Author: Jennie

Greetings friends,

Since last we spoke, I have been around the world and back again. I spent 10 days in South Africa with 48 Sternies and had an amazing time! We started our journey in Johannesburg where we toured the city and visited the Apartheid museum, then went to the Mabula Game Lodge for a two-day safari adventure, and ended up in Cape Town where we explored Cape Point and Table Mountain. My favorite part of the visit was when we visited Velokhaya/The Life Cycling Academy in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. Velokhaya is a non-profit that works “to give underprivileged children in South Africa the skills and the opportunities they need to make a success of their lives“ through cycling. We met the children currently in the program, heard from the founder and alums who have gone on to have very successful lives both on and off the bike, and had a chance to ride around the township of Khayelitsha. You can see pictures from our visit on Velokhaya’s Facebook page.

Until next time,
Jennie

Greetings friends!

It’s been a busy time since last we spoke. I have two half semester classes coming to an end on March 27th. It’s great to take half semester classes because your class load is lighter for the second half of the semester (at least in my case) and you can take classes with many professors. However, I am completely distracted as Spring Break starts on Friday! I am headed to South Africa with the Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students and Stern in Africa. Every year, on-campus clubs plan Spring Break treks. Some have a recruiting focus if students want to work abroad. Others are centered around service as with the Social Enterprise Association’s trek. Others are purely social (which is the kind of trek that I prefer). Last year, I traveled to three cities in Brazil –Salvador, Iguazu Falls, and Rio de Janeiro–for the Latin American Business Association’s trek. This year, I am traveling to Cape Town and Johannesburg with 45 Sternies! I look forward to sharing my experience with you in my next blog post!

Until next time,
Jennie

Greetings friends!

One thing that I appreciate about Stern is how the professors incorporate what is going on in the market to their lessons. Earlier this week, I had a case discussion on Groupon in my Promotional Marketing class. We discussed how Groupon was initially successful but with many competitors imitating the same strategy, we doubted how long the company would be able to thrive. My Promotional Marketing professor, Professor Mickey Goodman, emailed the class this morning after Andrew Mason, the founder and CEO of Groupon, was fired yesterday. I’m looking forward to my next class meeting so that we can discuss how the company will continue now that the founder has exited.

In other news, I’m looking forward to Think Social, Drink Local (TSDL) tonight. My fellow blogger Kristin did a great job of describing it here. I had a great time last year and am looking forward to seeing a few close friends walk in the show. I’ll report back next week with highlights. But before I head off to TSDL, I’m off to a happy hour reunion for my DBI Singapore class. Every minute is jammed pack here at Stern!

Until next time,
Jennie

Greetings Friends!

I wanted to tell you about a class that I just started today. It’s called The Performing Manager. Per the course catalog, “Effective managers must motivate and inspire others to follow their ‘lead.’ This course will explore the seemingly elusive quality often referred to as personal charisma – that hard to pinpoint ability to not only set a clear direction, but communicate the energy and passion to forcefully engage others in a process.” I have read many articles that cite MBAs’ inability to effectively communicate and give presentations. Stern has a great variety of Management Communications courses that build on the soft skills that are necessary to be an effective leader.

The Performing Manager is a three-day intensive course that meets over three Fridays. What I really enjoy about this class is how it draws upon acting, performing and other arts to become a confident, charismatic and passionate speaker. So far, we have done exercises in mirroring, actively listening, and understanding non-verbal body cues. Through this course and Management Communications, a class I took last semester, I have gotten over the anxiety of speaking in public and have become a better presenter. I am pursuing a career in brand management after graduation and giving presentations and getting buy-in from groups is an essential part of the job. These courses are specifically preparing me for success in my career.

Until next time!
Jennie

Greetings friends!

Happy new year! Congratulations to all those who submitted for the second deadline and all those who are interviewing! The spring semester has quickly started and things are back in full swing! I just returned from a trip of a lifetime. Over the winter break, I took a class at the National University of Singapore (NUS) to learn about Doing Business in (DBI) Asia. The Dean of the business school at NUS is a former Stern professor so he has specially customized this class to complement the Stern curriculum and give us an in-depth understanding of doing business in Asia. It was an interesting balance of learning about mature and emerging markets. In addition to the class, we went on several corporate visits. We took a tour of the Singapore Airlines training facility and the Asia Pacific Brewery where they brew Tiger Beer, the national beer of Singapore. We also got to explore the big food culture of Singapore and eat the famous Chili Crab. Since Singapore is in a central location, I also traveled to Bali, Indonesia and Phuket, Thailand. Southeast Asia is a popular destination among second year students and I met up with classmates in each country. I had an amazing time and am sad that my business school career is ending this semester.

Until next time,
Jennie

Greetings friends!

This semester has flown by! This will be my last post of 2012. I am heading to Southeast Asia in two weeks! I am taking a course called “Doing Business in Asia” which will be held at the National University of Singapore. The “Doing Business in” (DBi) program is a one to two week intensive course where Stern students travel to a partner school in another country. There are a lot of opportunities to travel abroad here at Stern. You can choose to study abroad for a semester or full-year. The DBi courses are a good alternative for those who want the study abroad experience but cannot commit to a longer period of time. This year, the Office of Student Engagement changed the DBi program so that students may take up to six credits of DBi classes because of the popularity of the program. You can learn more about the DBi program here.

At the end of the Spring 2012 semester, I traveled to Buenos Aires to take “Doing Business in Argentina” at the Universidad de Palermo. Professors from the Stern partner school taught us about a variety of subjects: the economic history of Argentina, human resources and recruiting talent in Argentina, marketing, finance, among others. We had the opportunity to meet representatives from Coca Cola and a few Argentine wineries. We also visited Fox Network Studios in Buenos Aires and learned about how companies use media to communicate with consumers. In between classes and corporate visits, we also toured Buenos Aires, visited the U.S. embassy, took tango lessons, ate lots of steaks and became wine connoisseurs. I had such an amazing time in Buenos Aires that I wanted to take advantage of the new DBi policy. I will try to pop my head in and write about my time in Singapore.

Happy holidays!
Jennie

Greetings friends!

As the semester winds down and finals approach, sometimes all you need to do is feed the soul. I just submitted my final case analysis for Managing Growing Companies and have two big presentations left. The first is for Brand Strategy where I’m presenting recommendations to Pepperidge Farm executives on how they should relaunch one of their cookie collections. The other presentation is for Digital Media Innovation where I will be pitching a tech start-up idea to a Venture Capital firm. However, we still find time to have a little fun here at Stern. Tomorrow, I am going to the debut concert of Beauty School Dropouts, the MBA cover band at Stern. Last year, a group of students started a cover band called MBA Jams and it has now become a new tradition to have a group of rocking students! Here’s a video of MBA Jam’s performance at Follies in the Spring.

Follies is NYU Stern’s night of skits, music, comedy, videos and general revelry. You can read more about the Beauty School Dropouts here.

Hope you enjoy MBA Jam’s performance and have a new soundtrack as you write your essays!

Cheers!
Jennie