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MBA Voices
MBA Voices
Before coming to HBS, I thought of entrepreneurship as a solo endeavor – something you take on only if you have a newsworthy idea, unshakeable self-confidence, and a closet full of black turtlenecks. In my time in consulting and then at a rapidly growing startup, I had come to see myself as the ultimate team player and not at all as the type of person who would strike out on their own. I love getting dropped into new situations and diverse teams to solve new problems and this interest in team dynamics, problem solving, and rapid change made me think that the entrepreneurial path was not for me. [...]
Throughout the year, the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences cohort frequently bounces between business, engineering, and entrepreneurship endeavors. Our efforts culminate in the annual MS/MBA Technology Showcase, which brings together the community around the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences program and the Undergraduate Technology Innovation Fellows program. This year, we (virtually) enjoyed sessions that ranged from the Dean’s welcome to breakout sessions with the various incredible startups that students are pursuing. The showcase serves as both a reminder of our ambition and a celebration of our progress. It was an honor to present to the group my own startup focused on a problem I've been passionate about solving since before HBS. [...]
I’ve always admired my mom’s courage and was amazed when I discovered she was one of twenty-eight women out of 800 in Harvard Business School’s Class of 1972. During her tenure, they didn’t even have a designated women’s restroom in Aldrich. While the experience was one of the hardest in her life in a white-male dominated institution, the struggle was worth it. [...]
“Good morning!” welcomed Lillian Lincoln Lambert (MBA 1969) in her address to the African American Student Union’s (AASU) 48th Annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference on February 27, 2021. The conference was the central day in Elevate: Uplifting Black Leadership for an Equitable Future, the three-day virtual event that included the Black New Venture Competition and Black Tech Masters Series.
Lambert went on to recall Fitzhugh’s mentorship during her undergraduate years at Howard University; he encouraged her to apply, attend, and remain at Harvard Business School (HBS) as the first Black woman student (and co-founder of AASU). Those lonely, rigorous two years, she said, were worth it to see the many Black graduates who followed her and her five Black classmates. [...]
Since graduation, I have spent a lot of time in the entrepreneurial space! Currently, I am the CFO at Pilot.com, a $1.2Bn Series C FinTech startup backed by Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Stripe, and Bezos Expeditions. Pilot builds advanced automation technology to streamline accounting, tax, and analytics for startups and small businesses. [...]
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The views and opinions expressed in the MBA Voices blog are those of the authors.
Any political views shared by students are their own; HBS does not endorse a
particular party or candidate.