also let us in on the current situation in Ukraine, the recent developments, how people are united to help Ukraine win, and what we can do to support the people of Ukraine.

On returning back home after getting his MBA

"For me, that was never a question of whether to stay or to come back to Ukraine. That was my goal from day one. I wanted to build out the network, get the knowledge from UC Berkeley, meet a lot of talented people, but upon graduation, I always wanted to come back to Ukraine and start using and sharing that knowledge with Ukrainians because Ukraine is a young country with a lot of perspectives and a lot of opportunities."

Global awareness and spreading the word about the situation in Ukraine

"In the first couple of weeks, the whole world was buzzing about it but as time goes by… And I understand people have their own lives and they forget about what is happening in a country that could be thousands of miles away. But the war in Ukraine is not over yet. It's far from being over with that planned aggression of Eastern parts. Putin is not going to stop. His main goal is to demolish Ukraine as a nation. We need to fight back and we need to win. And for that, we need to have awareness around the globe. So, continue talking about this and continue watching the news, especially the independent news. Spread the word about what's happening."

• Dima Okhrimchuk on LinkedIn
• Dima Okhrimchuk on Facebook
• Dima Okhrimchuk on Instagram
• Organization GG
• Organization.GG Charity Marathon
• Universal link with various ways to support Ukraine

Our guest for today, Alejandra Arrué Lou, is a solutionist implementing new creative solutions at the intersection of business, social impact, and innovation. She has worked for Deloitte Consulting and IDEO, and is currently a Consortium & Forte Fellow at Berkeley Haas.

Spending her early years in Guatemala City and moving to the US when she was nine years old, Alejandra experienced different cultures at a young age. It might seem like a difficult transition; yet, she felt fortunate and privileged to have the best of both worlds.  

In this episode, Alejandra shares her experiences from going to a women's college, the time she spent with Teach for America, and how she ended up consulting to build up her leadership skills. She also tells us her reasons for pursuing an MBA and her experiences as Consortium & Forte Fellow.

On leaving Guatemala City for the US during Thanksgiving and what the holiday meant for her

“I came on what I think is the best holiday in the United States. You get to celebrate being together. It's a complicated holiday but I can't help but also recognize the beauty in coming together on a non-denominational holiday and it doesn't often happen in countries outside of the United States. So, there's sort of that beauty of opportunity of this American dream, of being in a place that it's so culturally diverse that you can sit in a table with people who look different from you. And it's such a privilege and such an awesome thing to claim that I can experience and hold dear both of those two cultures and people and experiences together.”

On going to Barnard College

“That journey of attending a women's college really helped me come out of my shell. It allowed me to be surrounded by talented and empowering women. I think college isn't just about the brand of the school; it's also about what do you get out of it and how much you're able to grow.”

On becoming a teacher

“In my mind, I thought I was going to become a humanitarian lawyer. I was thinking about what will my next two years after graduation look like? What kind of skills and experiences do I want to gain in order to get there? I met a number of Teach for America alums, fellows, and current members and I was humbled about what they did. I also knew that I could help and use my really young spirit and energy to do something good for the world. And so I ended up deciding to apply and do Teach for America for a few years, gain a lot of skills, see how I can directly help communities and be exposed to that and really absorb because, in my opinion, it's much harder to help and solve and do social impact without understanding the realities of the day to day.”

On pivoting from a school teacher to consulting

“I realized that as much as I could be helpful being a teacher, I had better ideas on how to change workforce compositions or how to drive better organizational change, or how to upskill teachers and help them be more successful in the classroom. I just had all these ideas about how to change from a systems perspective and realize that I could make a better impact by doing that type of work.

I was also doing some policy work at the Department of Education and my boss at the time had been a former consultant. And then just having those conversations about how I think I could solve public education and the gaps in the system, she recommended that I think about consulting, sort of spending some time really building my skills as a leader, as a thought provoker, and then seeing where that would take me. And so, I certainly agreed with her that it was the right direction. That road took me to consulting specifically working within the human capital sphere and thinking a lot about organizational and workforce transformation.”

On pursuing an MBA

“I was very focused on the social sciences and systems thinking and I think that is certainly where I get a lot of my intellectual energy and I love thinking that way. But I also recognize the gaps in my quantitative and more logical thinking and going back to my origin story, I've always been a huge nerd and I didn't want to leave not having really tactical quantitative skills that could propel me to any leadership position that I wanted to go to. And so, I knew that I wanted to get the core skills that I think the business degree offers and really balance that out a little bit more. And then I think a little bit of it was pride. I wanted to be the first person in my family to have a graduate degree in the US. That was really a dream I've always had. I thought that would be really just a great accomplishment.”

