In today's episode, our new host Kenny Vaughn chats with Stephanie Fujii, former Assistant Dean of the Berkeley Haas School of Business and former Executive Director of Admissions. She has spent her career in human capital and leadership development, with more than 12 years of experience in nonprofits and higher education, selecting and developing future leaders. 

First, Stephanie shares the impact of COVID, professionally and personally. She talks about the most significant things she learned about herself and how stepping away from her previous life led her to have faith in herself.

She also talks about her time as the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Admissions for the MBA program, the Haas culture and why it's essential to embody all four defining principles, and why investing in culture is vital in any organization.

Steph then shares where her passion for people and their stories came from, her dream of becoming an actor, and acting in theatres in her college days.

Finally, she offers some words of wisdom and encouragement to the Haas community.

Episode Quotes:

Lessons learned during the past year - "I'm still learning a lot, but this one, in particular, is the beauty of surrender. I think it's given us a time and a space to reflect on what's most important and how we want to show up in the world, and how we want to show up for each other. And for me to do that in a way that feels aligned with mind, body, spirit has meant I've had to let go of a lot of things. It was just about that surrender. So, I think I've learned that I have the ability to do that, that there's a beauty in it."

On walking away from her previous life - "The way that I described it at the time was leap of faith. It was opening up and trusting in the universe. And I think what this past year has taught me is it's absolutely a leap of faith, but a leap of faith in myself and trusting in myself. And man, that is something that I would love to bring to as many people as possible because I feel like it has changed everything for me. Liberation is coming through so clearly for me."

"The core of the work that I do now is that I think there is a need for us to see each other and be seen. That was such a kind of a guiding light for that work. And it was possible because of the strong culture at Haas. Culture matters because culture is a reflection of how we see the world, right? It's how we see the world around us. It's how we see our place in the world. And it provides these guidelines for how we behave and how we treat each other."

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