Why did you choose to work at HBS?
I chose to work at HBS because of the opportunities it gave me to professionally develop, while at the same time allowing me to work in line with my passion to help others. Additionally, what made me realize HBS was the place for me was the combination of professionalism, academic rigor, passion and warmth I witnessed upon first meeting the individuals I would report to, the Director and Faculty leader of the Healthcare Initiative.
How has your career developed at Harvard or HBS?
My career has developed immensely over the past two years that I have worked for HBS. As a staff assistant, my role is to assist with the administrative needs of our department. However, as I was continuously mentored by fellow colleagues and introduced to the work ethic here at HBS, I was provided several opportunities to advance in my role. I began to assist with developing and managing healthcare focused programs. The most notable experience was managing a 10 day Healthcare Immersion Experience Program in India. During our recent January Term, I had the opportunity to travel to India with a faculty leader and group of over 30 MBA students. As a manager for the program, my responsibilities consisted of: planning the events scheduled for each day, ensuring the program ran smoothly by communicating with program participants, our faculty leader and travel provider, providing assistance to guest speakers and panelists, and facilitating company visits and tours. To aid in delivering a successful program in India was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I've had since joining HBS.
What is special about working at HBS?
What has stood out to me most during my time here is the leadership of the Deans of HBS. Dean Light and now Dean Nohria are amazing leaders who truly have a wonderful vision for the school. I feel like HBS' top leadership is instrumental in influencing the culture here. I feel different enthusiasm about my work here because our Dean consistently demonstrates his true appreciation for all that the employees do. In my past work experience, I have never seen a Dean bestow such a grand level of gratitude and sincerity for staff.
What HBS accomplishment are you most proud of?
My time here at HBS has been a wonderful journey full of trials, triumphs, challenges, successes and truly fantastic experiences. During my first year, I successfully created a publication tracker that captured and categorized all HBS Healthcare material published since 2005. This data proved very helpful for both the Healthcare Initiative and HBS Publishing. Providing a better way to track and reference needed healthcare publications at HBS was instrumental to the work that we do here. This task required a tremendous amount of work and I am happy to have contributed to making it a success. Through this experience I had the opportunity to learn much more about HBS and healthcare. My experiences here have helped mold me into an extremely strong employee and person. After accomplishing all that I have in nearly two years in this role, I feel like I can do anything I put my mind to. My experience here has truly fueled my ambition to work hard and be among the best in anything I do. Without a doubt, I am thankful for the opportunity to make a difference here at HBS.
What opportunities have you had at HBS that could have only happened here?
Meeting inspirational leaders such as Professor Herzlinger, Professor Porter and Professor Hamermesh among others are opportunities I could have only received through working here. Additionally, I've been privileged to hear esteemed speakers such as founders and CEO's of large companies, and inspiring government officials.