On what gets her excited about the future

“One thing that gets me excited is seeing the continuation of the younger generation, our generation, and future generations, being more empathetic towards the environment and towards each other, hopefully. That's certainly the kind of world I want to live in.”

• LinkedIn Profile
• Teach for America
• Berkeley Haas Consortium

Today's episode is all about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Our guest, Cynthia Owyoung, is a DEIB leader and author. She is currently the Vice President of Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging at Robinhood and the Founder and CEO of Breaking Glass Forums, which aims to accelerate diverse talent and inclusive organizations. She also recently published a book entitled, "All Are Welcome: How to Build a Real Workplace Culture of Inclusion that Delivers Results."

Cynthia has always been interested in people's thought processes and decision-making processes. So, she majored in marketing at Haas with the intent of going into advertising. She thought marketing seemed like the perfect way to get into people's minds from the consumer perspective. But after several years, she got burned out and decided to go to grad school, intending to launch a nonprofit for adults with developmental disabilities in the Asian community. 

When she got into school, she took a diversity management course and met somebody with a diversity manager job who talked about how she created access to opportunity for everyone. That's what started her 20-year career so far in the DEIB space.

In this episode, Cynthia talked about how DEI has evolved through the years, why it is important, and her personal story that made her so passionate about it. She also shared how to create a more inclusive organization, especially for women of color, and how each of us can take bite-size chunks toward a more inclusive world. Finally, Cynthia talked about her book and what the biggest takeaways are.

On going into marketing and advertising

"I've always been interested in people and what motivates them to do the things that they do. I've always been really curious about how people make decisions. And so, for me, marketing seemed like the perfect way to get into people's minds from the consumer perspective. How do you actually persuade them to change behavior and buy something that they maybe hadn't considered?”

Driving inclusion and diversity in different cultural contexts and why it matters

"There is so much diversity even in places that you don't think about necessarily having diversity. And the definition of that and how we actually drive inclusion is going to be different in different cultural contexts. How we think about diversity here in the US, with our history of slavery and discrimination and different groups, is a very different context from China or India, right? In India, there's discrimination based on social-economic status as being a much more prevailent thing versus, as you mentioned, all those minority groups that are definitely treated differently in China. All of that is very nuanced and we have to make sure that we're not approaching it from a one size fits all kind of perspective. 

There is difference among all of us everywhere. And it's less about in-groups and out-groups necessarily and more about inclusion and exclusion in my mind. Because even if you take it down to the level of a team within an organization anywhere, if somebody is feeling excluded from that team, like they don't belong and they're not being valued for who they are and what they bring, that person's not going to be productive and not going to stay very long.

And so, if we're all driving for effective organizations and effective teams and effective and productive output and things like that, then you have to care about this. To drive that no matter what your team looked like or what cultural context you're in."

Why she is passionate about building an inclusive culture everywhere

"I've grown up always feeling like I didn't belong anywhere. I'm kind of this misfit, and it took me until high school to really find a group of friends who had similar kinds of multiculturalism elements to their backgrounds that I started to find people who I could connect with.

That, along with the fact that I have brothers who clearly have their struggles in life in ways that most of us take for granted, has always weighed on me. Why do we treat people so badly just because they look a little different or they love a little different? So, those are the things that have made me be like, if I have an opportunity to change that, then that's what I'm going to try to do."

How do we take bite-size chunks toward a more inclusive world?

"I think it is all about starting small. It doesn't take much to read an article in this space, find out about something that maybe you aren't that well versed in. Just pick one, start reading about it, start asking. I think asking questions is really good. Not to the point where you're overburdening any one person to represent their entire community because that's not what we want, but to extend your curiosity, right? Ask people about their experiences so that you can get more of a window and develop your empathy for other experiences that are very different from your own. It costs nothing to ask, and you can learn so much about people who are willing to open up. 

And then the last thing that I think is super easy for anyone to do is to just engage and practice. Oftentimes, we're afraid to open our mouths and inadvertently offend somebody, but it's really about moving through that, and just engaging in the practice on a regular basis to ask people how they want to be identified, or if you're using the correct term that they go by, or even as simple as just making an effort to pronounce somebody's name correctly. It's all those little things that I think anybody can do that will just really add up to creating connection and welcoming and belonging."

• LinkedIn
• All Are Welcome: How to Build a Real Workplace Culture of Inclusion that Delivers Results
• Breaking Glass Forums